Microplastic waste work continues

UNSW SMaRT Centre researchers are continuing their work on sharing their growing understanding of microplastic wastes as part of the Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub that the UNSW SMaRT Centre leads.

In their latest work, SMaRT researchers from the Hub’s Understanding Microplastics project and collaborators from Ocean Protect recently presented their work at the franc.2025 conference as well as the Microplastics in Focus Conference in Newcastle, for which they won the Best Presenter Award.

The conferences explored how microplastics move through soil, water and air, and the implications for environmental and human health. Discussions highlighted new detection technologies, ecological impacts, and the importance of coordinated science–policy–industry action to build a more circular, plastic-resilient future.

Speakers also emphasised the urgency of understanding microplastic sources and pathways, with particular focus on tyres, textiles and packaging, which are key contributors to pollution in urban environments.

A highlight for the joint presentations with Ocean Protect’s Daniel Rider, “From Factories to Front Yards: Investigating Microplastics in Urban Stormwater.” 

The presentation showcased early findings from a twelve-month study examining how microplastics travel through stormwater systems using OceanGuard devices installed in drains across multiple sites.

Over the course of the project, the team:

• collected more than 80 samples
• analysed plastics across four size ranges
• applied systematic separation and identification techniques to characterise particles with precision. 

The team’s real-time analysis approach drew strong interest from researchers and industry participants, underscoring the need for robust data to support sustainable stormwater planning and pollution prevention.

In recognition of their clear communication and collaborative research, Dr Sanjith Udayakumar and Daniel Rider received the conference’s Best Presenter Award. 

SMaRT's Dr Farshid Pahlevani, Sofia Payel and Asiyeh Kheradmand’s research efforts were integral in the creation of the presentation.

This follows a recent scientific paper by UNSW SMaRT Centre researchers that was published revealing the impacts of microplastics generated from polypropylene (PP) bottles commonly used for infants and re-usable drinking.

The study - just published in the prestige Elsevier journal Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management - investigated microplastic effects of PP, widely used for food and beverage storage.

PP has a propensity to release microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) under routine use conditions, and the SMaRT team investigated impacts of PP infant feeding bottles and water bottles under controlled thermal and mechanical stresses.

Supported with funding from the Australian Government under the National Environmental Science Program's Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub, headed by SMaRT and Prof Veena, the study found:

• That polypropylene bottles used for drinking water and infant feeding release substantial quantities of microplastics under conditions simulating real use.
• Particles were predominantly flake-like and irregular, with crystalline–amorphous transitions and multilayer breakdown observed.
• Baby bottles released more MPs under thermal stress, whereas surface and mechanical stresses predominated in water bottles.
• These results provide new mechanistic insights into PP degradation pathways and highlight the importance of advanced, multi-modal analytical approaches for future evaluation of nanoscale plastic release.
• Out of multiple plastic polymers, microplastics generated from PP have been identified as the dominant type in adult stool samples, comprising 62.8 % of the detected MPs.
• PP accounts for approximately 20 % of global non-fibre plastic production, making it a widely manufactured polymer.
• Due to its durability, chemical resistance, and versatility, PP is generally regarded as safe plastic, commonly used across various industries, including packaging, medical applications, and consumer goods.
• Such uses of PP pave the way for direct human exposure and environmental contamination. 

Read the research report

This report builds other recent microplastics research by SMaRT on behalf of the SCaW Hu,:

Microplastics in coastal and marine environments research

Study reveals extent of microplastics pollution in Australia