CAN MORINGA BE THE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF REMOVING MICROPLASTICS FROM OUR OCEANS?

CAN MORINGA BE THE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF REMOVING MICROPLASTICS FROM OUR OCEANS?

The jury is still out on this one.

But I believe moringa can be part of the solution to the microplastic problem, although it certainly is not the only solution.

A 2026 study published in ACS Omega by researchers from São Paulo State University in Brazil found that a saline extract from moringa (Moringa oleifera) seeds removed 98.5% of aged PVC microplastics under optimized laboratory conditions. The researchers compared it with alum, a conventional water-treatment coagulant.

How does it work? The positively charged proteins in moringa seed extract help neutralize the negative charge on microplastic particles, causing them to clump together so they can be filtered out.

But let us not get carried away.

This does not mean we can pour moringa extract into the Pacific Ocean and expect the microplastics to disappear. The study dealt with controlled water-treatment systems. The researchers themselves identified the need for further work, including dealing with the additional dissolved organic carbon introduced by the moringa extract.

So perhaps the better question is:

Where can moringa become part of the solution?

Wastewater treatment plants? River and estuary outfalls? Community water-treatment systems?

These possibilities deserve serious investigation.

And there is another reason why I find this particularly interesting.

Moringa is already here.

The Department of Agriculture describes malunggay as one of the country's valuable trees, commonly cultivated in many parts of the Philippines. The DA has also documented its nutritional and commercial potential.

If a new global demand for moringa develops because of water treatment, even as only a small component of the overall microplastic solution, the potential economic opportunity could be substantial.

But we should not expect moringa to become a silver bullet that will end our microplastic woes.

We still have to go back to the basics: efficient solid-waste management.

If we allow plastics to escape into rivers and eventually into our seas, we are merely treating the symptoms instead of the disease.

Nevertheless, moringa is easy to grow, harvest and process. Why not develop it as another livelihood crop for our farmers?

I would even recommend multicropping—moringa together with coconuts, cacao and other suitable crops.

And why limit the research to microplastics?

Moringa already has a history of use as a natural water-purifying agent. Philippine researchers have also studied malunggay seeds for contaminated-water purification.

Perhaps cooperatives could produce and process moringa for sale to water districts and other water-treatment operators.

Perhaps the government does not even have to do the farming. Perhaps the government should concentrate on research, processing technology, standards, financing and marketing.

Why shouldn't the DA, DOST, DENR, DILG, Cooperative Development Authority and our water districts start talking to one another?

I see another opportunity here for a whole-of-government approach.

And what is my bottom line?

To make the farmers rich, and that’s according to Mr. Ramon Uy, Sr. of Bacolod City.

If we can create a new market for something as simple as malunggay while helping clean contaminated water, why not?

The jury may still be out on moringa and microplastics.

But shouldn't the Philippines be among those conducting the research to find out?

After all, sometimes the solution is growing right in our own backyard.

Moringa may not be the whole answer—but it could be part of the answer.

RAMON IKE V. SENERES

www.facebook.com/ike.seneres  iseneres@yahoo.com  senseneres.blogspot.com  09088877282/09-09-2027