Plastic pollution global treaty to cover waste pickers and open burning?

Waste pickers are a group of workers who are at risk of accidents and work-related diseases because they are exposed to sources of disease from rubbish piles. Various diseases and work accidents occur in waste pickers in various countries. To describe occupational health and safety problems that occur in waste pickers as well as efforts that can be made to improve occupational health and safety of waste pickers. Literature search through online databases on ScienceDirect, Wiley Online, and ProQuest with the keywords used "occupational health service", "occupational health nursing", "waste picker", and "scavenger" obtained a total of 3,624 articles, carried out reviews resulting in 17 selected articles. Health problems and workplace accidents of waste pickers range from respiratory problems, musculoskeletal problems, communicable and non communicable diseases, mental health problems and other problems to impacting their families and causing death. Policies are needed to regulate the health and work safety of waste pickers as well as to improve knowledge of occupational health and safety, providing Persolan Protective Equipment (PPE) and improving waste picker obedience to use PPE by health care program. Pengumpul sampah merupakan kelompok pekerja yang berisiko terhadap kecelakaan dan penyakit akibat kerja karena terpapar sumber penyakit dari tumpukan sampah. Berbagai penyakit dan kecelakaan kerja terjadi pada pengumpul sampah diberbagai negara. Untuk mendeskripsikan masalah kesehatan dan keselamatan kerja yang terjadi pada pengumpul sampah serta upaya yang dapat dilakukan untuk meningkatkan kesehatan dan keselamatan kerja pengumpul sampah. Pencarian literatur melalui online database pada ScienceDirect, Wiley Online, dan ProQuest dengan kata kunci yang digunakan yaitu “occupational health service”, “occupational health nursing”, “waste picker”, dan “scavenger” didapatkan total 3.624 artikel, dilakukan review sehingga dihasilkan 17 artikel terpilih. Masalah kesehatan dan kecelakaan kerja pengumpul sampah beragam mulai dari masalah pernapasan, masalah muskuloskeletal, penyakit menular dan tidak menular, masalah mental dan masalah lainnya hingga berdampak pada keluarga mereka dan menyebabkan kemantian. Diperlukan kebijakan yang mengatur kesehatan dan keselamatan kerja pengumpul sampah serta peningkatan pengetahuan kesehatan dan keselamatan kerja, pengadaan alat pelindung diri dan meningkatkan kepatuhan penggunaan alat pelindung diri oleh pengumpul sampah melalui peran pelayanan kesehatan.

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Poly(lactic Acid): A Versatile Biobased Polymer for the Future with Multifunctional Properties—From Monomer Synthesis, Polymerization Techniques and Molecular Weight Increase to PLA Applications

Polymers ◽

10.3390/polym13111822 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 1822

Author(s):

Evangelia Balla ◽

Vasileios Daniilidis ◽

Georgia Karlioti ◽

Theocharis Kalamas ◽

Myrika Stefanidou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Molecular Weight ◽

Lactic Acid ◽

Chain Extension ◽

Poly Lactic Acid ◽

Plastic Pollution ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Decomposition Reactions ◽

Melt Polycondensation ◽

Polymerization Conditions ◽

Molecular Weight Increase

Environmental problems, such as global warming and plastic pollution have forced researchers to investigate alternatives for conventional plastics. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA), one of the well-known eco-friendly biodegradables and biobased polyesters, has been studied extensively and is considered to be a promising substitute to petroleum-based polymers. This review gives an inclusive overview of the current research of lactic acid and lactide dimer techniques along with the production of PLA from its monomers. Melt polycondensation as well as ring opening polymerization techniques are discussed, and the effect of various catalysts and polymerization conditions is thoroughly presented. Reaction mechanisms are also reviewed. However, due to the competitive decomposition reactions, in the most cases low or medium molecular weight (MW) of PLA, not exceeding 20,000–50,000 g/mol, are prepared. For this reason, additional procedures such as solid state polycondensation (SSP) and chain extension (CE) reaching MW ranging from 80,000 up to 250,000 g/mol are extensively investigated here. Lastly, numerous practical applications of PLA in various fields of industry, technical challenges and limitations of PLA use as well as its future perspectives are also reported in this review.

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Plastic pollution mitigation – net plastic circularity through a standardized credit system in Asia

Ocean & Coastal Management ◽

10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2021.105733 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 210 ◽

pp. 105733

Author(s):

Maggie Ka Ka Lee

Keyword(s):

Credit System ◽

Plastic Pollution ◽

Pollution Mitigation

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Plastic Pollution in the Ocean: The Impacts of Visual Information and Text on Beliefs, Attitudes, and Expected Behaviours

IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science ◽

10.1088/1755-1315/690/1/012030 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 690 (1) ◽

pp. 012030

Author(s):

Robert W Turner

Keyword(s):

Visual Information ◽

Plastic Pollution

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Microplastics distribution in the Eurasian Arctic is affected by Atlantic waters and Siberian rivers

Communications Earth & Environment ◽

10.1038/s43247-021-00091-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Evgeniy Yakushev ◽

Anna Gebruk ◽

Alexander Osadchiev ◽

Svetlana Pakhomova ◽

Amy Lusher ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Surface Water ◽

Surface Waters ◽

Water Masses ◽

The Arctic ◽

Plastic Pollution ◽

Siberian River ◽

Highest Weight ◽

Surface Samples ◽

Atlantic Origin ◽

Type Size

AbstractPlastic pollution is globally recognised as a threat to marine ecosystems, habitats, and wildlife, and it has now reached remote locations such as the Arctic Ocean. Nevertheless, the distribution of microplastics in the Eurasian Arctic is particularly underreported. Here we present analyses of 60 subsurface pump water samples and 48 surface neuston net samples from the Eurasian Arctic with the goal to quantify and classify microplastics in relation to oceanographic conditions. In our study area, we found on average 0.004 items of microplastics per m3 in the surface samples, and 0.8 items per m3 in the subsurface samples. Microplastic characteristics differ significantly between Atlantic surface water, Polar surface water and discharge plumes of the Great Siberian Rivers, allowing identification of two sources of microplastic pollution (p < 0.05 for surface area, morphology, and polymer types). The highest weight concentration of microplastics was observed within surface waters of Atlantic origin. Siberian river discharge was identified as the second largest source. We conclude that these water masses govern the distribution of microplastics in the Eurasian Arctic. The microplastics properties (i.e. abundance, polymer type, size, weight concentrations) can be used for identification of the water masses.

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