AS THE WORLD GRAPPLES WITH PLASTIC, THE U.S. MAKES MORE OF IT — A LOT MORE

MUSTANG ISLAND, Texas — Jace Tunnell shuffled forward near the water’s edge, head bent. He was hunting for something that shouldn’t be on this beach near Corpus Christi, and he kept finding it. Hidden in the sand — white, tan, nearly translucent — were tiny plastic pellets.

These are the products of plastics producers, intended to be turned into bottles, bags and countless other items. As much as anything one-tenth of an inch across could sum up the modern world, they do. A marvel of chemical engineering. A convenient material that will long outlast us. A global waste predicament of daunting scope.

Microscopic plastic particles are in our oceans, the fish we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink. Read Full Article - Center of Public Integrity, June 13, 2019