cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15902318
Studies find red, blue and green plastic decomposes into microplastic particles faster than plainer colours
Retailers are being urged to stop making everyday products such as drinks bottles, outdoor furniture and toys out of brightly coloured plastic after researchers found it degrades into microplastics faster than plainer colours.
Red, blue and green plastic became “very brittle and fragmented”, while black, white and silver samples were “largely unaffected” over a three-year period, according to the findings of the University of Leicester-led project.
The scale of environmental pollution caused by plastic waste means that microplastics, or tiny plastic particles, are everywhere. Indeed, they were recently found in human testicles, with scientists suggesting a possible link to declining sperm counts in men.
The plastic tax would have to be insanely high to be effective. The story of California’s plastic bag tax is a cautionary tale. Taxing the bag minimally was ineffective since everyone just paid the extra $2 a grocery trip for the disposable bags. California then tried an outright ban, but had to limit the ban because a large volume of pre-packaged items are already in plastic bags. The limit was based on bag thickness, so all the stores started handing out thicker bags at checkout. Despite the increased durability of the thicker bags, consumers discarded them at the same rate as the old thinner bags. Since each bag was made of more plastic there was more plastic waste than before the tax and ban.