I believe that the effects of plastic pollution will not be greatly felt in this generation but rather in the next one. Which contributes to the lack of interest in stopping the problem today because people are so caught up in only fixing the problem when the effects are being seen. My predictions on the effects of plastic pollution are, loss of some marine life, coral reefs may be completely lost due to water damage, and much more.
Some retailers employ more cardboard packaging. However, six-pack rings of plastic, shrink wrap of all pallets, plastic bottles for every liquid - booze, shampoo, bleach, detergent, et al. reigns. We need education and agreement among manufacturers - but how? A discouraging problem, but our health and the planet's health depend upon a solution.
The earth is like a giant fish tank with lots of fish in it that mess up the water. Guess what happens when you can't filter or change the water?
Is there an international equivalent to Superfunds?
I'd be interested in knowing if the plastic is being monitored by satellite observations using say back scattering and maybe machine learning. Also If the land/sea sampling was partly at least a calibration/reliability exercise for those satellites. Purely for interests sake, I'm just now finding out about this stuff and a probably faulty light bulb went off when I read this.
Plastic bags, in cereal boxes! Wax paper was phased out, because of its weight/cost of petrol for transport? The same could be asked of glass bottles, whose production energy costs are likely up there as well. So much (including sustainable development) depends on the stability of major economic sectors, which too fuel global overdevelopment. We often confuse stability with growth, resulting in unsustainable dependencies.
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Sadly, expecting the general public to willfully surrender their conveniences is unrealistic.
The Tom's of Maine toothbrush handle made of castor oil seems great. Is it biodegradable? Am not convinced of the bristles.
That is one of the most beautiful photos that I have seen. I am sorry that it for plastic polluting the Southern Ocean. Can't Dupont or one of these companies invent a biodegradable plastic? Surely it is not an impossible or unreasonable task.
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Companies such as Dupont will be marginalized, if they don’t usher in such changes. When an environmentally friendly material is able to take the place of traditional plastics, on a large scale, it will have to be affordable. Maybe Dupont can learn from IST's economic models, on how to accomplish profitability. Or is that lesson grounded in bubble blowing?
Every day for years and years the convenience of a throwaway world has brought pile after pile of trash and what has MAN done dispose of it in water land fills or burn it , commercial packaging is a great problem. My simple suggestion would be people bring there own containers to a bulk store to fill there food either by an employee or on there own.
In Italy, some bring large empty laundry detergent jugs to be refilled with wine.
For bulk goods sold by the pound, it might be helpful if scales were made to easily subtract the container's weight.
For bulk goods sold by the pound, it might be helpful if scales were made to easily subtract the container's weight.