So. Is there a good way to isolate and harvest microplastics from ...anything? Because the problem with microplastics is that they are practically everywhere by now and you'd probably like to get them out from everywhere.

[–] MeThisGuy@feddit.nl 16 points 3 months ago

I've been doing my part and trying real hard to get em out of my balls.

[–] primrosepathspeedrun@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago

they are everywhere, but you could probably get them out of SOME stuff, some point in the ecosystem you could use as a removal vector, so when they hit that point in the plastic cycle, they can be cleaned up. like how we mostly control mosquito populations by going after stagnant water.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Goodgutdamn this better be true and work.

[–] al4s 9 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I don't think this will ever be used to recycle micro plastics. Just grinding up plastic is way more economical.

[–] Linktank@lemmy.today 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

You're suggesting we lower the amount of plastics by grinding up more plastic?

[–] Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 18 points 3 months ago

No, they're saying that companies that want graphene would probably grind up plastic rather than pay to extract microplastics from the environment.

[–] 4lan@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

That's the only way to melt it efficiently...

[–] primrosepathspeedrun@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

most microplastics come from car tires and breaks. its there BECAUSE it's been ground.

[–] Gerudo@lemm.ee 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yall excited for this, but all our balls are full of microplastics.

[–] FarraigePlaisteach@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago

I guess if we’re lucky, someday they’ll upgrade it to graphene.

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I would love to see a technical breakdown video of how this works.