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Articles on Microplastic pollution

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In Canada and around the world, biosolids are widely used to improve agricultural farmland soil. Biosolids being sprayed on an agricultural field. (Branaavan Sivarajah)

How microplastics are making their way into our farmland

We need to pay close attention to the potential impacts that high levels of microplastics might have on environments and find ways to reduce microplastic levels in Canada’s wastewater stream.
A worker sorts cardboard at a recycling center in Newark, N.J. Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Decades of public messages about recycling in the US have crowded out more sustainable ways to manage waste

New research shows that Americans may have absorbed public messaging about the importance of recycling too well.
Smaller animals that feed lower in the food web might be at greater risk from microplastic exposure than larger ones. (Shutterstock)

Microplastics may pose a greater threat to the base of marine food webs

We need to advance our understanding of the effects of microplastics on aquatic ecosystems, especially on small animals at the base of food webs that might be ingesting more of these particles.
The sticky biofilms that form on microplastics can harbor disease-causing pathogens and help them spread. Tunatura/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Disease-causing parasites can hitch a ride on plastics and potentially spread through the sea, new research suggests

Normally land-bound pathogens that cause deadly diseases for both humans and animals can cling to microplastics and end up in your seafood.

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