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.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    It doesn’t matter if they’re discarded properly or not… They’re still gonna end up in the environment at the end of the road anyway. Most plastic isn’t recycled, even when it is collected into the system.

    • Auli@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      6 months ago

      What I don’t get when I was in school the whole thing was save the trees use astic bags. Like wtf trees are renewable and paper breaks down why was there a big push in the 80 and 90s to use plastic.