plastic waste

New research says seafood is a major source of plastic in U.S. diet

Alarming new research suggests that, contrary to what scientists have long believed, tiny plastic particles consumed by fish and other seafood do not stay in the animals’ digestive tracts but rather seep into their flesh, as Liza Gross reports in FERN’s latest story, published with Mother Jones. And that means those plastic particles also seep into the diet of people who eat seafood.(No paywall)

Study: Fish eat plastic waste because they like the smell

Marine fish don’t just gobble up plastic in the ocean accidentally. They’re actually drawn to eat it, because the algae that attaches itself to the surface of our plastic waste gives it an irresistible (for fish, anyway) rotten seaweed smell, says a study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.