The idea of turning recycled plastic bottles into clothing is not new. During the past five years, a large number of clothing companies, businesses and environmental organizations have started turning plastics into fabric to deal with plastic pollution. But there’s a problem with this method. Research now shows that microfibers (微纤维) could be the biggest source of plastic in the sea.

Dr. Mark Browne in Santa Barbara, California, has been studying plastic pollution and microfibers for 10 years. He explains that every time synthetic (合成的) clothes go into a washing machine, a large number of plastic fibers fall off. Most washing machines can’t collect these microfibers. So every time the water gets out of a washing machine, microfibers enter the sewer and finally end up in the sea.

In 2011, Browne wrote a paper stating that a single piece of synthetic clothing can produce more than 1,900 fibers per wash. Browne collected samples (样本) from seawater and freshwater sites around the world, and used a special way to examine each sample. He discovered that every single water sample contained microfibers.

This is bad news for a number of reasons. Plastic can cause harm to sea life when eaten. Studies have also shown that plastic can absorb (吸收) other pollutants.

Based on this evidence, it may seem surprising that companies and organizations have chosen to turn plastic waste into clothing as an environmental “solution”. Even though the science has been around for a while, Browne explains that he’s had a difficult time getting companies to listen. When he asked well-known clothing companies to support Benign by Design, his research project that seeks to get clothes that have a bad effect on humans and the environment out of the market, Browne didn’t get a satisfying answer. Only one women’s clothing company, Eileen Fisher, offered Browne funding.

Wildfires are a major source of air pollution. They are also predicted to worsen as climate change progresses.

Within the smoke particles produced by these fires is a wide range of organic chemical compounds known as “brown carbon”. Brown carbon absorbs sunlight, and in doing so, contributes to global warming.

Over time, the brown carbon is bleached by chemical reactions with oxidants (氧化剂) in the atmosphere (such as ozone) and becomes white. This means that it stops absorbing light and stops warming Earth.

This bleaching process is heavily dependent on atmospheric conditions, which vary across regions. The longer it takes for brown carbon to become white, the greater an impact it can have on the environment.

As atmospheric chemists living in a region frequently polluted by wildfire smoke, we wanted to know more about these effects.

Aerosols are microscopic liquid and solid particles (微粒) suspended in the atmosphere. They’re smaller than the width of a human hair, but are still made up of many molecules. Aerosol particles are everywhere and have a large effect on both health and the climate. When aerosol particles interact with light, a portion of the light is absorbed but the rest reflects and scatters off of the particles.

For most types of aerosol particles, the amount of light being absorbed is negligible. That means a lot of the light reflects back to space. Through this mechanism, some of the pollution we create actually masks the full impact of greenhouse gases.

Some aerosol particles, however, are coloured, which means they are absorbing some light. Any light from the sun that is absorbed instead of getting reflected back into space is converted into heat and warms the planet.

Aerosol particles from smoke contain brown carbon. The various molecules that make up brown carbon are similar to some organic dyes (染料), overall giving it a characteristic brown colour. However, when ozone in the atmosphere reacts with brown carbon, it can transform it into new colourless molecules that do not warm the earth.

Indonesia

What Indonesians commonly do is put their trash in their personal garbage area which is usually located at the front of their houses, right at the side of the street. Put trash there, and the garbage collectors with their big garbage trucks will pick it up.

Germany

The country has a quite detailed way of sorting its wast — down to the color of the glass waste and the type of paper that can be put inside the garbage bin. Some common public garbage bins are available in the German apartment/housing area：

Some items don’t belong in your housing area’s public garbage bins. Items like used batteries, electronics, unused paints, and light bulbs must be returned to special locations so they can be recycled. Other items such as clothes, oversized trash and furniture are advised to be sold or donated.

South Korea

Here are the types of garbage bin provided in South Korea：

Because the food waste bin is reserved for anything that can be eaten by animals, eggshells, crustacean shells and bones are fairly forbidden from it. You have to separate the bones from your meat waste, put the meat waste in the food waste bin and put the rest of the bones in the general waste bin.