Recycling plastic is a wet business.
The recommendation that we wash plastic bottles and containers before we toss them in our yellow recycling bins has a real purpose, reducing the amount of water needed when the plastic is recycled.
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As part of the plastic recycling process, containers are sorted, separated and then prewashed to rinse out any trash or debris, bottles are then saturated again in a hot, soapy liquid that heats them to remove the labels and caps.
Until recently, this wasn't a problem that Australians had much to do with. Almost all waste plastics were shipped overseas until China instituted a ban on the import of low-grade waste plastics in 2018.
Now, in the rush to set up local recycling facilities, one aspect of the recycling process may have been overlooked, how many microplastics are leached into the environment through the wastewater produced by plastic recycling facilities.
A University of Wollongong PhD candidate is hoping to change this and is refining his pitch to industry to under three minutes in order to grab their attention.
Michael Stapleton was always passionate about reducing waste and after completing an environmental engineering degree, began to look at the sources of microplastic pollution.
"My supervisor and I came across the potential of the recycling industry in producing microplastics, and it looks like it could be a serious problem," he said.
Microplastics, pieces of plastics smaller than 5mm, are increasingly found in rivers and oceans as the globe's appetite for plastic continues unabated.
As plastics do not biodegrade, they only break down into smaller pieces that remain in the environment forever, stunting the growth of plants affecting the reproductive cycle of animals.
The process of plastic recycling, while laudable in reducing the amount of plastic sent to waste, indirectly contributes to the microplastics problem, as the shredding and crushing that turns bottles into pellets also produces microplastics.
Mr Stapleton is adamant that plastic recycling is essential and not going away, but wants to improve the process.
"I'm definitely not shutting down the plastic recycling industry, because we need it, but not every system is going to be perfect."
Figures for how many microplastics are produced in the recycling industry are hard to come by, partly because it is a new issue, but also because of the sensitivities of the industry, yet Mr Stapleton said he was astounded by how much was produced in a lab simulation.
"From my initial studies, it's potentially quite a lot [of microplastics in recycling]. It was a figure that made me look and got kind of scared from it."
In an effort to push the urgency of the issue, Mr Stapleton is condensing his entire research project into a three minute pitch as part of a national competition.
"I've always thought that if you're doing research, you need to be able to explain what you're studying clearly to a broad range of society."
Mr Stapleton will first explain his project to a panel of UOW academics on August 10, before a finalist is selected from among the nine UOW projects to head to a competition covering the Asia-Pacific.
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Mr Stapleton said he's focused on using the competition as a way to find a solution to the microplastics scourge.
"Plastics are everywhere, we need them, but we want to make the [recycling] industry as good as it can be."
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