pollution-reduction
Pollution reduction in plant science refers to the use of plants and plant-based systems to mitigate environmental contaminants, including heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and excess nutrients in soil and water. Plants possess unique physiological mechanisms—such as phytoremediation, where roots absorb and sequester toxins, and phytodegradation, where plant enzymes break down pollutants—that make them powerful tools for ecological restoration. Understanding these processes at the molecular and cellular level enables researchers to engineer or select plant varieties with enhanced capacities to clean polluted environments sustainably.
PubMed · 2026-04-01
Plastic pollution from fossil fuels is harming ecosystems and human health worldwide, and scientists are racing to develop bioplastics — materials made from renewable, natural sources that break down safely in the environment.
Conventional plastics can take centuries to fully degrade, instead fragmenting into micro- and nanoplastics now detected in oceans, rivers, soil, atmosphere, drinking water, food, and animal tissues.
Millions of tons of plastic enter the oceans each year, forming massive debris patches that injure or kill birds, turtles, fish, and marine mammals through ingestion and entanglement.
A special journal issue presents five review articles on producing, characterizing, and biodegrading novel bioplastics from diverse renewable sources as a path toward reducing plastic pollution.