This episode of Blue Earth is a conversation with John Scott, Senior Chemist at the University of Illinois’, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center. He is focused on emerging contaminants such as microplastics, and is member of the Center’s Applied Research on Industrial and Environmental Systems (ARIES). John speaks about his research on microplastics, including sizes, shapes, and materials, plus chemical composition and absorption, field studies, how much we have yet to learn, and COVID-related PPE waste. John was on a panel that Richard moderated at the 2019 MIT Water Summit. They along with representatives of the EPA and NOAA discussed the Health and Ecological Impacts of Plastic. Look for more episodes of Blue Earth at https://anchor.fm/blueearth or wherever you listen. For info on Future Frogmen check out www.futurefrogmen.org, and most social platforms @futurefrogmen.