Microplastic Pollution from Paint
Plastic pollution is caused by items such water bottles, plastic bags, and textiles fibres, which along with other plastic waste damage the environment. Research from University of Toronto researchers nevertheless stresses paint as another major but underappreciated microplastics pollution cause.
Published in the journal Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry, the study by the department of ecology and evolutionary biology of the Faculty of Arts & Science shows that paint is not properly examined with respect to microplastics. Microplastics, which are small than five millimetres, gather in the air, water, food, and human bodies and cause damaging effects on people and marine life.
Because it is difficult to spot, the researchers contend that paint has been underrated as a microplastics contaminant. Leading researchers suspect that paint could be to blame for a lot of unclassified particles since it sometimes shows up as "anthropogenic unknowns" in studies, says Zoie Diana, a post-doctoral researcher.
Examining current research on paint pollution helped the scientists to explore this matter. They discovered only 53 out of roughly 800 studies on microplastics in 2019 addressed paint, therefore pointing to a big research gap.
Diana is compiling a spectral library aimed at aiding in the recognition of unidentified colours. She discusses initiatives to reduce microplastic contamination including filter systems that capture microfibres in washing machines and rain gardens that cut downstream emissions by 91%. Special vacuums during construction are among the existing paint pollution remedies. She underlines the requirement of more approaches to solve paint pollution and hope for a worldwide agreement on microplastics.
Reference
Cynthia Macdonald, University of Toronto. (2025) - Environmental scientists highlight role of paint in microplastic pollution
Available at- https://phys.org/news/2025-03-environmental-scientists-highlight-role-microplastic.html
(Assessed: 12th of March 2025)
