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NPR

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Far More Microplastic In Atlantic Ocean Than Previous Estimates, Study Finds : NPR

Scientists are trying to understand how much plastic humans are pumping into the ocean and how long it sticks around. A study published this week says it may be much more than earlier estimates.

By some measures, the plastic trash that's floating on the surface of the water only accounts for about 1% of the plastic pollution that humans generate.

"If we are missing 99% of plastic that we thought we have put in, it has to be somewhere," says Katsiaryna Pabortsava, a researcher at the National Oceanography Centre in the United Kingdom.

Plastic Bag Ban Upheld, But Could the Details Change?

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Plastic Bag Ban Upheld, But Could the Details Change?

A ruling by a state court on Thursday surrounding New York's ban on single-use plastic bags has all sides claiming some form of victory.

For the Department of Environmental Conservation and environmental groups: The bag ban was generally upheld. The plastic bag industry, however, pointed to language in the ruling that struck down a regulation limiting bags to 10 mils thick. One mil is one-thousandth of an inch.

Stop Tossing Your Banana Peel on the Trail

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Stop Tossing Your Banana Peel on the Trail

Some folks seem to assume that fruits and vegetables left outside will shrivel, turn black, and disintegrate in a matter of hours, like a time-lapse video from middle school biology. In fact, an apple core can take two months to decompose; a banana skin or orange peel, two years, leaving plenty of time for animals who shouldn’t eat it to come along and eat it. Plus, while nature does its thing, that trash—and let’s not mince words, that’s what it is—is an eyesore. It’s also a visual cue to other passers-by that tossing their own trash isn’t a big deal. In other words: Litter begets litter.

While tissues and toilet paper are more of an annoyance to me, if you have a banana peel or apple core, at least bury it or toss it somewhere it's not going to cause a nuisance. But even so, it's probably not a great idea, as you are feeding wild beasts, although I guess it's better then it sitting in a landfill for a million years, the preferred solution of the urbanite.