plastic tagged posts

Alaska Airlines is kicking plastic straws off of its planes. The carrier has announced plans to eliminate single-use plastic straws and drink stirrers on all flights, following the pleas of a 16-year old Girl Scout.

Shelby O’Neil, a Girl Scout who founded ocean conservation group Jr. Ocean Guardians, reached out to Alaska Airlines last year, pointing out the negative environmental impact of the plastic straws, 22 million of which the carrier used last year. Officials at the airline say they were already considering making the change.

Starting this summer, all Alaska Airlines flights will replace the straws, stirrers and toothpicks with sustainable, marine-friendly options, including white birch and bamboo...

As Earth Day rolls around again, whether we have seen Blue Planet II, or photos of whales and other sea life that have starved on a diet of ingested plastics, we are increasingly aware that ocean plastics are a menacing – and worsening – problem. China’s role in the issue is critical, particularly since an estimated five million tons of the eight million tons of plastic entering the sea each year comes via China. But there are hopeful signs that stricter environmental regulation by Beijing will have a positive impact on ocean plastics.

I should say upfront that my interest in the subject was piqued by Marcy Trent-Long’s terrific podcast, The Eight Million...

They found the first ones in Japan. Hidden in the soil at a plastics recycling plant, researchers unearthed a microbe that had evolved to eat the soda bottles dominating its habitat, after you and I throw them away. That discovery was announced in 2016, and scientists have now gone one better. While examining how the Japanese bug breaks down plastic, they accidentally created a mutant enzyme that outperforms the natural bacteria, and further tweaks could offer a vital solution to humanity’s colossal plastics problem.

“Serendipity often plays a significant role in fundamental scientific research and our discovery here is no exception,” says structural biologist John McGeehan from the University of Portsmouth in the UK.

“This unanticipated discovery suggests that there is room to further im...

Large scale sporting events often become miniature ecological disasters due to the huge amounts of single-use plastic waste left scattered in parkland, roads and lakes each time such an event is held.  A mass sporting event the size of the London Marathon can easily get through 750,000 bottles of water and result in up to seven tonnes of waste – a problem that has not gone unnoticed by environmental groups looking to tackle plastics.

Anyone who has taken part in such an event will be familiar with the carnage at water stations as endless plastic cups or bottles are quickly drained before being carelessly cast aside.

Add to this the thousands of competitors and spectators involved, and each event can rapidly turn into a potent reminder of the world’s plastic crisis.

Responding to th...

This is crazy: Just over 100 years ago, Thomas Huxley, who, by the way was a great biologist, said the oceans are so plentiful, they’re inexhaustible. Fast forward to today, and I’m sorry to report Thomas Huxley was mistaken.

In fact…your ocean is in more trouble than ever before.

This article is going to share with you the current state of your ocean (warning: it’s worrying) and what you can do to help protect the reason you’re alive today. Spoiler Alert: it’s simpler than you may think.

Please read it here

New evidence is emerging that shows that the human population’s obsession with all things plastic is poisoning one of the world’s natural wonders: coral reefs. Much more than simply an object of beauty, coral reefs are living, breathing ecosystems, teeming with life. Although they occupy less than 0.1 per cent of the world’s ocean surface, they provide an essential home for 25 per cent of all marine life; they are also vital for protecting coastal communities, acting as natural barriers from cyclones and rising seas; and 275 million people depend directly on them for their food and livelihoods.

Yet coral reefs are under attack on a number of fronts. In the past 30 years, we have lost up to 50 per cent of the world’s corals from the effects of warming sea temperatures due to climate ch...

Plastic pollution is affecting marine life in some of the most remote parts of the Atlantic Ocean with almost three quarters of a sample of more than 230 deep-water fish collected by NUI Galway scientists having ingested plastic particles.

The contamination level among the fish species, located in the northwest Atlantic thousands of kilometres from land and 600m down in the ocean, is one of the highest reported frequencies of microplastic occurrence in fish worldwide, according to the study published today in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

Microplastics are small plastic fragments that commonly originate from the breakdown of larger plastic items entering the ocean...

The Queen is cracking down on plastic, with palace staff told to ditch straws, eat from china plates and drink from glass bottles. Environmentally friendly strategies have been put in place at Buckingham Palace as a spokesman told of a ‘strong desire’ to tackle the issue of plastic in royal residences. Plastic bottles will no longer be seen in staff canteens or meeting rooms, and plastic straws will also be phased out at public cafes.

Packaging for takeaway food must now be compostable or biodegradable, and cardboard boxes used to shift materials between sites will be re-used many times to avoid waste.

The Queen is thought to have taken a personal interest in plastic since working on a documentary about wildlife conservation with Sir David Attenborough.

The pair, both 91, were pictur...

Millions of tons of plastic waste end up in the ocean every year. And the trash stays there: Whether it’s grocery bags or water bottles or kids’ toys, plastic is practically indestructible. Now marine scientists have discovered that it’s killing coral reefs.

A new study based on four years of diving on 159 reefs in the Pacific shows that reefs in four countries — Australia, Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar — are heavily contaminated with plastic. It clings to the coral, especially branching coral. And where it clings, it sickens or kills.

“The likelihood of disease increases from 4 percent to 89 percent when corals are in contact with plastic,” researchers report in the journal Science.

Senior author Drew Harvell at Cornell University says the plastic could be harming coral in at least...

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet signed a bill Wednesday that prohibits the sale of single-use plastic bags in 102 coastal villages and towns in a bid to stop the build-up of ocean plastic and to “[take] care of our marine ecosystems.”

An estimated eight million tons of plastic trash gets dumped into our oceans each year, literally choking marine life, harming ocean ecosystems and threatening the larger food chain.

Businesses found using and distributing plastic bags could face a US$300 fine, Telesur reported about the legislation.

In addition to banning plastic bags, the Chilean government plans to create 1.6 million square kilometers of marine conservation areas by 2018, AFP reported...