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Sherri Mason, a researcher at New York State University – Fredonia, recently received the Heinz Award for her groundbreaking work on plastic pollution in the Great Lakes. Image: Annie O Neill
By Tamia Boyd
A New York chemistry professor has recently been recognized for his pioneering role in identifying microplastics as a major pollutant in the Great Lakes.
His efforts have limited the use of microplastics.
Sherri Mason, professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia, received the Heinz Award for Public Policy. The Heinz Family Foundation Award recognizes significant achievements in the arts and humanities, the environment, the human condition, public policy, technology, the economy and the arts. l & # 39; employment.
Microbeads, microplastics and microfibres have been identified as pollutants in the world's oceans. Mason has been recognized as the first scientist to research and identify pollutants in the Great Lakes.
"The most interesting thing I've discovered is that no matter where we're looking for microplastics," Mason said. "We find them everywhere. We look in the air, the sediments, an isolated lake in the middle of Mongolia and, no matter where we look, we find microplastics.
Great Lakes Echo recently reported that researchers have discovered pieces of plastic in 12 beer brands. And even Africa has a microplastic problem. The researchers there recently found them in the Vaal River in South Africa.
Mason began doing plastic research in the summer of 2011 during an environmental science course she was teaching aboard a sailing vessel.
She was then wondering what is called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area of the ocean between Hawaii and California with a buildup of plastic. She asked if the Great Lakes were also polluted. And this triggered a new interest in research.
"I had a passion and interest in this field more than any other type of field I'd studied before," Mason said. "After leaving the boat, I thought, 'That's all. That's what I want to do, I want to completely change my search direction and that's what I want to focus on. "
Microbeads are extremely small pieces of plastic used in exfoliating agents and other cleaning products. They are illegal in the United States, thanks to Mason's research and the promulgation of the 2015 federal law on waters without microbeads.
The UK, Ireland, Italy and many other countries have followed with similar bans.
Mason has also researched other non-biodegradable materials – synthetic fibers made entirely from chemicals. And she examines microplastics in drinking water.
She is completing a project with the United States Geological Survey that examines the flow of plastics in rivers, taking samples of water at the surface and at different depths. The idea is to understand how plastic moves in an aquatic ecosystem. Where does it end? When do things get better?
Another project Mason works on and a colleague is studying what happens to freshwater plankton when it consumes microbeads and microfibers. And it examines the chemicals that emerge when plastics break down.
"From an ecological point of view, it's very interesting," she said. The next question: "What is the impact this has?"
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