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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums8 trillion microbeads pollute U.S. aquatic habitats daily
I would be more than happy to give up my little balls...
...
There's more than eight trillion microbeads entering aquatic habitats every day in the United States alone, according to a new study published in Environmental Science & Technology. It's enough microbeads to cover 300 tennis courts daily.
A microbead is any plastic that is smaller than 5 mm, about three times the size of a pinhead. They are designed to wash down drains, but have added to the increased microplastic debris littering the Earth's oceans and many freshwater lakes, the study states. Due to their size, plastic microbeads are difficult to clean up on a large scale.
"Part of this problem can now start with brushing your teeth in the morning," she said. "Contaminants like these microbeads are not something our waste-water treatment plants were built to handle, and the overall amount of contamination is huge," she said.
The eight trillion microbeads entering the United States' aquatic habitats on a daily basis is only a fraction of what is being dumped in waste-water treatment facilities. Eight hundred trillion of these plastic beads settle into a sludge and transform into a runoff from sewage plants and go on to pollute the waterways.
"We're facing a plastic crisis and don't even know it," Green explained.
...
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/19/us/8-trillion-microbeads-pollute-water-daily-irpt/index.htm
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8 trillion microbeads pollute U.S. aquatic habitats daily (Original Post)
jtuck004
Sep 2015
OP
angel823
(409 posts)1. Geez, brushing your teeth
Plastic in toothpaste?????
Got to get back to the garden.
Angel in Texasperated
Warpy
(111,277 posts)3. Vicco Vajradanti toothpaste
is what I always use. It is a tingly herbal blend that isn't icky sweet and leaves my teeth feeling cleaner than anything else I ever tried. I doubt it contains microbeads.
http://www.amazon.com/Vicco-Vajradanti-Toothpaste-200g/dp/3492016731/ref=sr_1_2/178-0908443-6930130?ie=UTF8&qid=1442711508&sr=8-2&keywords=vicco+vajradanti
JeffHead
(1,186 posts)2. That's why Illinois banned them last year.
Sienna86
(2,149 posts)4. Was in Bath and Bodyworks today and noticed soap still appears to contain the microbeads
Didn't purchase any because I'm aware of the environmental hazard. Funny thing, it was in Illinois.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)5. The big push for plastics was a mistake
I remember when paper age were looked at negatively due to trees and steel in cars and so on. We're all guilty.