By Chris Melore We’ve all seen plastic trash littering beaches, parks, and roadsides. But have you ever wondered where all that plastic is actually coming from? Thanks to a massive global citizen science effort, researchers can now point the finger at some of the world’s…
By John Anderer The great Pacific garbage patch, a gigantic floating island of trash spanning an area twice the size of the state of Texas, is plain to see. Now, new international research reports there’s much, much more trash residing below the ocean’s surface. CSIRO,…
Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Many of the foods consumed by Americans are contaminated with harmful plastic chemicals that contribute to health complications like diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, and infertility, said a recent report by the nonprofit group Consumer Reports (CR)….
By Patrisha Antonaros The average person still uses 140 plastic bags in a year — about the height of an 18-story building, new research reveals. A survey of 2,000 adults asked people to rate their efforts of becoming more sustainable over the past five years….
By Shyla Cadogan Over the last few years, scientists are only now beginning to scratch the surface of understanding PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Referred to as “forever chemicals,” they seem to be in everything we use on a daily basis. Now, researchers from…
By Study Finds Plastic food packaging and containers can contain hundreds of chemicals which increase the risk of developing cancer, infertility, and gene mutations, a new study warns. The wrappings had 388 individual “substances of concern,” including 352 known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, and toxic…
By Mayukh Saha In 1906, Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle had painted a graphically horrifying world of meat factories filled with rampant vermin, foul odors, and even human remains used as animal feed. It had pressed then-President Theodore Roosevelt to establish the foundations of the…
By Jon Hersey Fionn Fereira grew up on the majestic southern coast of Ireland, but by the time he was twelve, he was noticing a strange sheen in the water. It was caused by microplastics, tiny plastic particles no more than 5mm long, which no…
By Tyler Durden Following the World Health Organization’s formal declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world quickly mandated the use of face masks in public spaces. This led to a massive demand shock, prompting factories to begin producing disposable masks at full capacity….
By Hom Dhakal, University of Portsmouth Plastics are very useful materials. They’ve contributed significant benefits to modern society. But the unprecedented amount of plastics produced over the past few decades has caused serious environmental pollution. Packaging alone was responsible for 46% out of 340 million…
By Doga Celik Published on May 17, Greenpeace’s latest report, “Trashed: How the UK is still dumping plastic waste on the rest of the world,” has revealed that the UK exports most of its waste to Turkey. The report documents how trash from Britain was found in…
By Josh Anusewicz Efforts to shift from petrochemical plastics to renewable and biodegradable plastics have proven tricky—the production process can require toxic chemicals and is expensive, and the mechanical strength and water stability is often insufficient. But researchers have made a breakthrough, using wood byproducts,…
By Matthew Jones, University of Bath and Jack Payne, University of Bath It’s impossible to imagine everyday life without plastics. Lightweight, durable and cheap, these materials outperform many others in a diverse range of applications. Plastics have brought about positive change in ways we often…
BPA is an organic compound made from fossil fuel sources. The industrial chemical has been used to make plastics and resins since the 1950s, and products made with it are cheap to make, clear, flexible and strong. BPA can be found in a variety of…
By Mayukh Saha Ocean Fresh is the brainchild of Bernardo Pedroso. This sustainability startup was founded in 2019, and its target is to reduce the plastic pollution in our oceans. The journey started with sustainable flip flops, and sustainable sneakers are the latest endeavor. How…
Plastic gathered from remote corners of the South Pacific Ocean, including nesting areas of New Zealand albatrosses, has confirmed the global threat of plastic pollution to seabirds. Published on 12 October in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, the study looks for patterns…
Discussions of the growing plastic waste problem often focus on reducing the volume of single-use plastic packaging items such as bags, bottles, tubs and films. But a new University of Michigan study shows that two-thirds of the plastic put into use in the United States…
By Mayukh Saha Plastic pollution has been haunting the planet for a long time. We may have realized the devil that plastic is quite recently, but we are also trying to bring the use of plastic to a halt. In Australia, a teenager has taken…
Food wrapping, fishing gear and plastic waste continue to reach the Antarctic. Two new studies into how plastic debris is reaching sub-Antarctic islands are published this month (April 2020) in the journal Environment International. New findings include analyses of some of the longest continuous datasets…
By Anthony McLennan A Polish business called Biotrem is offering a unique solution to help fight plastic pollution with their disposable, biodegradable tableware made from unprocessed wheat bran. Biotrem’s product is an alternative to disposal tableware manufactured from plastic or paper. Plastic and paper products…
