Environmental group: Take care to keep plastics out of the lake

Water bottles in lake Photo credit Getty Images

By Bernie Tafoya

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — If you’re headed to the beach over the holiday weekend, an environmental group would like you be conscious of keeping plastics out of Lake Michigan.

The Alliance for the Great Lakes says that plastic water bottle that may be blown or be dropped into the lake eventually breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces until they’re microscopic, allowing those microplastics to get into fish and even our drinking water.

Jennifer Caddick, vice president of communication and engagement for the Alliance, says, “That’s why things like our adopt-a-beach program are really helpful because it gets those bigger pieces of plastic off the beach before they end up in our waterways.”

Small pieces of plastic elastic can fall off clothing in the wash and end up in the lake.

Plastic Free July is an international initiative organized by the Plastic Free Foundation.

Caddick says other small ways you can play a big part in it is by using reusable water bottles, forks, knives and spoons and, when you go to a store, reusable bags. And that plastic straw you use once for a drink? Experts say one straw takes a couple of hundred years to break down.

She points to a study by the Rochester Institute of Technology, which suggested that 22 million pounds of plastic wind up in the Great Lakes every year.

“Most of them are from bigger pieces of plastic that have broken down over time. Plastic never goes away. It just breaks down to smaller and smaller pieces,” Caddick said.

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