by2050: Solar powered light source to eliminate microplastic

Airborne and waterborne microplastics are contaminating the air, water, and biodiversity that we, and all species, rely on in order to be alive. Are orcas disappearing because of ingestion of microplastics in the sea? What land mammals are affected by microplastics in the air? To address this invisible environmental disaster, I’ve created by2050, an organic, bio engineered, and solar powered light source. It will be a network of microplastic absorption units (made of fungi, bacteria, and algae) placed in outdoors (parks, neighborhoods, strip malls, etc.) and indoors where microplastics have been proven to be a problem. The elimination of microplastics will also restrict the ability of new infectious diseases and viruses that could spread further from their ‘trivial island’. Without eliminating the pollutants in our air, we cannot have genuinely healthy cities.

Do you breathe ‘on a daily basis’? Do you need water to live? 100% of people reading this should say yes. However, microplastics are contaminating these sources, are biopersistent, and create what I call the “Piggyback syndrome”, carrying and spreading pollutants. Microplastics can come from many sources. plastic textile fibers account for 60 million metric tons, around “16% of world plastic production. The degradation of these fibers produces fibrous microplastics (MPs). Such MPs have been observed in atmospheric fallouts, as well as in indoor and outdoor environments. Some fibrous MPs may be inhaled. Most of them are likely to be subjected to mucociliary clearance; however, some may persist in the lung causing localized biological responses, including inflammation, especially in individuals with compromised clearance mechanisms. Associated contaminants such as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) could desorb and lead to genotoxicity while the plastic itself and its additives (dyes, plasticizers) could lead to health effects including reproductive toxicity, carcinogenicity and mutagenicity.” I can safely predict that there is no doubt that there will be a health crisis in the future.

Microplastics can cross biological barriers, go through cell membranes and cause tissue damage. The problem comes with the piggyback effect, microplastics absorb toxic chemicals and release them into our digestive systems. If these toxic plastic nanoparticles migrate through the intestinal wall during digestion, they potentially could enter the bloodstream. Nanoplastic lodged in the brains of fish have affected their behavior. With MPs, we face the ‘dumbing-down syndrome’. Fish with MPs in their brains ate . slower and explored their surroundings less. As of now, there’s no research on how this affects human cognitive functions, but the signs are out there that we must address the problems of microplastic before it creates physical and mental health issues.

Humans consume MPS through the ocean, bodies of water, seafood, drinking water, but a primary source for this is the airborne microplastic. It has made its way into our household dust, and the air we breathe. According to research, 114 MPs settle on a dinner plate during a twenty minute meal. This means we could be consuming 68,000 MPs per year into our bodies. Every breath we take has MPs!

by2050 will eliminate the microplastic problem at its source, the air.

There are many ways to deal with the plastic problem on our planet; use less, produce less, recycling, turning waste into non-waste, and new environment-friendly material to replace plastic. by2050 will be used as MP absorbing light sources in indoor and outdoor facilities. Solar panels will be used to power the lamps and in a lab, we will experiment to find the most efficient combination of fungi, algae, bacteria, or genetically modified plant that will eliminate MPs

To the best of my knowledge, there are no indoor and outdoor systems that eliminate microplastics in the air. My design is unique and combines approved systems for microplastic elimination. My system will be lightweight, solar powered, and multipurpose. It provides light and gets rid of microplastics.

In most cities, several streetlights are placed every block. Modifying these lamps to absorb and eliminate microplastics, is the best utilizing of an inert structure (the pole). We can begin to solve the growing microplastic epidemic in the air. We will experiment with several systems to test how effective a design is (a pipe spiraling down the base of the lamp containing the B,F, and A, or an organic mesh (could be made of the BFA(bacteria, fungi, algae) itself) pole, separate spiraling pipes, etc).  I will experiment using three provable plastic waste “eaters” (bacteria, fungi, and algae) to make absorbing microplastics more efficient. In order to make our system more efficient, we will create an A.I. sensor to detect MPs in the air. We want to modify an existing system that the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology is developing where underwater images can be taken with a high-resolution camera; this Japanese A.I. unit will be modified by us to work by detecting microplastic in the air—our unit will also include a library of microplastic detection and recognition properties to compare and contrast in real time. When the MPs are detected, our indoor and outdoor systems will trigger a vacuum unit to bring the MPs closer to the lamp for elimination. Data will be generated to individuals running our indoor systems, to show cleaning process—while for outdoor systems will be connected to a main computer that takes input from the city to collate mass microplastic data.

I would expect my solution to address the problem because research has been done that microplastics are in the air and there is data on how to eliminate these MPs. Japanese scientists are doing research and experimenting towards identifying MPs in the ocean with A.I. in order to eliminate them. I want to help further this research and apply this as soon as possible and globally in order to mediate the MP problem in the air. We envision that our system will be self-generating, solar-powered, and successfully eliminate MPs in the air.

Our solution will affect anyone who breathes. We would like the first prototype by October 31st and to start applying them in nearby towns.

We would like to develop the design to the first prototype by October 31st and to start applying them in nearby towns. In these towns we want to test and get results to see how well it is working. Within the next year, we want to make a clean, working model. Within the next five years we want these systems to be mass produced as a new lighting model for emerging cities and installed in at least five other countries. 

From an engineering standpoint, everything can be made. From the organic, reactive component, we need to prove that a more efficient bacteria can be made to eliminate microplastics, that microplastics can be eliminated, and measure the difference in the air quality. This data is vital to our goal of mass producing this system. We need to overcome the limit in supply of the bacteria, fungi, and algae, and the expenses of creating this machine. For example, a single plasmid costs $65 on the internet. 

To transfer a plasmid into our final system, there is a long trip to take beforehand. First, we must grow the bacteria that contains the PETase enzyme. Since the enzyme is hosted in the bacteria, we must take into consideration the transferring of the enzyme between different life forms. We must purify the DNA to transfer the genetic material and see if other life forms reject or accept the genetic material. We will test different methods such as electrophoresis to efficiently transfer plasmids into other microorganisms that already have certain plastic diminishing qualities (Superbug; make eliminating plastics more efficient) in order to achieve our goal. This is a long process of genetic engineering and we need the tools for these processes (electrophoresis device, DNA purification kit, selection markers, etc.). Once this Superbug is achieved, we envision this to be in our indoor and outdoor systems.

Three, at the moment.

Research assistance from my dad, technical help on plasmid transferring. (biologist) 

I am partnered with Pristine Academy.

Pristine Academy

We want this to be easily accessed by all regions of the world. Ideally, we want our organization to be non-profit and only charge by how much it cost to create each system.

First, we would need funding for the bacterias needed and parts of the light system. We could partner with local universities or corporations.

I want to solve the microplastic problem as soon as possible before it develops into something more serious. I want to put together systems for them to work together.

Coalition for Clean Air

Sierra Club

Union of Concerned Scientists

Since these organizations are in cities and close by the water, it'd be perfect to test our device in the future with them. 

Using this prize we can put some work into researching the AI technology for sensing microplastics in the air and using a vacuum system to bring them in.

Bacterias that cause respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, long term illnesses, and toxic pollutants cling onto microplastics which would be potentially devastating for the human health. We will utilize this prize to partner with labs, specialists, and designers to eliminate these microplastics.

In the developing world, MPs will cause a risk of affecting unborn babies in the womb. We will utilize this prize to partner with labs, specialists, and designers to eliminate these microplastics. We would like to engage women across the world to become partners with us.

In the developing world, MPs will cause a risk of affecting unborn babies in the womb. Humans can act as agents of change by bringing awareness of the environment problem needs to be raised across the globe. We want to partner with labs, specialists, and designers to eliminate these microplastics. by2050 plans to use AI to detect microplastics in the air and trigger a vacuum system to make eliminating MPs more efficient.