This ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ I wrote about in my last blog is not biodegrading; the plastics disintegrate into ever smaller pieces, while still remaining a plastic even on the molecular level. They get ingested by birds, sea turtles and fish who mistake the small plastic pieces for plankton (food). The plastics that do decompose within a year of being in the water leach toxic chemicals like bisphenol A, PCBs and derivatives of polystyrene, which also get ingested.
While creating these hazardous materials in the first place might be a ‘cheap’ way of meeting our packaging and industrial efficiency needs of today, the cost comes back to us eventually; whether it is to us immediately, to our lineage of children or to theirs.
