While some sugar alcohols like sorbitol, mannitol and xylitol do occur naturally, they are usually produced commercially by the hydrogenation of sugar or corn syrup using a nickel catalyst. They are also known as polyols or scientifically as polyhydric alcohols. A Better Alternative to Sugar Alcohols What are Sugar Alcohols?ĭespite their name, sugar alcohols do not contain ethanol and are not alcoholic. When hanging out washing use wooden pegs instead of plastic ones.Īvoid using cosmetics with microplastics and also opt for biodegradable clothing.Ĭhoose to recycle and reuse some of your packaging too.7. Replace plastic Tupperware with glass or stainless steel containers. it's also made of plastic!īuy more food in bulk and fewer packaged products. If you go shopping, remember to take a fabric bag-for-life or a shopping trolley.ĭon't throw chewing gum on the ground, bin it because. The UNEP estimates that the cost of this ecological catastrophe is about $13 billion annually, which we could reduce with everyday habits as simple as these:Īvoid single-use plastics, such as straws, plates or disposable cutlery. Additionally, our health may also suffer from this polymer, because we ingest it in table salt and other foods. Today, indirect damage from marine pollution is well-known worldwide: ecosystem degradation, exposure of flora and fauna to chemical substances - more than one million animals die each year due to mistaking plastic for food. Wastewater, wind, rain and floods also carry plastic from the land into the oceans, especially single-use plastics - bags, straws, cotton buds or wrappers - which, being lightweight, are easily carried on the wind to the coast or find their way to the river network before reaching the sea.ĬONSEQUENCES OF PLASTIC IN THE OCEAN AND WAYS TO AVOID IT Unsurprisingly, waste originating from boats is responsible for almost half of the pollution found to date in the North Pacific Garbage Patch, as shown in a recent study published by Nature magazine. Lebreton also includes people's behaviour on the beaches, as well as fishing practices, farming and maritime transport as among other causes responsible for plastic in the sea. If these polymers are discarded thousands of miles away, how do they end up floating in the oceans? The New Zealand oceanographer Laurent Lebreton suggests in his research published in scientific journal Nature, in 20, that rivers, especially the largest and most polluted ones, are the main factors responsible for plastic being carried to the seas - according to his estimate, between 1.1 and 2.4 million tonnes every year. These less than 5 mm particles get sucked into ocean whirlpools forming huge floating islands of plastic such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the largest in the world measuring 1.6 million km 2 and weighing 80,000 tonnes.
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Most of this abandoned waste ends up in the ocean, where waves and wind break it down into tiny fragments known as microplastics. According to a report by consultants McKinsey & Company, of the 260 million tonnes of plastic worldwide that we throw away on a yearly basis, only 12% gets recycled, while the vast majority gets incinerated, thrown into landfill, or ends up in the most unlikely corners of the planet, such as the Challenger chasm on the seabed.
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Pollution and plastic in the ocean almost always starts with our rubbish bins. HOW AND WHY DOES PLASTIC END UP IN THE OCEAN?
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'Start-up Challenge': Cleaning large pipes in thermal power plants.Volver PERSEO: International Startup program