By Christopher Thompson After the release of alarming new figures showing the extent of plastic pollution on Italian beaches, and the sad news that another whale has washed up in Italy with a stomach full of plastic, we look at what Italy is doing to clean up its coastline. Environmental campaigners in Italy raised the […]

By Christopher Thompson Adidas is using plastic recovered from the seas to make shoes, jerseys and football kits With eight million tonnes of plastic dumped annually into the sea, the world is faced with the grim prospect of more plastic in the oceans than fish by 2050. To avert this environmental calamity, several voluntary groups […]

By Ryan Johnson Malaysia, which has become the dumping ground for the world’s plastic waste, will send back non-recyclable plastic scrap to the developed countries that sent it there, its environment minister said on Tuesday. Malaysia last year became the leading alternative destination for plastic scrap after China banned imports of such waste, disrupting the […]

By Ryan Johnson It’s well known that ocean plastics harm marine life, but could the eight million metric tons of plastic that enters the seas each year also make it harder for us to breathe? That’s the troubling implication of a new study published in Communications Biology Tuesday, which found that plastic pollution can have […]

By Christopher Thompson In a twist, the investors include Chinese companies interested in having access to wastepaper or bottles. The halt on China’s imports of wastepaper and plastic that has disrupted U.S. recycling programs has also spurred investment in American plants that process recyclables. U.S. paper mills are expanding capacity to take advantage of a […]

By Christopher Thompson Single-use plastic is clogging oceans and landfills. The industry that makes it has waged a decades-long campaign to keep it on the market.New York’s Suffolk County had a trash problem. Facing brimming landfills and public pressure, legislators took a first-in-the-nation step: They banned plastic bags. But what the county saw as part […]

By Ryan Johnson It’s impossible to imagine modern life without plastics. From the moment the day begins, we are using plastic. It’s in our toothbrushes, our shower curtains and our phones. We use it on the way to work in bus seats, car dashboards, and bicycle helmets. We see it at lunch in takeout containers […]

By Christopher Thompson US reportedly opposed deal, which follows concerns that villages in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia had ‘turned into dumpsites’ Almost all the world’s countries have agreed on a deal aimed at restricting shipments of hard-to-recycle plastic waste to poorer countries, the United Nations announced on Friday. Exporting countries – including the US – […]

By Ryan Johnson A World Wildlife study finds the equivalent of a dump truck full of plastic waste is dumped into the water every minute. So the WWF has launched an initiative to cut plastic waste by 10 million tons. Coca-Cola, which has signed on to the program, produces 3 million tons of plastic waste. […]

By Christopher Thompson Most likely, when you toss your plastic trash into a recycle bin you believe you’re doing the right thing. You think your plastic waste gets magically whisked away to a recycle center where it will be transformed back into more useful plastic items. Recycling feels like a harmless way to get rid […]