Plastic carrier bags have been drawing the attention of the public and politicians. Different policy measures to reduce the environmental burden of these bags have been implemented and more are planned. The research analyzed the actual environmental aspects of consumption and use of plastic carrier bags and assessed the effectiveness of the proposed regulation in Israel. Since plastic bags are provided free of charge, people have a tendency to use these bags excessively, therefore a rigorous educational program should address this trend. However, the environmental load imposed by the bags is more a politically correct issue than an actual environmental hazard, and therefore the means for reducing their use should not include a high levy or total elimination of these bags.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2009.02.016 | DOI Listing |
Polymers (Basel)
December 2024
Institute of Environmental Sciences, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Páter Károly u. 1, H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary.
In recent years, the environmental impacts of plastic production and consumption have become increasingly significant, particularly due to their petroleum-based origins and the substantial waste management challenges they pose. Currently, global plastic waste production has reached 413.8 million metric tons across 192 countries, contributing notably to greenhouse gas emissions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmaceuticals (Basel)
December 2024
Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology and Regulatory Affairs, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary.
Background/objectives: Films in the mouth offer a promising alternative drug delivery system for oral administration, with several advantages over traditional oral formulations. Furthermore, their non-invasive nature and easy administration make them conducive to increasing patient compliance. The use of active agents in these films can further improve their drug delivery properties, making them an even more useful drug delivery system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMaterials (Basel)
December 2024
Department of Drug Form Technology, Wroclaw Medical University, Borowska 211 A, 50-556 Wroclaw, Poland.
The aim of this study was to develop and optimize polymeric films based on cellulose derivatives-hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC), methylcellulose (MC), and sodium carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC)-as well as pullulan, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), and glycerol (GLY) as plasticizer incorporating extract for potential use in periodontal and gum disease treatment. Over 80 formulations were fabricated using the solvent-casting method, 6 of which were selected for further investigation based on their mechanical properties, mucoadhesion, and disintegration profiles, including three placebo films (OP1 (PVA/PVP/MC400CP/NaCMC/GLY), OP2 (PVA/PVP/MCA15C/NaCMC/GLY), and OP3 (PVA/PVP/HPMC/NaCMC/GLY)) and three films containing extract (OW1, OW2, and OW3). The films demonstrated uniform structural characteristics, with the formulations containing PVA with a high hydrolysis degree (98-99%) and methylcellulose derivatives showing prolonged dissolution times due to physical cross-linking, while the inclusion of NaCMC reduced dissolution time without compromising mucoadhesiveness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWater Res
December 2024
College of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; The Key Lab of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address:
Most ocean plastics originate from terrestrial emissions, and the plastisphere on the plastics would alter during the traveling due to the significant differences in biological communities between freshwater and marine ecosystems. Microorganisms are influenced by the increasing salinity during traveling. To understand the contribution of plastic on the alteration in biological communities of plastisphere during traveling, this study investigated the alterations in microbial communities on plastics during the migration from freshwater to brackish water and saltwater.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMar Pollut Bull
January 2025
Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
Microplastics (MPs) in nature inevitably undergo various aging processes and may exhibit varied interfacial interactions with the coexisted contaminants. Here several discarded disposable polyethylene and polypropylene plastic packaging materials were collected and employed as the raw materials of MPs, and the effects of stimulated UV irradiation and microbial colonization on the variations of surface physicochemical characteristics, including biofilm content, oxygen-containing functional groups, oxygen/carbon ratio, hydrophilicity and surface charge properties were explored. Simultaneously, the adsorption behavior of each MPs on the representative cationic dye crystal violet (CV), as well as the influences of salinity and pH of CV solution, was investigated.
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