Please join the Notre Dame Environmental Change Initiative for a virtual seminar presented by Julie Peller, Professor of Chemistry, Valparaiso University.

The title of her talk is "The lifecycle of plastics and the escalating pollution of macro, micro and nanoplastics".

REGISTER FOR THE SEMINAR

Abstract: The lifecycle of plastics consists of many polluting industrial processes that are especially harmful to communities located near the facilities. The transportation of materials at different levels of production can also subject communities and ecosystems to hazardous exposures. This was recently on full display in Ohio, where massive amounts of polyvinyl chloride, the compound used to make PVC plastics, and pellets of PVC and polyethylene were released as a result of a massive train wreck. The incompatibility of plastic materials to natural processes has led to massive accumulations of waste plastic in the environment and varying degrees of exposures to micro and nanoplastics, for which the environmental and human health consequences are mostly unknown.

Bio: Dr. Julie Peller is a Professor of Chemistry at VU and her research is in the area of environmental chemistry. She studies contaminants in water and soil and recently has been focusing on the chemistry of the small particles released from plastic materials, micro and nanoplastics. Dr. Peller is also involved in the sampling and chemical analysis of contaminants in environmental justice communities.