Identifying microplastics is focus of new company

Finding the plastics that are in the environment doesn’t sound like huge initiative. Yet, the presence of plastics in the community is alarming. Parverio harnesses a revolutionary technology that allows for microplastic detection at a cost, rate and resolution that has never before been possible.

The smallest — and potentially the most harmful — microplastics exist on the micron scale. Isolating, identifying and counting small microdebris is difficult and time consuming.

“In the last 60 years, we have produced 4 billion tons of plastic,” says Greg Madejski, founder and CEO of Parverio. “In the next 10 years, we are going to produce another 4 billion tons of plastic.”

The reality is that microplastics are everywhere and they are already causing issues. Madejski founded Parverio to meet this emerging concern after he developed a new microplastic detection technique. The goal of the company is to evaluate the microplastics that are out there, at a much lower cost than what has been used previously.

Despite the pandemic, the company was incorporated in April 2020. Eventually, the goal is to take this idea nationally, as this is a repeatable and scalable business. Madejski is executing a kickstarter campaign now to raise startup funding and is developing outreach interviews to spread the word. The company will begin testing drinking water as soon as the project is funded.

Many of the plastics in the environment carry lead or PFAS (a chemical endocrine disruptor). The plastics are lightweight and durable, which can make them hard to get rid of.

Once this problem been fully documented, there will be many people involved in addressing this.

“For starters, we have communicated with lake associations and watershed groups who are interested in improving water quality,” Madejski says. “I’m trying to give people the information they need to pursue change.”

For information on the kickstarter campaign, go to Western New York Microplastic Atlas Crowdfunding Campaign.