Quick Dips
Curated topical articles on the Blue Economy

Could plastic roads make for a smoother ride?

Chermaine Lee, BBC Energy Solutions Plastics & Pollution

From lower carbon emissions to fewer potholes, there are a number of benefits to building a layer of plastic into roads.

Read more → (6 minute read)


5 Not-So-Fun Facts About Plastics in the Arctic

Sarah Bobbe, Ocean Conservancy Plastics & Pollution

Even the remote Arctic marine ecosystem has a plastics problem.

Read more → (3 minute read)


Where does plastic pollution go when it enters the ocean?

Sutherland, B. et al., The Conversation Plastics & Pollution

Of the hundreds of millions of tonnes of plastic waste we produce each year, it’s estimated that around ten million tonnes enters the ocean.

Read more → (5 minute read)


Dispatch: eXXpedition's First Virtual Voyage is Complete

Plastic Pollution Coalition Plastics & Pollution

Jackie Nuñez, Founder of The Last Plastic Straw and Advocacy Program Manager at Plastic Pollution Coalition, was selected to embark on leg 15 of the eXXpedition, an all-women voyage to document plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.

Read more → (4 minute read)


Hidden pollution from shipping threatens sustainable ocean efforts

University of Portsmouth, Phys Org Plastics & Pollution Shipping & Ports

Ships are the polluting 'elephants in the room' nobody is talking about despite a global drive to make oceans cleaner, according to new research.

Read more → (3 minute read)


Chemistry can help make plastics sustainable — but it isn’t the whole solution

Editorial, Nature Plastics & Pollution

How to make plastics less harmful is an urgent question in chemistry — and must be for policy, too.

Read more → (6 minute read)


How Can Governments and Economies Prevent Ghost Gear?

Ingrid Giskes, Ocean Conservancy Plastics & Pollution

Like all of the threats that face our ocean, ghost gear is a problem that does not recognize borders. A piece of fishing gear that snags on a ship in Canada can travel hundreds of miles before finding its way to a reef in Mexico, where it can “ghost fish” for decades on end.

Read more → (4 minute read)


Is It Possible to Forever Rid the World of Single-Use Plastic Bags?

Edith Cecchini, Ocean Conservancy Plastics & Pollution

Four takeaways from Ocean Conservancy’s engagement with the Beyond the Bag Initiative.

Read more → (5 minute read)


Coca-Cola company trials first paper bottle

BBC News Plastics & Pollution

Coca-Cola is to test a paper bottle as part of a longer-term bid to eliminate plastic from its packaging entirely.

Read more → (4 minute read)


How Paving with Plastic Could Make a Dent in the Global Waste Problem

Ann Parson, Yale Environment 360 Plastics & Pollution

Roads in which waste plastic is melted down and mixed with paving materials are becoming more common around the world. Although for now they remain a niche technology, experts say the roads could become one of a diverse array of uses for discarded plastic.

Read more → (10 minute read)


As Plastic Pollution in Rivers Gets Worse, Species Are Increasingly Living on Litter

E360 Digest, Yale School of the Environment Plastics & Pollution

Scientists have long warned that the world’s major rivers and estuaries are hotspots for plastic waste, as trash and microparticles wash down tributaries and congregate before entering oceans. 

Read more → (3 minute read)


Artificial intelligence software detects ocean plastics from the air

Nick Lavars, New Atlas Plastics & Pollution

As millions of tons of plastic wash into the ocean everyday, scientists have their work cut out for them in trying to keep tabs on its whereabouts, but they may soon have a useful new tool at the their disposal.

Read more → (3 minute read)


MARLIT, an artificial intelligence-based app to study floating marine macro-litter

Recerca, University of Barcelona Plastics & Pollution

A team of the Faculty of Biology and the IRBio presents an app based on an algorithm designed with artificial intelligence techniques to automate the study and quantification of floating plastics in the sea through aerial photography.

Read more → (4 minute read)


Recycling Myth of the Month: Plastic waste is not just a 'developing country problem'

Emily Petsko, Oceana Plastics & Pollution

When the subject of plastic pollution comes up in the United States, Europe, or other Western countries, many people’s first instinct is to dodge responsibility and pass the blame onto other nations.

 

Read more → (5 minute read)


Mangroves threatened by plastic pollution from rivers, new study finds

GRID-Arendal Plastics & Pollution

Mangrove ecosystems are at particular risk of being polluted by plastic carried from rivers to the sea. 

Read more → (3 minute read)


Ganges river carrying billions of plastic particles into ocean each day

Nick Lavars, New Atlas Plastics & Pollution

A group of scientists studying the flow of plastic into the ocean have found a startling amount of pollution exiting South Asia's largest river systems.

Read more → (3 minute read)


Meet the next generation turning the tide on plastic pollution

Taylor Clayton, World Economic Forum Plastics & Pollution

The pandemic has exacerbated the already severe problem of plastic pollution. Here are eight young people from around the world who are leading the fight against our throwaway culture.

Read more → (5 minute read)


Combined river flows could send up to 3 billion microplastics a day into the Bay of Bengal

University of Plymouth, Science Daily Plastics & Pollution

New research shows the Ganges River - with the combined flows of the Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers - could be responsible for up to 3 billion microplastic particles entering the Bay of Bengal every day.

Read more → (4 minute read)


UN Hopes to Reduce Ocean Plastic Waste Within Five Years

Tiffany Duong, EcoWatch Plastics & Pollution

This month, a new era began in the fight against plastic pollution.

Read more → (4 minute read)


11 innovations protecting life below water – and above it

Nathalie Chalmers, World Economic Forum Energy Solutions Fisheries & Aquaculture Plastics & Pollution

Solutions tackle a range of ocean challenges including coral reef restoration, scaling restorative aquaculture, unearthing technologies for marine protection and helping invest in nature-based solutions.

Read more → (4 minute read)