Page 12 - The Indian EYE 051526

Op-Ed MAY 15, 2026 | The Indian Eye 12

The Invisible Plastic Crisis — And

a Seed That Could Help Solve It

New research shows microplastics are spreading through the air and water at alarming levels,

but scientists may have found a simple natural solution.

ASHISH K TRIPATHI Gabrielle Batista. “In more alkaline
waters, it performed even better than
lastic pollution is no longer just the chemical product.”
about dirty beaches and float- The significance of the discov-
Ping waste in the ocean. The ery goes beyond science laboratories.
real danger now is microscopic, air- Moringa grows widely in tropical re-
borne and increasingly impossible to gions and has long been consumed as
escape. food. Its seeds are inexpensive and
Microplastics — tiny fragments accessible, making the method po-
released from tyres, synthetic cloth- tentially valuable for rural areas and
ing, industrial waste and degrading smaller communities with limited
plastics — are travelling through the treatment infrastructure.
atmosphere and contaminating water The researchers tested the
systems across the world. Scientists method using water contaminated
have found them in remote ecosys- with PVC microplastics, considered
tems, drinking water and even inside among the most harmful plastics be-
the human body. What once ap- cause of their mutagenic and carcino-
peared to be a marine pollution issue genic properties. After coagulation
is rapidly becoming a global public and filtration, the moringa treatment
health concern. achieved removal rates similar to
Two recent studies, from Austria conventional chemicals.
and Brazil, reveal both the scale of The two studies together expose
the problem and the possibility of an a stark contradiction of modern life.
affordable solution. Humanity has created a pollution
The first study, published in Na- crisis so widespread that microscopic
ture by researchers from the Uni- plastics are now circulating through
versity of Vienna, challenges a long- Microplastics carry negative electrical charges that keep them suspended in water and diffi- the atmosphere like industrial dust.
held belief that oceans are the main cult to filter. Coagulants neutralise those charges, causing particles to clump together so they Yet solutions may not always require
source of airborne microplastics. Us- futuristic technology or massive in-
ing 2,782 atmospheric measurements can be removed more easily (File photo) vestment.
from around the world and compar- Sometimes, nature itself may of-
ing them with advanced transport More worrying is the fact that State University in Brazil have dis- fer part of the answer.
models, scientists discovered that scientists still do not fully understand covered that Moringa oleifera seeds The political challenge now is ur-
land sources release more than 20 the scale of the crisis. The Vienna re- can effectively remove microplastics gency. Governments worldwide have
times as many microplastic particles searchers found earlier models had from water. Their findings, published focused heavily on climate change,
into the atmosphere as the oceans. dramatically overestimated atmo- in ACS Omega, suggest the plant- but microplastic pollution has yet to
“The now scaled emission esti- spheric plastic concentrations, expos- based extract can rival conventional receive the same coordinated glob-
mates show that over 20 times more ing major gaps in global data. chemical treatments used in water al response. That needs to change
microplastic particles are emitted on “The data situation is still not purification systems. quickly.
land than from the ocean,” said lead satisfactory, and there are still major The science is straightforward. Microplastics are not disappear-
author Andreas Stohl. uncertainties,” Stohl admitted, call- Microplastics carry negative elec- ing. They break into ever-smaller par-
The finding shifts attention to- ing for more measurements to un- trical charges that keep them sus- ticles that spread farther and become
ward urban and industrial life it- derstand how much pollution comes pended in water and difficult to filter. harder to remove. Every delay means
self. Every time tyres wear down on from traffic and other sources. Coagulants neutralise those charges, more contamination in air, water and
roads, synthetic clothes are washed That uncertainty should concern causing particles to clump together food systems.
or plastic waste breaks apart, micro- governments rather than reassure so they can be removed more easily. The lesson from these studies
scopic particles are released into the them. Environmental crises often be- Traditionally, treatment plants is clear. The microplastic crisis is no
environment. Winds then carry them come most dangerous when pollution rely on aluminium sulfate for this longer confined to oceans or landfills.
across continents before they settle spreads faster than scientific under- process. But the Brazilian team found It is in the air people breathe and the
back onto soil and water. standing or regulation. Microplastics that saline extracts from moringa water they drink. But while the prob-
This explains why microplastics may now fit that pattern. seeds performed similarly — and in lem is global, the solution may begin
are now being found even in isolat- Yet amid the alarming findings, some alkaline conditions, even better. with something surprisingly simple:
ed regions far removed from major another study offers hope. “We showed that the saline extract recognising that the fight against plas-
cities. Pollution is no longer staying Researchers at the Institute of from the seeds performs similarly to tic pollution requires both scientific
where it is produced. Science and Technology of São Paulo aluminum sulfate,” said researcher innovation and sustainable thinking.

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