Microbeads, small spheres of plastic used as an exfoliator in personal care products have been called out for disturbing humans and wildlife; which, without knowing have consumed plastic that has absorbed toxins. The purpose of this experiment is to find an eco-friendly method of filtering (Independent Variable) the beads to prevent them from entering waterways (Dependent Variable) and destroying ecosystems, the control group was treated without any filters. This problem was tested by diluting 15 grams of face wash (100 beads) in 237ml of water and pouring the mixture over three types of filters (burlap fabric, mesh, and burlap fabric coated with basil seeds), that were placed on a bowl. The microbeads that were caught by the filters were counted and trials were repeated 10 times. Though basil seeds worked better, catching 99.9 beads on average, the results were fairly close, with mesh catching 96.2 beads and burlap fabric catching 96.3 beads. The data was put into an ANOVA test, which yielded a p-value of p is less than 0.01, meaning the null hypothesis has been rejected and that the different filtering methods used, truly affected the number of microbeads caught. The experimental hypothesis which stated that the basil seed filter will catch more microbeads was supported by the data. Further research can explore the effect of different fabrics, crops and seed filters on microbeads entering waterways.

Effect of different filters on the amount of microbeads that enter waterways

254th National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.