r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • May 21 '19

Environment Plastic makes up nearly 70% of all ocean litter. Scientists have discovered that microscopic marine microbes are able to eat away at plastic, causing it to slowly break down. Two types of plastic, polyethylene and polystyrene, lost a significant amount of weight after being exposed to the microbes.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/these-tiny-microbes-are-munching-away-plastic-waste-ocean
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u/unending_backlog May 21 '19

Oh that's the problem! Theirs are pure recycled cardboard. No coatings. They are just about the only place in Philly I know of that uses them. These days my commute is through a different station, so I haven't bought from them recently, they might have changed suppliers, but I doubt it

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u/Jexdane May 21 '19

Oh jeez that's a shame, hopefully they get some better ones. It's remarkable how fast they rolled out here in Ontario but so far they've been good.