April 10, 2013
Floating plastic debris -- which helps populate the infamous "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" in the Pacific Ocean -- has become a problem in the Great Lakes, the largest body of fresh water in the world. Scientists reported on the latest findings from the Great Lakes in New Orleans on April 9 at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
"The massive production of plastic and inadequate disposal has made plastic debris an important and constant pollutant on beaches and in oceans around the world, and the Great Lakes are not an exception," said Lorena M. Rios Mendoza, Ph.D., who spoke on the topic at the meeting.