"UW Researchers Study Plastic Garbage in the Great Lakes"

"WATERLOO — Plastic is everywhere, and with good reason: it's cheap, lightweight, and durable and can be turned into practically anything, from filmy plastic wrap to colourful children's toys to vital components in a computer or a heart valve. But scientists are discovering that plastic debris in the world's oceans, and in large bodies of water such as the Great Lakes, could be a far more serious environmental problemthan previously realized.

Philippe Van Cappellen, an ecohydrologist at the University of Waterloo, holds up a couple of plastic Ziploc bags, carefully labelled with the names of beaches in Toronto and Burlington. They are filled with little bits of plastic — blue, red, yellow, white, green and clear, many of them smaller than confetti."

Catherine Thompson reports for the Kitchener Record April 21, 2014.