Looking for a Chinese solution to global problems:The situation and countermeasures of marine plastic waste and microplastics pollution governance system in China

As one of the top ten environmental problems to be solved in the world,marine plastic waste and microplastic pollution seriously affect the health of marine ecosystems and the sustainable development of Marine economies.It is necessary to promote the establishment of a scientific and systematic Marine plastic waste and microplastic pollution control system and take strong measures to fundamentally curb and reverse the trend of marine pollution intensification in China.This paper first explains the practical significance of marine plastic waste and microplastic pollution control from three aspects:the sustainable development of the blue economy,the structural upgrading of the pan-plastic industry,and the improvement of public health awareness.Secondly,the particularity of marine plastic waste and microplastic pollution control system is summarized from three aspects of formation mechanism,migration path and damage performance.Then,it identifies domestic and international governance strategies and action plans from the perspectives of mechanism,subject,object,and measures,summarizes existing problems in the existing marine plastic waste and microplastic pollution control system,and gives directions for future improvement.Finally,some countermeasures and suggestions are put forward to accelerate the construction of China’s marine plastic waste and microplastic pollution control system,including the formation of a cross sectoral integrated land and sea control system,a full life cycle waste management process,a multi-participation model for marine ecological and environmental governance,and a global marine pollution prevention and control system.

Machine learning facilitated the modeling of plastics hydrothermal pretreatment toward constructing an on-ship marine litter-to-methanol plant

An onboard facility shows promise in efficiently converting floating plastics into valuable products,such as methanol,negating the need for regional transport and land-based treatment.Gasification presents an effective means of processing plastics,requiring their transformation into gasification-compatible feedstock,such as hydrochar.This study explores hydrochar composition modeling,utilizing advanced algorithms and rigorous analyses to unravel the intricacies of elemental composition ratios,identify influential factors,and optimize hydrochar production processes.The investigation begins with decision tree modeling,which successfully captures relationships but encounters overfitting challenges.Nevertheless,the decision tree vote analysis,particularly for the H/C ratio,yielding an impressive R2 of 0.9376.Moreover,the research delves into the economic feasibility of the marine plastics-to-methanol process.Varying payback periods,driven by fluctuating methanol prices observed over a decade(ranging from 3.3 to 7 yr for hydrochar production plants),are revealed.Onboard factories emerge as resilient solutions,capitalizing on marine natural gas resources while striving for near-net-zero emissions.This comprehensive study advances our understanding of hydrochar composition and offers insights into the economic potential of environmentally sustainable marine plastics-to-methanol processes.

Fishing Production and Fishing Changes in Hong Kong after the Ground Trawl Ban of 31st December 2012:A Geospatial Evaluation

From data published by the Hong Kong SAR(HKSAR)government in their two sole fisheries surveys of 2006 and 2016/2017,the current authors produced regional maps using spatial interpolation to more accurately describe and estimate the geographic coverage of changes in fishing production in Hong Kong waters since the ground trawl ban of 2012 December 31st.These suggest the fishing industry has adapted to smaller craft,and that fishing production increased in several areas in the period after the ground trawl ban came into effect.In addition,the maps enable a smoother assessment to be made of the geospatial changes in fishing production which have occurred since the ground trawl ban and suggest a‘workaround’by fishermen.In particular,small fishing craft known as sampans are able to take advantage by being more suitable vessels for areas such as narrower or shallower bays.Marine plastics pollution is also a proxy indicator of these activities,as evidenced by discarded fishing gear that includes plastic nets,floats,and other fishing boat equipment.

Review of Microplastic Pollution in the Environment and Emerging Recycling Solutions

Microplastic pollution represents a side-effect stemming from a global plastic waste mismanagement problem and includes degraded particles or mass produced plastic particles less than 5 mm in largest dimension.The small nature of microplastics gives this area of pollution different environmental concerns than general plastic waste in the environment.The biological toxicity of particles,their internal components,and their surface level changes all present opportunities for these particles to adversely affect the environment around them.Thus,it is necessary to review the current literature surrounding this topic and identify areas where the study of microplastic can be pushed forward.Here we present current methods in studying microplastics,some of the ways by which microplastics affect the environment and attempt to shed light on how this research can continue.In addition,we review current recycling methods developing for the processing of mixed-plastic waste.These methods,including hydrothermal processing and solvent extraction,provide a unique opportunity to separate plastic waste and improve the viability of the plastics recycling industry.

Recovery of plastics from dumpsites and landfills to prevent marine plastic pollution in Thailand

Marine plastic pollution has become a major threat to the ecosystem.The increasing production and use of plastic,combined with limitations of waste management practices,mean the leakage of plastic waste into the environment is bound to increase.This study focuses on the determination of plastic recovery potential from dumpsites and landfills in Thailand,to potentially prevent marine plastic pollution.In this study,two dumpsites were analysed wherein an average of 42% of plastic was found to be present.This value,when extrapolated for Thailand,is equivalent to 187.9 million tonnes of plastic waste in dumpsites and landfills.While there are 2380 dumpsites in the country,this study suggests that 973 of these spread over 42 provinces are located near water bodies or coastline,which should be considered as a priority.The plastic waste recovered from these dumpsites can be treated by co-fuelling in cement industries.Cement kilns can valorise plastic waste as they can reach up to 75%energy recovery from waste,which is much higher compared to traditional waste-to-energy plants.With adequate incentives and sound regulations,cement industries could help in the reduction of marine plastic pollution with controlled emissions and a very large capacity to co-fuel cement production,there is a readily available solution to manage the large volumes of solid waste generated.