Space Lasers to Fight Space Trash

The earth is surrounded by a cloud of space debris. We have been launching things into space for more than 60 years, and they usually just stay up there long after their job is done. They do fall apart and collide with each other, so that we have tiny pieces of metal, plastic, and paint orbiting the earth and posing danger to spacecraft and other satellites. Yeah, we've managed to pollute space. So what can we do about it? Many ideas have been proposed, but they are difficult and expensive, and may be dangerous. But what about space lasers? Vox explains how lasers would work, and the pros and cons of such a program to deal with space debris. What could possibly go wrong?