Plastic pollution is one of the fastest growing environmental threats. Microplastics and nanoplastics are everywhere: our drinking water, the air we breathe, and our brain.
Beizhan Yan, an environmental geochemist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, part of the Columbia School of Climate, has devised new methods to detect and analyze these particles to better understand the impacts on human and environmental health. He is also working on ways to remove microplastics and nanoforming waste from laundry wastewater.
“Washing produces a large amount of microfibers that can end up in the ocean and river,” says Yang. “We are developing new technologies to remove these particles and remove fibers before they enter the sewage system.”
Yang works with many scientists in Columbia. Wei min From colleagues from the Ministry of Chemistry and Lamont Joaquim is going.
For more information about Yan’s research on nanoplastics, please see here.
Bottled water may contain countless plastic bits of hundreds of thousands of previously, researchers say
This video is part of the ongoing Science for the Planet An explanatory series on how scientists and academics at the Columbia School of Climate are trying to help them understand the impacts of climate change and contribute to solutions.
