Issue 77 - October 2021

‘Driving’ Innovation to Help Eliminate Plastic Waste

University of Missouri engineers are working with Dow and the Missouri Department of Transportation to test the use of plastic waste in road pavement mixtures.

Each year in the United States, millions of tons of plastic waste are discarded and not recycled, leading to serious environmental problems. In an effort to help keep this waste from ending up in the environment, engineers at the University of Missouri are partnering with Dow and the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to test mixing plastic waste into the asphalt pavement mixtures for possible use on American roadways and bridges.

Asphalt pavement mixtures are typically created from a mixture of asphalt and other materials called “aggregates,” such as stone, sand or gravel, said Bill Buttlar, the Glen Barton Chair in Flexible Pavements in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He said the chemical makeup of plastic helps it become a good product for road pavement mixtures.

“Plastic was developed to be durable and has a shelf life of hundreds of years,” Buttlar said. “Asphalt and plastics are also chemically similar because they both come from crude oil, so they can be mixed together. They aren’t perfectly compatible, but it’s close enough that engineers and chemists can work together to find a workable solution.”

Lab staff in the Mizzou Asphalt Pavement and Innovation Lab, or MAPIL, show the plastic waste particles that are being added to the pavement mixture. The lab is located inside the MU College of Engineering.

Inside the Mizzou Asphalt Pavement and Innovation Lab, or MAPIL, located in the MU College of Engineering, engineers and students are determining how to incorporate various types of single-use, polyethylene-based plastic waste into asphalt pavement, including drinking bottles, grocery bags and drinking straws. Buttlar, the lab’s director, said the idea for using plastic waste in pavement developed through a series of conversations he had with Mizzou alumnus Jim Fitterling, the chairman and CEO of Dow, a $39 billion global materials science company, following a tour Fitterling had of the MAPIL lab during a recent visit to the college.

Fitterling is looking forward to partnering with his alma mater.

“I joined Dow more than 35 years ago, two weeks after graduating from Mizzou,” Fitterling said. “Both this company and this university have been integral parts of my life. So, I always appreciate the opportunity to bring the two together. But, even more than that, through this project, Mizzou and Dow are partnering on an innovative solution that will better our planet. This project fits perfectly at the intersection between both Dow and the University of Missouri’s purpose and mission. At Dow, we’re working to tackle some of the toughest challenges facing our world, like ending plastic waste. These challenges will require great problem solvers and strong partnerships. I know we’re getting both when we work with the University of Missouri College of Engineering.”

A real-world test

MoDOT is excited to begin seeing the use of recycled plastic in asphalt pavements, said Dave Ahlvers, state construction and materials engineer.

“Recycled material is an important element of delivering a durable and economic product,” Ahlvers said. “We currently utilize recycled asphalt, pavement, recycled asphalt shingles and ground tire rubber in our mixtures. Expanding to utilize plastic reduces the amount of virgin material needed, which is a winning situation for the environment and overall cost.”

An asphalt paving machine prepares to receive new asphalt paving material made with recycled plastic while resurfacing a portion of Stadium Boulevard in Columbia.

MU’s engineers and students get to test their laboratory-developed mixture in a real-world environment when it is applied as a pavement overlay, or a new layer of asphalt, to a deteriorating section of road surface, along a stretch of Stadium Boulevard in Columbia from College Ave. to U.S. Highway 63 where traffic averages approximately 36,000 vehicles a day. Buttlar said to confirm the results, the team will need to observe the nearly two-mile test area for at least one year, including one summer and one winter season. He said a pavement overlay should last for at least a decade, or about 12-15 years, before needing to be replaced, and recycled materials such as plastic and tire rubber can also extend pavement life by increasing both its strength and toughness. Buttlar also plans to conduct long-term monitoring of Stadium Boulevard and future demonstration projects in partnership with MoDOT.

Lab staff prepare the plastic waste pavement mixture for testing.

The test sections on Stadium Boulevard will also include a control section, or area with a current pavement mixture commonly used and approved by MoDOT, as well as an additional test section using a pavement mixture including a chemically modified, recycled ground scrap tire rubber. The ground tire rubber test is being conducted in collaboration with an additional project partner, Asphalt Plus, LLC. This product extends road life, reduces road construction costs, and could prevent the disposal of millions of scrap tires in the U.S. and Europe.

Meeting the right specifications

Before a pavement mixture can be applied on a commercial scale to be used by contractors when bidding on road projects, it must first have a certain specification that is approved by MoDOT, or another state’s transportation regulatory authority. This process begins in the development stage, when labs such as MAPIL assist with creating a product, and can also continue once a field demonstration project has been completed and contractors can conduct further innovation in their own laboratories.

“The specifications are a set of requirements and parameters that are placed in the contract so that a consistent product can be produced and bid on by all contractors,” Ahlvers said. “Innovation allows MoDOT to use our funding most efficiently, and we are hopeful that we can make a difference in reducing plastics entering landfills.”

Keeping the environment in mind

One key aspect of this project is making sure the final product doesn’t cause a harmful impact to the environment. So Buttlar is collaborating with one of his colleagues in the College of Engineering, Baolin Deng, to study the project’s environmental impact. Deng, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has already assisted Buttlar’s team with electron microscopy testing and water quality testing, and Buttlar said so far, the results indicate that the environmental impact should be negligible.

An asphalt pavement test mixture sample designed by the Mizzou Asphalt Pavement and Innovation Lab is ready for further lab testing to determine its strength and durability.

“Everyone has a sense that this is a really big deal,” Buttlar said. “On the one hand, we appreciate plastics and we benefit from them, yet we are swimming in plastic waste right now. This is clearly a critical, global challenge where there are not a lot of viable solutions currently available. In this case, the pavement will have to be durable, economical and truly sustainable. We’re now focused on studying the life cycle of plastic waste in pavement to make sure that it is a cleaner, more sustainable approach, and I think everyone senses that this is a possible solution.”

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Issue 77 - October 2021

SEVENSEAS Beach Cleanup Event for October 2021

It was a bit hectic with COVID-19 this time. However, we manage to organise our cleanup event on Sunday 7th October 2021. This time, we managed to collect only 74 kilograms of marine debris from the beach which is a bit less than last time.

By undertaking these endeavours, we aimed to make a positive impact on our local environment while raising awareness about the significance of preserving our oceans. You can support us by making a DONATION HERE.

Issue 77 - October 2021

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The FREE Weekly Conservation Post and Jobs List

Signing up for the free Weekly Newsletter & Jobs List will get you a round-up of upcoming events, webinars, meetings, reports, funding opportunities, photos of the week, and recent postings to the jobs list.

To sign up for our free subscription, please Click Here or email us Here.

Since 2004, SEVENSEAS Media has fostered an informal and non-partisan platform to promote understanding of key issues and challenges while building partnerships across an increasingly diverse group of marine conservation professionals and students.

Our mission is to promote communication and build partnerships across the global marine community and to identify and address gaps in the community’s work. SEVENSEAS Media achieves this through multimedia promotion and partnerships. The community consists of a diverse and growing group of participants, including non-governmental organizations, government agencies, foundations, bilateral and multilateral agencies, fellowship programs, independent consultants, and academia/students.

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Feature Destination

Fisheries Interactions More Threatening to Maui Nui Dolphins than Previously Thought

Researchers at Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF), a nonprofit organization protecting the ocean through science and advocacy since 1980, dove deep below the surface in a new study that could revolutionize how researchers evaluate the impact of fisheries interactions on dolphin populations. Using dorsal fin, mouth line and underwater body imagery, the latter a first of its kind for this type of study, researchers found that fisheries interactions on Maui Nui dolphins may be more pervasive than initially thought.

Principal investigator Jens Currie, PWF’s Chief Scientist and co-author oversaw the recently published paper, External Scarring as an Indicator of Fisheries Interactions with Bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) and Pantropical Spotted (Stenella attenuata) Dolphins in Maui Nui, Hawai‘iwhich used PWF’s long-term historic data on bottlenose and spotted dolphins collected over a 24-year period from 1996-2020. A recent paper citing an apparent decline in bottlenose dolphin population in Maui Nui highlights the importance of PWF’s study in exploring the potential impacts of fisheries interaction to these dolphins.

Abigail Machernis, PWF Research Biologist and lead author of the paper, examined data collected in the Maui Nui region of Hawai‘i, which consists of the islands of Maui, Moloka‘i, Lana‘i and Kaho‘olawe and found 27% of 255 identified bottlenose dolphins and 13% of 374 identified spotted dolphins displayed one or more fishery gear-related scars. Every image in the nonprofit’s extensive photo-ID catalog, was reviewed to identify dolphins with scars on dorsal fins, mouthlines and bodies of dolphins that indicate past interactions with fisheries and fishing gear. The objectives of PWF’s research were (1) to determine the number of bottlenose and spotted dolphins that showed evidence of a fisheries interaction in Maui Nui; and (2) to determine if underwater body images, in addition to the traditionally used dorsal fin and mouthline images, increased detection rates of evidence of fisheries interactions.

Building on established methodology, focused primarily on dorsal fin analysis, researchers used underwater body images to gain a new perspective for assessing fisheries interactions. The inclusion of underwater photo analysis was a game changer, according to Machernis. “Most research literature that examines fisheries interactions look primarily at dorsal fins and we wanted to use all the data we have collected to examine as much of the dolphins’ body as possible for evidence of fishing-gear related scars.”

The study’s innovative approach involves combining individual assessments of dolphins’ dorsal fins, mouthlines and bodies into a single assessment and found the inclusion of underwater imagery increased scar detection rates by 51% for bottlenose dolphins and 40% for spotted dolphins. Using past research on fisheries interactions coupled with forward-thinking research methods, the study is the first to present a standardized approach for using photos of dorsal fins, mouthlines, and underwater body footage into the assessment of fisheries interactions.

“Without documenting real-time interactions or observing physical gear on an animal’s body, photo analysis is the best available proxy for quantifying fisheries interactions,” notes Currie. “There is still more research to be done and we want to make sure we have all the information needed to determine if there is a conservation concern and then work with fishers on a solution if warranted.”

Worldwide, interactions with fisheries have been identified as one of the leading conservation concerns for cetaceans resulting in lethal or non-lethal consequences. The full extent is hard to assess as most entanglements are never observed, but research noted by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) suggests that over 300,000 whales and dolphins die annually due to entanglement in marine debris. This can have a devastating, long-term conservation impact on those populations that are already threatened, in some cases critically.

Past and ongoing research confirms that direct interactions between cetaceans and fishing gear typically transpire in one of two ways: (1) animals unintentionally swim into gear becoming entangled or entrapped or (2) animals deliberately remove fish captured in gear, a behavior known as depredating, and become hooked and/or entangled as a result. Some fishing gear interactions can result in serious injury or mortality from entanglement or ingestion of gear.

These types of interactions occur globally and are likely to increase due to the potential for continued human encroachment on cetacean habitats. Thus, the paper asserts, population-level impacts of fisheries on cetaceans are of great concern and there is a critical need to identify which species interact with which fisheries and the location(s) these interactions occur so researchers can work with fishers to find sustainable solutions.

In short, Machernis concludes that these findings suggest that fisheries interactions are more widespread than we previously thought, and this can have implications on how we manage these near shore island-associated populations. In addition to informing management and conservation actions, the study and paper support outreach efforts targeting recreational and commercial fishers that provide education on best fishing practices when dolphins are present.

“We highly recommend researchers interested in examining the threat of fisheries interactions to dolphins make a concerted effort in the field to collect above-water mouth line and body shots, in addition to underwater footage,” Machernis advises, emphasizing the value of images such as those studied in providing a more accurate analysis of scar detection rates.

PWF’s scientific paper, External Scarring as an Indicator of Fisheries Interactions with Bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) and Pantropical Spotted (Stenella attenuata) Dolphins in Maui Nui, Hawai‘iauthored by Abigail Machernis, Stephanie H. Stack, Grace L. Olson, Florence A. Sullivan and Jens Currie, is published in Aquatic Mammals and available for review. All Pacific Whale Foundation publications are freely available at PacificWhale.org/research/publications.

To learn more or make a contribution to support PWF’s dolphin research, please visit PacificWhale.org/pacific-whale-foundation/.

About Pacific Whale Foundation

With a mission to protect the ocean through science and advocacy and to inspire environmental stewardship, Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF) conducts Research, Education and Conservation programs. Founded in 1980 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to saving the world’s whales from extinction, PWF now solely owns social enterprise PacWhale Eco-Adventures, which offers fee-based programs and services to help support the nonprofit. Combined with memberships, donations, charitable grants and a remarkable group of dedicated volunteers, PWF now reaches more than 400,000 individuals each year through its Maui and Australia offices and research projects in Ecuador and Chile.