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Added on the 17/08/2018 17:52:00 - Copyright : Euronews EN
Fearsome sharks at Madrid's Zoo and Aquarium are getting into the holiday spirit after zoo staff decided to bring some Christmas cheer to the inside of their tank. Two daring divers placed a nativity scene at the bottom of the shark tank in the Madrid Zoo Aquarium on Wednesday to celebrate the spirit of the Christmas holidays. The divers fearlessly brought down colored figurines depicting the birth of Jesus as described in the Bible and installed the scene in full sight of visitors as razor-toothed sharks swam around.
This creepy crawly insect is called a wax worm and, believe it or not, this little guy may just be the answer to global pollution. Footage provided courtesy of the Spanish National Research Council shows a brilliant new discovery made by researcher Federica Bertocchini. She discovered that wax worms are capable of eating through polyethylene plastic. The researcher demonstrated her discovery at a laboratory in Madrid on Wednesday. Although polyethylene is one of the world's most resistant forms of plastic, the worms can destroy the material by munching their way through it. According to the researcher, 100 worms can biodegrade up to 92 milligrams of polyethylene in just one night. That might not seem like much, but what if we multiply that by a thousand? Or even a million? The discovery is touted as the first all-natural solution to the disposal of the dangerous and wasteful material worldwide. Wax worms are now seen as the best way to biodegrade plastic without causing more harmful effects to nature. Polyethylene plastic, the material used to make plastic bags, is very durable. That's why we use it so often. The problem is that polyethylene is not biodegradable, which means that it stays in the environment for hundreds of years after being thrown away. It can cause all sorts of problems for wild animals and the natural environment in general. That's why this new discovery has the potential to help us clean up our act and restore areas like landfills and other areas polluted with plastic.
A park in Beijing's Fangshan district, where residents used to gather, dance and exercise, is now flooded with plastic waste after China's capital was hit with its heaviest rains in recent days since records began 140 years ago. IMAGES
Banda Aceh, Feb 25 (EFE/EPA).- The Deputy for Coordination of Environment and Forestry Management at the Indonesian Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Investment, said that 0.62 million tons of plastic waste leaked into the sea through rivers. Indonesia has more than 330 rivers which could be a potential way for waste to enter the sea.(Camera: HOTLI SIMANJUNTAK)SHOT LIST: PLASTIC WASTE IN A RIVER IN BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA.
Ho Chi Minh, Oct 20 (EFE/EPA).-A small business in Vietnam is taking plastic waste pollution and turning it into furniture ranging from elegant pieces of design to social housing.(Camera: ERIC SAN JUAN)SHOT LIST: THE WORKSHOP AND WORKERS OF "PLASTIC PEOPLE". SOUND BITES: NANO MORANTE (ON THE LEFT) AND NÉSTOR CATALÁN (ON THE RIGHT) (IN SPANISH).TRANSLATIONS:NANO MORANTE:"Plastic People is a solution to a waste problem that everyone overlooks. It came from an idea to find a solution that was not only eco-friendly but also social, a way of using garbage to give hope to people,""The possibilities with this material are endless, our only limit is creativity"NÉSTOR CATALÁN:"To transform it into something useful, something that can be in our lives on a material level, such as furniture, construction, it is something we are trying. We are transforming garbage, which is a problem, to something that we want, that we need, something that is useful for our homes, for our businesses""What we want is to stop complaining about the problems there are and to act. It's time to take action, to look for solutions rather than blaming others or the world or society. We are the society and it is our responsibility to look for solutions to the problems that we create. We create that garbage, that garbage did not exist years ago. It is garbage that has become natural, but isn't, we created it, and we have the capacity to come up with a solution."
An exhibit of 17 marine animals, made entirely of plastic waste from the Pacific Ocean, is on display in Washington, DC to shed light on the issue of plastic pollution. Jillian Kitchener reports.
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