SOLUTIONS WITHIN REACH
owners , are threatened by the dumping of plastic waste . Grazing donkeys ingest plastics , leading to effects ranging from ill health to death . New , holistic waste management strategies can spring from research .
“ We ’ re looking to find solutions that work for everybody , to reduce the amount of waste entering nature ," says Professor Fletcher . " We ' re bringing together donkey owners , local vets , business owners and residents to discuss ways to improve donkey welfare . We will work with a local theatre group to raise awareness of the issues among the wider community and motivate change .”
The Revolution Plastics team in Lamu is also collaborating with Flipflopi , an East African movement to ‘ close the loop ’ on waste plastics . They helped to develop the curriculum for Flipflopi ’ s course in heritage boat building – with a twist . Students are taught to make canoes from recycled plastic instead of wood . Local people are paid to collect plastic waste , which is also used to make useful items such as furniture and fenceposts . So , while tackling plastics pollution in the Lamu archipelago , the project is also boosting the local economy .
Revealing the microplastics hiding in plain sight
“ Scientific research , adventure , collaboration and endurance are at the heart of this ground-breaking project ,” says William De Laszlo , Founder of the GB Row Challenge – an annual 2,000-mile competitive rowing event in which teams circumnavigate Great Britain .
De Laszlo is referring to a collaboration between GB Row and scientists from the University of Portsmouth , which began to bear fruit in 2022 . As teams battled choppy waters , treacherous tides and some of the worst summer storms in 50 years , they used specialist equipment to gather data and samples telling the story of the island ’ s waters . As well as revealing interesting insights into temperature , noise pollution and biodiversity , the data was stark when it came to microplastics .
Microplastics are pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimetres . Some , such as nurdles and spheres from personal care products , are designed to be small .
Most are fragments from the break-up of larger plastic pieces . They can be as tiny as one micrometre . That ’ s roughly one hundredth of the width of a human hair . Not only are such plastics invisible to the human eye ; they ’ ve also been incredibly difficult to sample in water – until now .
Lead Researcher Dr Fay Couceiro explains , “ The equipment used to collect data during the race enabled us to capture much smaller particles – so we have been able to get a more accurate picture of where and how concentrated microplastics are . Over time it will significantly improve our understanding of the challenging problem of microplastics in our water .”
The enhanced capabilities of Portsmouth ’ s sampling technology , which was developed in collaboration with engineers from Harwin and Porvair plc , revealed the presence of up to 100 times more microplastics in some areas , compared to data published in 2017 . Dr Couceiro ’ s team says the main reason for this difference is accountable to special steel filters that enabled capture of microplastic particles smaller than 0.3mm .
With a much higher amount of microplastics in UK waters than previously believed , the implications are stark – especially since previous research has established that microplastics have entered the marine food chain . Dr Couceiro says , “ In many species eating large numbers of microplastics has negative impacts ranging from reduced growth , to aberrant development , to cell toxicity . It is essential that we have a better understanding of how many microplastics are in our waters and that we have a way to monitor them .”
The partnership with GB Row means Portsmouth ’ s researchers will be able to gather data over several years of the Challenge . Data sets will be combined over time , to form a comprehensive map of microplastics concentrations in UK coastal waters . They believe all we ’ ve seen so far is the tip of the iceberg .
1 % Less than 1 % of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing SOURCE : ELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION
42 REVOLUTION PLASTICS / 2023