Plastic: It’s Everywhere – Literally

Maybe a plastic-debris raft the size of Texas — actually two Texases — floating around the ocean amuses you; then you’ll get a real chuckle from the latest evidence of micro plastics being found everywhere! Everywhere includes both outside and inside our bodies.

A nurdle is the basic building block of all things plastic, from water bottles to oil pipelines. It’s a small pellet, smaller than a pea. One weighs about 20 milligrams; that’s, well, thousands in a pound. More than 250,000 tons of nurdles enter the oceans each year, whether from waste streams or containers falling from ships at sea. They absorb toxic chemicals, yes, there is DDT in the oceans, and are often mistaken for food by sea life and animals.

The state of Texas is home to forty-six companies licensed to manufacture plastic products; so, of course the Gulf Coast is inundated with nurdles, much of it dumped surreptitiously.

And then there’s micro plastic, too small to see without magnification. It’s literally everywhere. We ingest it when we drink from a plastic bottle. It’s in the synthetic fabric our clothes are made from. Much of it enters waterways from waste-water treatment plants, the residue from washing laundry. It’s in beer. It’s in fish and the other food we eat. It’s in us.

If you want to take action to reduce plastic waste, Oregon Public Broadcasting has some suggestions.

If you want to demonstrate contempt for your children and grandchildren and the world they’ll live in, buy some MAGA plastic straws, only $1.50 each, in packs of ten, plus tax plus shipping.

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