Free Republic

Nearly every country in the world has agreed upon a legally binding framework to reduce the pollution from plastic waste except for the United States, U.N. environmental officials say. An agreement on tracking thousands of types of plastic waste emerged Friday at the end of a two-week meeting of U.N.-backed conventions on plastic waste and toxic, hazardous chemicals. Discarded plastic clutters pristine land, floats in huge masses in oceans and rivers and entangles wildlife, sometimes with deadly results. […] The deal affects products used in a broad array of industries, such as health care, technology, aerospace, fashion, food and beverages....

German Development Minister Gerd Müller has called for a ban on plastic bags in Germany, in part to reduce the exports of waste to developing countries. “The ban on plastic straws is not enough,” Müller told the Augsburger Allgemeine. “Germany should not wait for Europe and should immediately ban disposable plastic bags.” The CSU politician noted that some African countries had already banned plastic bags, “We must do what Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda have done.” […] Plastic waste in the sea is set to increase tenfold and with current trends, by 2050, there may be more plastic than fish in...

..... In support of bag bans, the Surfrider Foundation has posted a video that asserts, "Plastics kill 1.5 million marine animals each year." "I have no idea where they got that number," Joel Baker, environmental science professor at the University of Washington, Tacoma, told me. He has assigned students to track down that number, and "the trail goes cold." ....