Economy
Turning Toxic Algae Into Squishy Goods
A new company hopes to put record-breaking biomass blooms to more functional use in consumer goods.
This summer, for the eighth year in a row, residents of Qingdao, a Chinese coastal city, frolicked in a million tons of goopy green gunk. All over the world, algae is out of control.
Overabundant slicks can choke marine life and render once-potable water unusable. In 2014, a bloom of toxic algae in Lake Erie left nearly half a million residents of Toledo, Ohio, without clean water for drinking, cooking, or bathing. The blooms can also contain biotoxins that cause tingling, paralysis, and even death in humans and marine creatures, the Seattle Times noted. Jerry Borchert, Washington State’s marine biotoxin coordinator, told the paper that 2015 has seen record levels of dangerous algae: