I was searching around on the new york times web site and this article caught my attention. It is about a new plastic coating that can be put on things like dishes, mirrors and factory equipment. The coating is designed to repel oil but not water. This makes the use of dish soap unnecessary – only water is needed to clean an item that has this coating. From an environmental stand point, this is very exciting news. Last semester I took intro. to microbiology and we spent about a week learning about waste water and the effects it has on the environment.
One of the biggest problems with waste water is it’s tendency’s to cause algae blooms. A perfect example of this is in the gulf of Mexico which is home to a huge dead zone. (shown in the picture below in red). This is an area where algae has consumed all of the oxygen in the water making the area inhabitable. The algae bloom in due to the influx of nutrients and wastes from the Mississippi.
This causes significant ecological, industrial and even recreational problems. I just thought that this product was an interesting idea to address this ecological issue.
