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by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer Invasive species are hitching a ride on increasing ocean plastic pollution, surfing to distant shores. For centuries, stowaways like zebra mussels arrived on the hulls of ships, but now, hundreds of species are “rafting” across oceans on marine litter. These invasive species now threaten the balance of ecosystems across the globe and exacerbate biodiversity […]
Continue Reading 531 wordsLast week, federal legislators reintroduced the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act, which would pass sweeping recycling and single-use plastic regulations. Experts from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) say that this bill has come at the right time, publishing a national poll that found 86% of Americans believe the U.S. must transition from a throw-away economy to one that emphasizes reuse and recycling.
Why This Matters: The U.S. is the largest plastic polluter in the world but only recycles 8.7% of its plastics. Much of that plastic takes the form of consumer packaging like plastic bags, wrappers, straws, and more.
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by Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Along North Carolina’s coast, commercial fishers who used to catch clams are now bringing in marine debris. The four-man crew was contracted by the North Carolina Coastal Federation to haul away debris from Hurricane Florence, which hit the state in 2018. It’s funded by the NOAA Marine Debris Program, […]
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by Natasha Lasky, ODP Contributing Writer A new study published in the journal Conservation Letters has found that plastic bags and flexible packaging are the most deadly bits of plastic waste in the world’s oceans. From a review of hundreds of scientific articles, the agency found that plastic ingestion was responsible for the deaths of […]
Continue Reading 576 wordsNattapong Nithi-Uthai, a lecturer at the Faculty of Science and Technology of Prince of Songkla University in Thailand was shocked five years ago to realize the sheer amount of ocean debris that washes up on the beaches in his country. Thailand has a serious problem with ocean plastic — it is the fifth biggest contributor […]
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by Julia Fine, ODP Contributing Writer While the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on human health, the waste produced by our response to it is posing immense risks to the health of our environment as well, Talib Visram reported for Fast and Company. According to Visram, the “flood of PPE could cause immediate […]
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