Microplastic-Reducing Sound Speakers

Indonesian researchers at the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember have found a way to remove microplastics from seawater without expensive filtration systems. By allowing contaminated water to pass through a pipe, researchers can utilize underwater speakers to create vibrations and separate microplastics from the water by driving them away. This concentrated stream of plastic can then be deflected away when the water exits the pipe, and the remaining clean water can continue to flow forward. This method creates a force field using sound waves to fight against the growing threat of microplastics to humans and the environment.

Microplastics are a significant threat to life, as they can lodge in the tissues of the animals and people that ingest them.

“They don’t just pass through, they get absorbed,” Charles Moore, founder of Algalita Marine Research and Education, says. “They pass the blood-brain barrier; they lodge in the placenta. They get into brains and change behavior, because the brain is an electrical organ, and plastics are insulators.”

Image Credit: Yunaidi Joepoet, Getty Images