The glass bottles and newspapers that Tucsonans have put into blue recycling bins for decades may soon be heading to the landfill. Because of sharply escalating financial losses in the city’s recycling program, officials say it might have to stop taking these recycling mainstays until markets recover nationally or globally. The markets for these products […]

egislators in Hawaii and New Jersey are considering the toughest statewide plastic and Styrofoam bans in the country, in moves that could usher in a wave of anti-plastic legislation. New Jersey’s proposed law would ban Styrofoam beverage and food containers, plastic bags and plastic straws from all retailers and restaurants in the state. “The goal […]

Plastic is kind of like a Twitter reply guy: It never goes away. And there’s more coming in. Each year, 8 million metric tons of plastic go into the ocean (that’s equal to about one garbage truck per minute), according to a 2016 report by the World Economic Forum, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and McKinsey […]

Somewhere in Hilo, on Hawaii’s Big Island, a team of scientists and engineers are tending to The Ocean Cleanup’s 600-metre-long rubbish-herding device, after its maiden voyage to the Great Pacific garbage patch was cut short in December 2018, because it fractured into two pieces. The project has had its fair share of problems since it […]

One year ago, China stopped accepting most American scrap plastic and cardboard, throwing a wrench into U.S. recycling programs. Now, cities and towns across the U.S. are dealing with piles of homeless plastic with no clear destination. Many have stopped recycling altogether or dramatically scaled back their recycling programs. Douglas County, Oregon, stopped accepting plastic […]

Hawaii would be the first state in the U.S. to ban most plastics at restaurants under legislation that aims to cut down on waste that pollutes the ocean. Dozens of cities across the country have banned plastic foam containers, but Hawaii’s measure would make it the first state to do so. The liberal state has […]

Plastic pollution is becoming a major problem for ocean wildlife. Organisms that ingest plastics are subject to hormone disruption and issues with reproduction that affect their overall health, a new study finds. Wildlife around the world is exposed to plastic pollutants called endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Not much is known about how these chemicals affect marine […]

Thousands of people are headed to the Oregon coast this weekend for fun and for a chance to give back. The SOLVE Spring Beach Clean-up have become an annual tradition at the coast. Many people have done it for a number of years, but SOLVE’s Jon Schmidt said it’s a fun and easy process for […]

Around the globe, there is a drive to reduce plastic waste. The movement has picked up in many cities with hotels, restaurants and shops cutting down on the use of single-use items like plastic straws and bags. Most of this waste are used in packaging and many, frankly are unnecessary. From packing avocados and oranges […]

For many college students, spring break is a time to relax after a stressful first half of a semester. For the residents of many coastal towns, however, spring break is the opposite. During the month of March, popular cities like Miami, Panama City Beach, Myrtle Beach, Virginia Beach and more see a large influx of […]