Here's a cool little story about a high school kid who just won a bunch of awards for isolating the microorganisms that break down plastic bags. The hope is that if done on a large scale, this can help clean up some of the mess that is out there.
While I think this kind of research is a double edged sword, we need to stop using plastic bags, not give people a reason to think it's all going to be ok, I like the idea of how this came about. Here's a kid who got sick of opening the closet door and having all those bags come out on top of him. So he decided to do something. It's why I have faith in the fact that we are going to fix this whole mess, kids are black and white, they are smarter than us, and they don't like being told that they can't do something.
And he's got a cool haircut to boot!
Thanks to Nick for sending this in.
Live Sustainably
Dave
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
16 Year Old Kid Breaks Down Plastic Bags
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3 comments:
I was JUST thinking about this today!! Wishing that some research was being done to see if any critters could digest plastic bags. What a surprise that such a young scientist is the one heading it up! Cheers to him, and to you for sharing the article. Thanks!!
What innovation from such a young kid! It's things like this that give me small glimpses of hope about the fate of humanity in the future - though I do agree, we need to phase out plastic (and paper) bags completely.
This technology could be used to 'deal' with the platic bags we already have in the waste stream though.
Had you heard that in Ontario LCBO stores are banning the use of plastic bags? They are also going to start selling reusable bags very cheaply in hopes that people will start using those as opposed to any type of disposable bag.
And to think, I get such weird looks at the store when the cashier asks me 'paper or plastic?' and I say 'neither'. :-)
Yep,
Ten years from now our kids won't even know what a plastic bag is....hopefully.
dave
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