Global plastic production is estimated to be 400 million tonnes per annum, with ~ 5.25 trillion fragments floating in our oceans. Microplastics (< 5 mm) have the potential to disproportionately accumulate and become trapped in mangroves and seagrass meadows, creating plastic 'sinks'.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPicking up dog faeces with single use plastic bags and disposing in landfill is a common practice which ultimately harms the environment. Compostable plastic dog waste bags may help to divert these wastes from landfill and recover dog faeces as a compost feedstock, though little is known about how certified home compostable plastics behave in real world home compost systems. This study investigated the disintegration of commercially available certified home compostable plastic bags in outdoor home composts containing dog faeces.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntegr Environ Assess Manag
November 2024
Dog feces are a known source of nutrient, pathogen, and plastic pollution that can harm human and ecosystem health. Home composting may be a more environmentally sustainable method of managing dog feces and reducing this pollution. While composting is an established method for recycling animal manures into low-risk soil conditioners for food production, few studies have investigated whether household-scale compost methods can safely and effectively process dog feces for use in backyard edible gardens.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBull Environ Contam Toxicol
June 2013
Cyanobacteria are commonly found in a number of temperate and tropical bioregions, and provide important roles in fuelling many nutrient poor freshwater and marine ecosystems. Although cyanobacteria commonly occur in these environments, little is known about the use of cyanobacteria as suitable organisms for toxicity studies. Here, we propose the use of the unicellular cyanobacteria Cyanobium sp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF