“We did the impossible!” Mexico’s Green Team offers solutions to the microplastic problem
By John Pint It seems the world is being smothered by microplastic. Our oceans are full of it. The fish are eating it. Our clothes are shedding it. Here in Mexico the ubiquitous leafblower raises huge clouds of it for us to breathe. And a little bit of it gets inside us whenever we eat or drink anything from a plastic container. Didn't they invent biodegradable bags—and paper cups—and paper plates—to get rid of this problem? Well, the truth is now out: the “paper” in those cups is actually impregnated or coated with plastic. In fact, neither the cups nor the plates are recyclable, and when they finally break down, what you get is microplastic. Not so biodegradable Most “biodegradable” bags may need over 500 years to biodegrade. Likewise those “biodegradable” bags. A 2017 study shows that, over a year, there was no degradation seen in so-called biodegradable bags submerged in seawater at 25°C. When they’re deposited in a landfill, a US National Library of Medicine report (2021) say...