(Micro)plastics in Solid Environmental Matrices

ABSTRACT

Plastics are materials that have become a crucial component of our daily lives. Their versatility and durability, however, contribute to their prevalence and persistence in the environment, posing toxicological risks to biota. Therefore, understanding plastic sources, pathways, and fates within the environment is instrumental in identifying infrastructural solutions that can limit their negative impact. Single-use packaging, specifically multilayer packaging, is a well-identified source of plastic waste. Yet, present waste management strategies primarily focus on landfills as their fate because of their incompatibility with predominant recycling technologies. This dissertation research, through mesocosm studies, explored plastic biodegradation as a waste management strategy by bioprospecting for hydrocarbonoclastic and cellulolytic bacterial consortia colonizing the surfaces of plastics which comprise the different layers of multilayer packaging. Evidence of plastic biodegradation was further evaluated via analyses of physicochemical indicators. Finally, a method was developed for microplastic extraction from field soils to assess their pathways and fates in solid matrices.

BIO

Timnit is interested in understanding (micro)plastic pathways and fates in effort to design infrastructural solutions for waste management. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biology from Rutgers University-Camden where she studied the role of plant-microbe interactions in alleviating abiotic and biotic stresses in a changing climate. Timnit is passionate about inclusive STEM education and works with different organizations to advocate for just environmental futures in the context of plastic pollution and nutritionally dense food access. After her PhD, she will be joining Arizona State University’s Center for Environmental Health Engineering at the Biodesign Institute as a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow.