Microplastic Filtering Devices are Hoped Will Help to Preserve Oregon’s Tourism Industry

Portland State University (PSU) researchers will be working in collaboration with various tourist organizations on a project to install microplastic filtering devices, such as commercial dishwashers and dryer vents, that release tiny plastic particles into the air.

This is a solution-seeking project funded with a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and backed by Oregon’s U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden.

Project Aims to Curb Invasion of Microplastics into the Environment

PSU professor Elise Granek says researchers will be working with Pacific coastline hotels and organizations, both in Oregon and Washington state, in a project aimed at finding solutions to the invasion of microplastics into the environment.

Granek says microplastics are to be found in the air that Oregonians breathe, waterways and seafood. The lead researcher explains that microplastics are created by the breakdown of larger products. Granek says plastic fibers in clothing break down when laundered, and are then released into the waterways via drains, or blown into the air via dryer vents.

Four Billion Plastic Particles Enter Portland Waterways Every Year

It is estimated that 4 billion particles of plastic microfibers from clothing enter the Portland metro area waterways annually, explaining its presence in fish life. Granek says that adding failure to prevent microplastics from infiltrating the environment will have dramatic impacts on human and animal life.

Studies undertaken over the last five years have discovered microplastic in human blood and organs, including placentas, breast milk, and in heart and lung tissue.

The New Research Projects Aims to Find Solutions

Granek says the negative health effects of microplastics in animals and other organisms can then be transferred to humans. She says while the impact of microplastics has been studied in the past by Oregon State University, the University of Washington and researchers from the Oregon Sea Grant, the new research project is different.

She says studying and documenting the problem of microplastic invasion into the environment does not solve the problem. By installing anti-microplastic invasion devices into machinery such as commercial dishwashers and air dryer vents, researchers hope to find some solutions.

Microplastics are diminutive in size – about one-fifth of inch in diameter – and protecting the Oregon coastline is essential, especially to Oregon’s tourism industry says Sen. Wyden. Finding a solution will ensure the preservation of the industry, and of Oregon’s 360-mile Pacific coastline.