A Closer Look to our Environment

Beneath our feet lies a world where soil and plants are linked in a vital dance. This hidden ecosystem is crucial, providing our food, purifying water and maintaining climate balance. We will explore this underground universe and understand the relationship between plants, soil and the organisms that live in it. Discover how the earth beneath us isn't just dirt - it's a vibrant, life-sustaining ecosystem for us all.

Advances in materials development have positively enriched our daily lives in diverse ways. Yet, numerous studies have made the ubiquitous presence of plastics in the environment undeniable, and thus it is no longer a surprise when researchers show the accumulation of macroplastic litter and nano- and microplastic fragments in both urban and remote sites. In order to fully understand plastics environmental impact across its entire lifecycle, we need to be able to 1) quantify and characterize their concentration in different ecosystems, 2) understand their environmental fate and hazards and 3) back policies and regulations which support the development of materials and processes that decrease environmental risks associated with plastics. The recent development of methods and approaches in my team at ETH can help to both better assess nano- and microplastics fate, transport and biological interactions as well as understanding the impacts of (nano- and micro)plastics pollution with a systems view. Additionally, some reflections on future policies and regulations which may guide us in creating and using plastics more sustainably to reduce their negative impacts across their entire lifecycle will be presented.