Nurdles present hurdles for sea life

[TheVat]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/29/nurdles-plastic-pellets-environmental-ocean-spills-toxic-waste-not-classified-hazardous

Is it time to further consider using containers made from biodegradable materials?   

[exchemist]

7 minutes ago, TheVat said:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/29/nurdles-plastic-pellets-environmental-ocean-spills-toxic-waste-not-classified-hazardous

Is it time to further consider using containers made from biodegradable materials?   

I'm not sure what you mean by containers in this context. These plastic pellets are used to make all manner of plastic articles, from ropes to dustbins to car dashboards. But yes, we do have to find biodegradable replacements for as many of these items as possible. And we will need to if we greatly reduce our refining of crude oil, as we wont be producing the  naphtha etc to make the monomers.   

[TheVat]

containers = most general meaning of word.  The bulk of plastic pollution comes from the most prevalent use of plastic which is bottles, food packaging, trash bags, grocery/shopping bags, etc.  Items that contain stuff.   Items that people generate in multiple numbers every week.   Yes, we buy dashboards and plastic handled tools, but the rate of purchase is so much lower, maybe one every few years (or decades, if you hoard tools and nurse aging vehicles the way I do), that it is a small fraction of plastimaggeddon.  

I think the path towards biodegradables has special merits that, say, closed loop recycling does not.  Complete loop recycling, for example, is highly dependent on perfect human behavior, which seems an unscalable peak.  Littering with a biodegradable, however, actually hastens its breakdown as it is more exposed to ionizing UV and other weathering.  Not that I am advocating littering, mind you.  :-)

[TheVat]

https://nautil.us/you-eat-a-credits-card-worth-of-plastic-every-week-17950/

Good summary of current and developing knowledge of effects of microplastic pollution.   There are sources that many of us don't give much thought, like cleaning out the lint trap in a clothes dryer.  You really don't want to inhale laundry lint, if your clothes contain any polyester fibers.