Small beads can make for a large problem

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 11:52:47 +0000

Science can make for a strange bedfellow. I had just finished recording a video showing off one of my favourite sweaters and expounding on the ingenuity and the environmental benefit of it being made from recycled polyester bottles when an article appeared on one of my newsfeeds about how “your clothes are poisoning our oceans and food supply.” The message was that the very fabric I was so high on may be unravelling the fabric of society.

Should we worry about plastic pollution?

Joe Schwarcz PhD & Alexandra Pires-Ménard, OSS Intern — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 13:54:14 +0000

Plastics are the fabric of modern life. They’re in our cars, our planes, our kitchens, our electronics, our furniture, our bottles, our packaging, our floors and our medical equipment. We are using more and more plastics and unfortunately also discarding more and more. And that’s a problem. Plastic debris is commonly sighted on the landscape and is accumulating in marine habitats. A recent study revealed that plastics make up 50-80% of shoreline debris and accumulate in certain areas of the oceans. There is already a huge plastic wastedump in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!

microbeads

Small beads can make for a large problem

Should we worry about plastic pollution?