blog posts

• New research reveals what’s really hiding in bottled water

  Nov 3, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Concordia University, 10/6/2025

  A chance encounter with plastic waste on a tropical beach sparked a deep investigation into what those fragments mean for human health. The research reveals that bottled water isn’t as pure as it seems—each sip may contain invisible microplastics that can slip through the body’s defenses and lodge in vital organs. These tiny pollutants are linked to inflammation, hormonal disruption, and even neurological damage, yet remain dangerously understudied.

• EU adopts rules to curb plastic pellet pollution

  Oct 31, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Le Monde, 10/23/25

  The European Parliament on Thursday, October 23, definitively adopted rules clamping down on pollution from the tiny pellets that constitute the building blocks of most plastic products. The text introduces new rules to hold handling and transport firms accountable for spills of the lentil-sized pellets, called nurdles, which are used in everything from car bumpers to salad bowls. 

• Recovering arsenic from wastewater sludge

  Oct 30, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Chemical & Engineering News, 10/17/25

  Arsenic is a potent carcinogen and one of the world’s most dangerous drinking-water contaminants, particularly in South Asia, where millions are exposed through groundwater. Removing the toxin from groundwater helps protect public health but leaves behind sludge laced with arsenic, which is expensive and hazardous to dispose of properly. Researchers in Denmark have now found a way to turn that toxic waste into something valuable: high-purity elemental arsenic, a material in growing demand for green electronics and batteries (Sci. Adv. 2025, DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adz5816).

• Slime-like electrolyte promises safe, recyclable batteries

  Oct 29, 2025 3:30 pm

  Source: Chemical & Engineering News, 10/17/25

  Lithium-ion batteries can catch fire because they use liquid electrolytes made of flammable organic solvents. A new water-based electrolyte with the texture of kids’ play slime promises to make batteries safer. Because it dissolves in water, the quasi-solid electrolyte also allows for easy recycling of valuable metals from batteries, says Shintaro Yasui of the Institute of Science Tokyo, who reported on the work at the Materials Science and Technology conference in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 29. In addition, the material is easy to make from lithium salts and water at ambient conditions using mechanochemistry. “We don’t need any dry rooms or glove boxes,” Yasui says.

• Why The Search Is On For PFAS-Free Batteries

  Oct 28, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Forbes, 10/22/25

  The demand for Lithium-ion batteries might be on the rise, but how many of us are aware they contain harmful PFAS compounds, otherwise known as “forever chemicals”? The use of such compounds is obviously not good for the environment, and the search is now on for alternative compounds, which can be used in the next generation of batteries.

• How microplastic pollution is boosting antimicrobial resistance

  Oct 27, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, 10/17/25

  Excessive microplastics contamination could be fuelling antimicrobial resistance (AMR), already a spiralling problem worldwide, a new research report reveals. The report, published in The Journal of Hazardous Materials, finds that plastics act as a platform for biofilms – communities of bacteria and other microbes that cling to their surfaces. These biofilms can help accelerate the spread of drug resistance by creating a protective barrier that blocks the entry of antibiotics into the microbes, and helps resistance genes to transmit more easily within the biofilm community.

• The invisible chemical in the air that could be raising Parkinson’s risk

  Oct 24, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: American Academy of Neurology, 10/3/25

  A massive nationwide study has linked long-term exposure to the industrial chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) with a higher risk of Parkinson’s disease in older adults. Researchers examined over 1.1 million people, finding that those living in areas with the highest outdoor TCE levels faced a 10% greater risk of developing Parkinson’s.

• Scientists find hidden brain damage behind dementia

  Oct 23, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, 10/6/25

  A University of New Mexico scientist is revealing what might be one of the most overlooked causes of dementia — damage in the brain’s tiny blood vessels. Dr. Elaine Bearer has created a new way to classify these changes, showing that many people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s also suffer from vascular damage that quietly destroys brain tissue. Even more surprising, she’s finding microplastics inside the brain that appear linked to inflammation and memory loss. 

• The invisible plastic threat you can finally see

  Oct 22, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Universitaet Stuttgart. 9/10/25

  Researchers in Germany and Australia have created a simple but powerful tool to detect nanoplastics—tiny, invisible particles that can slip through skin and even the blood-brain barrier. Using an "optical sieve" test strip viewed under a regular microscope, these particles reveal themselves through striking color changes.

• Scientists made plastic that eats carbon

  Oct 21, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Copenhagen, 9/5/25

  A team of chemists has discovered how to transform PET plastic waste into BAETA, a material that captures CO2 with remarkable efficiency. Instead of ending up as microplastics in the environment, discarded bottles and textiles could become tools to combat climate change. The method is energy-friendly, scalable, and potentially lucrative, offering industries both sustainability and practicality.

• Biochar’s secret power could change clean water forever

  Oct 20, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Shenyang Agricultural University, 9/26/25

  Scientists found that biochar doesn’t just capture pollutants, it actively destroys them using direct electron transfer. This newly recognized ability accounts for up to 40% of its cleaning power and remains effective through repeated use. The discovery opens the door to cheaper, greener, and more efficient water treatment methods worldwide.

• First comprehensive review of plastic pollution in the Amazon reveals contamination poses urgent health risks

  Oct 17, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Phys.org, 10/1/25

  In a study published in the journal Ambio, researchers examined 52 peer-reviewed scientific papers on plastic found in the Amazon since 2000, particularly in fauna, fish, sediment and water. More than 90% of the research was concentrated in Brazil along the main Amazon River channel, and the most frequently reported microplastic fragment size was less than five millimeters. The findings make for troubling reading. Plastic contamination is not limited to a few spots; it's widespread across the basin. The review found plastic fragments and litter in the water, river sediments, and among plants and wildlife, including birds, fish and mammals. The most alarming discovery was the threat to human health. Researchers found that two-thirds (66%) of the studied animals (mostly fish) that contain plastic are regular food sources for local communities. This high level of contamination puts many people at risk of ingesting plastic fragments, especially microfragments.

• Microwave technique allows energy-efficient chemical reactions

  Oct 16, 2025 1:30 pm

  Source: University of Tokyo via Phys.org, 10/10/25

  Some industrial processes used to create useful chemicals require heat, but heating methods are often inefficient, partly because they heat a greater volume of space than they really need to. Researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo, devised a way to limit heating to the specific areas required in such situations. Their technique uses microwaves, not unlike those used in home microwave ovens, to excite specific elements dispersed in the materials to be heated. Their system proved to be around 4.5 times more efficient than current methods.

• Microplastics in the placenta linked to increased risk of miscarriage

  Oct 15, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Environmental Health News, 10/3/25

  In a recent study published by eBioMedicine, researchers found that women with higher levels of microplastics in their placenta were at an increased risk of experiencing spontaneous miscarriage in the first trimester. 

• Microplastics found to change gut microbiome in first human-sample study

  Oct 14, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: EurekAlert, 10/6/25

  New research presented at UEG Week 2025 shows that microplastics – plastic particles smaller than 5mm commonly found in the environment – can alter the human gut microbiome, with some changes resembling patterns linked to depression and colorectal cancer. 

• Advocates raise alarm over Pfas pollution from datacenters amid AI boom

  Oct 13, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Guardian, 10/4/25

  Advocates are particularly concerned over the use by datacenters of PFAS gas, or f-gas, which can be potent greenhouse gases, and may mean datacenters’ climate impact is worse than previously thought. Other f-gases turn into a type of dangerous compound that is rapidly accumulating across the globe. Two kinds of cooling systems are used to prevent the semiconductors and other electronic equipment stored in datacenters from overheating. Water cooling systems require huge volumes of water, and chemicals like nitrates, disinfectants, azoles and other compounds are potentially added and discharged in the environment. Many centers are now switching to a “two phase” system that uses f-gas as a refrigerant coolant that is run through copper tubing. In this scenario, f-gas is not intentionally released during use, though there may be leaks, and it must be disposed of at the end of its life.

• Toxic waste could become the next clean energy breakthrough

  Oct 10, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Shenyang Agricultural University, 9/26/25

  Bio-tar, once seen as a toxic waste, can be transformed into bio-carbon with applications in clean energy and environmental protection. This innovation could reduce emissions, create profits, and solve a major bioenergy industry problem.

• This surprising building material is strong, cheap, and sustainable

  Oct 9, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: RMIT University, 9/22/25

  A team at RMIT University has created a cement-free construction material using only cardboard, soil, and water. Strong enough for low-rise buildings, it reduces emissions, costs, and waste compared to concrete. The lightweight, on-site process makes it ideal for remote areas, while its thermal properties naturally cool buildings. Researchers see it as a key step toward greener, more resilient architecture.

• America is throwing away the minerals that could power its future

  Oct 8, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Colorado School of Mines, 9/18/25

  America already mines all the critical minerals it needs for energy, defense, and technology, but most are being wasted as mine tailings. Researchers discovered that minerals like cobalt, germanium, and rare earths are discarded in massive amounts, even though recovering just a fraction could eliminate U.S. dependence on imports. 

• Harvard’s salt trick could turn billions of tons of hair into eco-friendly materials

  Oct 7, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Harvard University, 9/17/25

  Scientists at Harvard have discovered how salts like lithium bromide break down tough proteins such as keratin—not by attacking the proteins directly, but by altering the surrounding water structure. This breakthrough opens the door to a cleaner, more sustainable way to recycle wool, feathers, and hair into valuable materials, potentially replacing plastics and fueling new industries.

• Scientists just found out forever chemicals are shockingly acidic

  Oct 6, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University at Buffalo, 9/13/25

  Scientists have uncovered that “forever chemicals” like PFAS are even more acidic than anyone realized, meaning they dissolve and spread in water with alarming ease. Using a cutting-edge method combining NMR spectroscopy and computer modeling, researchers showed that the acidity of notorious compounds like PFOA and GenX had been vastly underestimated—sometimes by factors of a thousand.

• New and simple detection method for nanoplastics

  Oct 3, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Stuttgart, 9/8/25

  A joint team from the University of Stuttgart in Germany and the University of Melbourne in Australia has developed a new method for the straightforward analysis of tiny nanoplastic particles in environmental samples. One needs only an ordinary optical microscope and a newly developed test strip—the optical sieve. The research results have now been published in “Nature Photonics” (doi: 10.1038/s41566-025-01733-x).

• EPR emerges to tackle vapes and a growing list of household hazardous wastes

  Oct 2, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Waste360, 9/18/25

  Household hazardous waste (HHW) is showing up on states’ and local jurisdictions’ radar, fueled by safety concerns and the exorbitant cost to manage these materials. As batteries, vapes, compressed gas cylinders, and certain other products flood waste and recycling streams, they spark fires and injure waste workers while leaving governments to shoulder most of the cleanup costs. In response, a few jurisdictions are looking at extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws, requiring producers to take responsibility for dealing with these materials at the end of life. 

• Study assesses state-by-state efforts to take on plastic waste

  Oct 1, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Waste360, 9/16/25

  A new report by Ocean Conservancy assessed how states are doing against six benchmarks and scored them based on a five-point scale. The average score was a meager 1.5. Benchmarks included the presence or absence of policies in four areas: 1) single-use plastics, 2) microplastics, 3) reduce and reuse, and 4) producer accountability, as well as access to recycling and recycling rates. Ocean Conservancy went on to recommend what it considers the best of existing policies for improvement, and red-flagged policies it believes are thwarting progress.

• Phthalates in everyday products may fuel breast cancer, new study warns

  Sep 30, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: U.S. Right to Know, 9/5/25

  Common chemicals in plastics, personal care products, and food packaging may drive the onset, growth, and spread of breast cancer—the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in women, new research suggests. The findings, published this month [September 2025] in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, suggest phthalates hijack the body’s hormone systems, activate cancer-promoting genes, and make tumors easier to form. and harder to treat. The study raises new questions about the safety of chemicals that millions of Americans encounter every day in air, food, and water.   

• The chronic risks from single-use plastic water bottles are dangerously understudied, new Concordia research shows

  Sep 29, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Concordia University, 9/9/25

  In a paper published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, Sarah Sajedi and colleagues from Concordia University look at the science around the health risks posed by single-use plastic water bottles. They are serious, Sajedi says, and seriously understudied. In her review of over 140 scientific articles, Sajedi writes that individuals on average ingest between 39,000 and 52,000 microplastic particles per year, and bottled water users consume 90,000 more particles than tap water consumers. Once inside the body, these small plastics can cross biological boundaries, enter the bloodstream and reach vital organs. This can lead to chronic inflammation, oxidative stress on cells, hormonal disruption, impaired reproduction, neurological damage and various kinds of cancer. However, the long-term effects remain poorly understood due to a lack of widespread testing and standardized methods of measurement and detection.

• This campaign will help you go electric before federal tax credits end

  Sep 26, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Canary Media, 9/2/25

  Electrification advocacy nonprofit Rewiring America recently launched the Save on Better Appliances campaign. It’s a nationwide effort to help homeowners and renters lock in the incentives — the Energy-Efficient Home Improvement Credit and the Residential Clean Energy Credit — before they’re gone. 

• AI’s ballooning energy consumption puts spotlight on data center efficiency

  Sep 25, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Conversation, 9/3/25

  A Georgia Tech computer engineering professor who specializes in high-performance computing explains how data centers can be designed and managed to reduce their energy use.

• New maps show how risk from ‘forever chemicals’ varies

  Sep 24, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Conversation, 9/4/25

  To better understand the ways people are being exposed to PFAS, researchers examined four exposure pathways – drinking water contamination, food contamination, recreational exposure and industrial emissions, such as from Superfund sites, airports, military bases and manufacturing plants – across three Great Lakes states: Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania. The interactive map and online dashboard that they created lets residents look up their communities’ known PFAS exposure risks and calculate their own risks. The results also offer insights for people across the U.S. who share similar environments, dietary choices and lifestyles.

• Scientists create biodegradable plastic stronger than PET

  Sep 23, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Kobe University, 9/4/25

  A Japanese research team successfully harnessed E. coli to produce PDCA, a strong, biodegradable plastic alternative. Their method avoids toxic byproducts and achieves record production levels, overcoming key roadblocks with creative fixes. 

• A simple metal could solve the world’s plastic recycling problem

  Sep 22, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Northwestern University, 9/3/25

  Scientists at Northwestern University have developed a groundbreaking nickel-based catalyst that could transform the way the world recycles plastic. Instead of requiring tedious sorting, the catalyst selectively breaks down stubborn polyolefin plastics—the single-use materials that make up much of our daily waste—into valuable oils, waxes, fuels, and more. 

• He crossed 26 miles in a kayak made from mushrooms – and lived to tell the tale

  Sep 19, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Guardian, 9/7/25

  Sam Shoemaker’s record-setting voyage shows the promise – and limits – of fungi as a plastic alternative. 

• Slow burn: The vital need for benign flame retardants

  Sep 18, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Chemical & Engineering News, 9/3/25

  Flame retardants slow the spread of fires but they can have serious, unintended human health and environmental impacts. Inadequate toxicity testing and inconsistent regulations make it difficult to keep potentially harmful fire-resisting chemicals out of products. Researchers in industry and academia are trying to develop safer chemistries and working on next-generation biobased flame retardants.

• Sites contaminated by toxic ‘forever chemicals’ are much more widespread than previously thought, researchers find

  Sep 17, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Northeastern University, 9/10/25

  Toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or “forever chemicals,” are in everything from Band-Aids and clothing to water and floss. However, new research reveals they are potentially even more widespread in the U.S. than previously thought. The research done by Northeastern University’s PFAS Project Lab reveals that while there are about 2,200 known sites of PFAS contamination in the U.S., there are close to another 80,000 likely contaminated sites. It presents what the researchers say is a much more complete — and stark — picture of PFAS contamination while also presenting legislators, communities and environmental activists with a roadmap of where to focus their efforts. 

• Banned pesticides found in clouds, sparking new health concerns

  Sep 16, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: U.S. Right to Know, 9/11/25

  Pesticides banned years ago in the European Union are drifting through the skies and turning up in clouds above France, raising concerns about how long these toxins persist and how far they can travel, with potentially harmful global health impacts, according to a pathbreaking new study.  The research, published in Environmental Science & Technology, is the first to detect dozens of agricultural chemicals—including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other substances—suspended in cloud water droplets. That means pesticides not only linger in the environment but also move through the atmosphere and fall back to Earth in rain or snow, sometimes at levels exceeding European safe drinking water limits, the research suggests. 

• USC study shows how PFAS disrupt healthy function in human liver cells

  Sep 15, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: USC Keck School of Medicine, 9/10/25

  Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), manmade chemicals that accumulate in the body over time, have been linked to liver disease and cancer, but it is not yet clear how they cause damage. Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC used a lab model of the human liver to analyze changes at the cellular level, finding that some PFAS triggered fat accumulation and others caused cell damage linked to cancer. The study was just published in the journal Environment International. 

• Allbirds debuts waste-based shoes

  Sep 12, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Trellis, 8/21/25

  In a footwear first, a new Allbirds’ sneaker features material that has been recycled from polycotton waste. The Remix runners, which retail for $140, are made with lyocell recycled by startup Circ from used polycotton T-shirts and other textiles. The midsoles are recycled from manufacturing-scrap foam by partner Blumaka, and the laces are made of recycled polyester.

• Using pollen to make paper, sponges, and more

  Sep 11, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Knowable Magazine, 8/8/25

  At first glance, Nam-Joon Cho’s lab at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University looks like your typical research facility — scientists toiling away, crowded workbenches, a hum of machinery in the background. But the orange-yellow stains on the lab coats slung on hooks hint at a less-usual subject matter under study. The powdery stain is pollen: microscopic grains containing male reproductive cells that trees, weeds and grasses release seasonally. But Cho isn’t studying irksome effects like hay fever, or what pollen means for the plants that make it. Instead, the material scientist has spent a decade pioneering and refining techniques to remodel pollen’s rigid outer shell — made of a polymer so tough it’s sometimes called “the diamond of the plant world” — transforming the grains to a jam-like consistency.

• Recycling lithium from old electric vehicle batteries could be done cheaply with new electrochemical process

  Sep 10, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Wisconsin, 8/26/25

  With ever more electric vehicles on the road, regulators and automakers are considering what can be done with the millions of batteries that power EVs after they’re spent. Even when their useful life is over, EV batteries contain valuable lithium that could theoretically be recycled and used in new batteries, but coming up with a cost-effective way to do so is critical. A group of University of Wisconsin–Madison chemists are hopeful they’ve found a solution and they’re already filing patents and courting global carmakers.

• Data centers consume massive amounts of water – companies rarely tell the public exactly how much

  Sep 9, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Conversation, 8/19/25

  University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee researchers analyzed public records, government documents, and sustainability reports compiled by top data center companies and found that technology companies don’t always reveal how much water their data centers use.

• UMaine unveils app to gauge AI’s environmental cost

  Sep 8, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Maine, 8/5/25

  A new app, “What Uses More,” aims to reveal the environmental footprint of tasks completed with artificial intelligence, encouraging users to examine critically the energy and water consumption of their digital activities. 

• Heat-styling hair care products release billions of nanoparticles that can accumulate in lungs, engineers find

  Sep 5, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Purdue University, 8/20/25

  A typical morning hair-care routine can expose you to as much immediate nanoparticle pollution as standing in dense highway traffic, report Purdue University engineers. A Purdue research team led by Nusrat Jung, an assistant professor in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, and her Ph.D. student Jianghui Liu, found that a 10–20-minute heat-based hair care routine exposes a person to upward of 10 billion nanoparticles that are directly deposited into their lungs. These particles can lead to serious health risks such as respiratory stress, lung inflammation, and cognitive decline. The team's findings are published in Environmental Science & Technology.
  
  
  

• New wastewater tech tackles fatbergs at the source

  Sep 4, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: RMIT University via Phys.org, 8/20/25

  A new wastewater treatment system developed by RMIT University researchers could help prevent fatbergs—solid masses of fat, oil and grease (FOG) that clog sewers and cost water utilities globally billions to remove each year. A team from RMIT's Effective Technologies and Tools (WETT) Research Center has developed a solution that combines a redesigned grease interceptor with a smart chemical treatment—more than doubling fat removal rates in commercial kitchen wastewater. The new design features a series of physical barriers, or baffles, inside a grease interceptor to slow wastewater flow and separate larger fat particles. A small dose of alum, a common water treatment chemical, is then added to clump smaller, suspended fats for easy removal.
  
  The research article, "Performance optimization for the removal of fat, oil, and grease from food service establishment wastewater using a novel grease interceptor," is published in ACS ES&T Water.

• Long-term biochar can sustainably boost crop yields and cut greenhouse gas emissions

  Sep 3, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences (via Phys.org), 8/19/25

  A research team led by Profs. Yan Xiaoyuan and Xia Longlong from the Institute of Soil Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences showed that biochar can deliver lasting benefits for food security and climate mitigation when applied to farmland over the long term. In particular, the study showed that repeated annual applications not only sustain but also amplify biochar's positive effects on crop yield, soil health, and GHG reduction. 

  In this study, the researchers analyzed high-quality field experiment records from 438 studies, including consecutive annual data from 29 long-term field experiments. The results, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrate that annual biochar application over four years or more increased global crop yields by an average of 10.8%, cut CH₄ emissions by 13.5% and N₂O emissions by 21.4%, and raised soil organic carbon (SOC) content by 52.5%.

• A potential ‘green’ alternative to formaldehyde and PFAS in fabric finishing

  Sep 2, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: American Chemical Society, 8/18/25

  More than half of the 7.5 million bales of cotton produced annually in the U.S. will be used in clothing manufacturing. The finishing techniques used to make cotton fabric smooth, water-repellant and resistant to wrinkling can be detrimental to the environment and the wearer. Now, researchers propose a method for using cottonseed oil as a “greener” and safer alternative to formaldehyde and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often called forever chemicals, when finishing cotton fabrics.

  Taylor Kanipe, a graduate student at North Carolina State University (NC State), presented her results at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), held Aug. 17-21.

• PFAS exposure linked to teen weight regain after bariatric surgery

  Sep 1, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: HealthDay, 8/19/25

  For adolescents, exposure to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is associated with weight regain after bariatric surgery, according to a study published online Aug. 14 in Obesity. 

• Data centers use massive energy and water. Here’s how to build them better

  Aug 29, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Fast Company, 8/11/25

  The race to build AI infrastructure is draining power grids and water supplies. But with the right innovation, tomorrow’s data centers could clean the air, grow food, and power entire communities.

• Scientists turn grapevine waste into clear, strong films that vanish in days

  Aug 28, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: South Dakota State University, 8/13/25

  Amid growing concerns over plastic waste and microplastics, researchers are turning agricultural leftovers into biodegradable packaging. Using cellulose extracted from unlikely sources, including grapevine canes, they have created strong, transparent films that break down in just 17 days without leaving harmful residue.

• Inside Rothy’s quest to create recycled velvet shoes

  Aug 27, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Fast Company, 8/12/25

  The brand’s recycled plastic shoes have a distinct look and texture. Now Rothy’s is bringing a new material to its roster.

• Bioreactors reduce phosphorus from agricultural drainage water, Illinois study shows

  Aug 26, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Illinois College of ACES, 8/11/25

  Tile drainage is a common practice used in agricultural fields to remove excess water, but it also transports harmful nutrients into water bodies, contributing to algal blooms that deprive aquatic life of oxygen. Woodchip bioreactors are an efficient way to reduce nitrogen pollution by treating the water as it exits the field. However, these denitrifying bioreactors may leach phosphorus from the woodchips into the environment. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign evaluates data from 10 bioreactors in Illinois to determine whether they are a source of phosphorus pollution.