![]() ![]() “There’s definitely no single solution,” says Koldewey, of the Zoological Society of London and a National Geographic Fellow. In the long run scientists need to devise ways to break plastic down into its most basic units, which can be rebuilt into new plastics or other materials. In the medium term governments need to strengthen garbage collection and recycling systems to prevent waste from leaking into the environment between the trash can and the landfill, and to improve recycling rates. In the short term society needs to significantly curtail unnecessary single-use plastic items such as water bottles, plastic shopping bags, straws and utensils. To get the microplastics problem under control, the world has to take three primary steps, those who study the issue say. ![]() The problem is only expected to balloon as plastic production increases exponentially-from a mere two million metric tons annually in 1950 to more than 300 million metric tons today, and a projected 33 billion metric tons each year by 2050.Ī man refills a plastic bottle at a new public water fountain in London, England. Creatures from plankton to earthworms to humans are eating them, posing a potentially serious health threat to animals and ecosystems. Scientists have found these tiny bits of degraded plastic-along with fibers shed from synthetic fabric, and microbeads from cosmetics-lurking throughout the oceans, lakes, soil and even the air. And notably, plastic bottles are abundant along the banks of the River Thames, which carries them out to sea as they gradually break down into ever smaller fragments, tainting the river and the ocean with microplastics that can invade every level of the food chain. Bottled water use has doubled in the U.K. Their aim was to see if a new initiative to enlist businesses where people can refill empty bottles with tap water was making a dent in the trash littering the pavement, says marine biologist Heather Koldewey, who oversaw the research. ![]() This is the third of a three-part series that examines our growing understanding of the scope and impacts of microplastics pollution.Īt several locations around London last winter and spring, researchers stalked the streets counting the number of discarded plastic water bottles they encountered, as if tallying species across a coral reef. ![]()
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