Microbeads: Water’s Tiny Trash Problem

Originally posted by KCET’s “SoCal Connected”

It’s a new kind of plastic that is too small to recycle and too tiny to filter out of our waste water. They are called microbeads. Thousands of them are put into skin cleansers, exfoliates and even toothpaste. They end up in our oceans, consumed by fish and coral and adding to the huge gyres of plastic that are floating in our oceans. Reporter Derrick Shore meets two Culver City environmentalists who are on a crusade to raise public awareness of microbead pollution, and persuade manufacturers to stop using them.

Featuring Interviews With:

Anna Cummins, executive director and co-founder, 5 Gyres Institute
Marcus Eriksen, Ph.D., director of research and co-founder, 5 Gyres
Mark Gold, acting director, UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability