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Mike Schoonveld: Can anglers aid in a solution for plastic pollution?

About half of the plastic trash that goes into the Great Lakes annually will become microplastics and stay in the world’s environment for decades. (Photo courtesy of Mike Schoonveld)

Twenty-two million pounds of plastic waste enter the Great Lakes each year. About half sinks to the lake bottoms, where some of it will likely remain until a future glacier reshapes the lakebeds during the next ice age. The floating plastic won’t last as long, especially varieties that aren’t UV-resistant.
A small portion will be collected by environmentally conscious people and eventually end up in landfills, but most will slowly break down over the next hundred years or so into smaller and smaller fragments known as microplastics.

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