Takeout food is more popular than ever, but waste created by single-use plastic containers is environmentally harmful. University of Maine engineers have created a grease-proof, water-resistant container from recyclable cellulose nanocomposites that could be the next big thing in takeout technology. The demand for takeout, fast food and ready-made food has created an enormous plastic […]
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News Center Maine reported on research conducted by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and Maine Farmland Trust in collaboration with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Maine Department of Environmental Protection about crops that may be able to absorb PFAS from the soil. Plants like hemp have been shown to suck the chemicals […]
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The Sun Journal reported on a University of Maine research study that shows animals and plants get rid of PFAS at different rates. The research showed that, once ingested, PFAS cycles out of dairy cows faster than humans, and even quicker in chickens. Corn and oats planted in contaminated soil will take up very little […]
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Leslie Forstadt, human development specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and Caroline Noblet, associate professor of economics at the University of Maine and a team member of the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions PFAS Research Initiative, were interviewed for the Bangor Daily News about the anxiety surrounding Maine’s PFAS crisis. […]
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Jean MacRae, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Maine, was interviewed by the Maine Monitor in an article about the importance of quality compost for Maine’s soil health, especially in light of the PFAS crisis. MacRae said that given the difficulty determining which paper and cardboard materials contain PFAS, it’s best to […]
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The Bangor Daily News interviewed Diane Kopec, faculty fellow at the George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, about the difference between mercury contamination and PFAS contamination in Maine’s fish. Kopec told the BDN that while mercury tends to collect in fish muscle, PFAS contamination appears to be more widespread throughout the fish, which could […]
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Jean MacRae, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Maine, spoke with the Bangor Daily News for an article about PFAS in Maine’s waterways. MacRae said that wastewater treatment plants make the water safe enough to pump back into a waterway, but they don’t treat it for PFAS, and they’re not […]
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Dianne Kopec, a research fellow at the University of Maine’s Sen. George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, spoke with the Portland Press Herald about her research studying how PFAS moves between soil, groundwater and surface water. Kopec told the PPH that she is hoping to expand her work to study the movement of the […]
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The Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine will host a talk on PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” and the PFAS crisis in Maine 3–4 p.m. on Monday, April 4. PFAS, a group of thousands of chemicals with the ability to repel both water and oil, has been used […]
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On Thursday, March 31, hundreds of people from around the state will converge on the Augusta Civic Center for the 2022 Maine Sustainability & Water Conference. This year’s event, from 7:30 a.m.–4 p.m., will be the first since 2019 at which conference attendees will gather in person to reconnect, exchange information and grow new collaborations […]
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