Researchers estimate 10,000 metric tons of plastic enter Great Lakes every year

plastic-pollution-beach
“The unprecedented plastic waste tide plaguing our oceans and shores, can become as limited as our chosen relationship with plastics, which involves a dramatic behavioral change on our part…”
Captions and Photo: © SAF — Coastal Care

Excerpts;

A new study that inventories and tracks high concentrations of plastic in the Great Lakes could help inform cleanup efforts and target pollution prevention. Researchers found that nearly 10,000 metric tons — or 22 million pounds — of plastic debris enter the Great Lakes every year from the United States and Canada…

Read Full Article, Science Daily (12-19-2016)

Great Lakes Teeming With Tiny Plastic Fibers; ABC News (01-09-2015)
Scientists who have reported that the Great Lakes are awash in tiny bits of plastic are raising new alarms about a little-noticed form of the debris turning up in sampling nets: synthetic fibers from garments, cleaning cloths and other consumer products…

Polluting Plastic Particles Invade the Great Lakes, Science Daily (04-11-2013)
Floating plastic debris, which helps populate the infamous “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” in the Pacific Ocean, has become a problem in the Great Lakes, the largest body of fresh water in the world…

Microplastic Pollution Discovered In St. Lawrence River Sediments; Science Daily (09-22-2014)
Microplastics have been discovered widely distributed across the bottom of the St. Lawrence River, the first time such pollutants have been found in freshwater sediments…

Plastic Waste Threatens Lakes As Well As Oceans, BBC News (10-07-2013)
Pollution with plastic waste is not confined to the oceans but poses a growing threat to lakes as well…

Tiny Plastic Beads Are Invading The Great Lakes. Here’s What Scientists Are Doing To Stop It, (11-03-2013)
Several months ago, scientists warned that tiny microbeads, a common ingredient in facial cleansers, were flowing into the Great Lakes. Now, a new study provides evidence of the microplastics in the world’s largest surface freshwater source, and gives scientists a fighting chance to get microbeads out of consumer products…

Sydney Harbour’s Plastic Pollution At Alarming Levels, Scientists Find, Guardian UK (08-30-2014)
Researchers have found alarming level of plastic pollution in Sydney harbour, with fibres from clothing and toiletries causing a widespread impact upon the marine ecosystem…

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