15 Years of 5 Gyres means a decade and a half of groundbreaking scientific research. From our early days trawling for microplastics across the world’s oceans, to our discovery of microbeads in the Great Lakes that led to federal legislation, to vetting alternative materials as new innovations progress, 5 Gyres has always been a leader in solutions-focused research.
So, what’s our vision as we look toward the next 15 years? If you’ve been paying attention to the news this year, you know that producing trustworthy science is more important than ever. The Global Plastics Treaty was not signed, scientific agencies have been gutted, and facts are under attack, all while microplastics continue to be discovered in every part of the human body. Despite this, we are more energized than ever to continue driving solutions to plastic pollution.
This year, we published six peer-reviewed publications based on research done in Vietnam, The Pacific Crest Trail, Honduras, and across San Francisco Bay. Our recently published Plastic Air research focuses on an overlooked source of airborne microplastic pollution and offers a realistic solution that can drastically reduce emissions. And we are working behind-the-scenes on several upcoming projects, including evaluating floating wetlands as a nature-based solution to microplastics capture, research in polar regions, and developing the fourth iteration of our Better Alternatives series.
