Golf Balls: New Eco Problem
Photo credit: CNN
A research conducted by the Danish Golf Union revealed that golf balls takes between 100 to 1,000 years to decompose naturally, CNN reports. It is estimated that, in the US alone, 300 million balls are lost or are discarded every year.
The issue was brought to attention in Scotland after scientists, who wanted to find evidence of the Loch Ness monster, discovered hundreds of thousands of golf balls that lined the bed of the loch. Reports claim the area had been used as an alternative driving range for many years.
As the number of discarded golf balls increase, the Danish Golf Association conducted a series of evaluations to find out how the balls impact the environment.
The team discovered that when the golf balls dissolved, they emitted a high quantity of heavy metals. It was also found out that the toxic levels of zinc (found in solid core golf balls), when immersed in water, attached itself to the ground sediment and poisoned the flora and fauna surrounding it.
In an interview with CNN, UK lawmaker Patrick Harvie said, “From the moon to the bottom of Loch Ness, golf balls are humanity’s signature litter in the most inaccessible locations.”
The Danish Golf Union plans to work with environmentalists to perform more tests to explore the issue fully.
