Microplastics News

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171 stories

‘Plastic pollution hotspots’ spawn a public health crisis across Latin America

Mark Hillsdon 8 Sep 2026

Kenya’s clothing waste raises concerns about potential public health risks

Ouma Elvine Tina 26 Aug 2026

Tapirs, bats and nests: How plastic infiltrates Amazonian wildlife

Tiago da Mota e Silva 18 Aug 2026

In Amazon rivers, fish breathe and ingest plastics

Tiago da Mota e Silva 10 Aug 2026
A mason jar holds the plastic debris collected from just three hours of surface trawls, conceptualizing the vast number of plastic fragments and particles swirling in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Deep-sea snails and mussels in Indian and Pacific Oceans contain microplastics, study finds

María Paula Rubiano A. 3 Aug 2026

Sea salt in Lombok Island, Indonesia is contaminated with microplastics: study

David Brown 23 Jul 2026

From rivers to mangroves, microplastics are contaminating the Amazon

Tiago da Mota e Silva 20 Jul 2026
48758842257_1f2ee7e507_k.jpg Drug-resistant infections remain a top global public health threat, leading to around 5 million deaths worldwide each year. Recent research suggests that microplastic pollution is accelerating the development of resistant bacteria. Image by DFID – UK Department for International Development via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

Microplastic pollution can fuel rise in antibiotic resistance, studies find

Claire Asher 8 Jul 2026
Community members collect plastic waste during a beach cleanup organized by COMRED on Kenya’s coast. Image courtesy of COMRED.

‘The only possible transition is a just transition’: Interview with WEF’s Clemence Schmid

Jackson Ambole Okata 7 Jul 2026
A Venezuela snouted treefrog. Image by Taucce et al., 2022, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

Study finds microplastics in tadpoles in the Amazon for the first time

David Brown 5 May 2026

Microplastics found in fish in Tuvalu, a remote South Pacific nation

David Brown 7 Apr 2026
Northern gannet (Morus bassanus) nest made largely of plastic debris. Image courtesy of Martin Brogger.

Seabird nests built with plastic waste off the coast of Germany: Photo of the week

Shanna Hanbury 25 Mar 2026
Trash bags full of discarded plastic. Image by Adil Edin via Unsplash (Public domain).

Huge amounts of nanoplastics discovered in tap and bottled water

Shanna Hanbury 23 Mar 2026
Corals in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Reefs in Florida and elsewhere in the world face many threats including heat waves (which causes coral bleaching), diseases like stony coral tissue loss disease, invasive species, pollution, physical damage and more.

If Florida reefs aren’t protected, storms will increase flooding & costs: Study

Ruth Kamnitzer 12 Mar 2026
Close-up shot of a bale of compressed plastic waste.

Plastic, from home and abroad, spills into Türkiye’s waters

Guia Baggi, Utku Kuran 11 Mar 2026
Synthetic polymers like plastics take centuries to fully decompose in the environment. In contrast, natural polymers like cellulose and DNA break down completely after use. Now, researchers have taken inspiration from nature to create strong, durable plastics that break down easily at the end of a product’s life.

Promising breakthrough creates plastics that self-deconstruct on cue: Study

Claire Asher 10 Mar 2026
Judith Enck, author of The Problem with Plastic, holding a copy of the book. Image by Jerrick Mitra.

Plastic pollution requires urgent action, says author Judith Enck

Mike DiGirolamo 6 Jan 2026
The resulting piles of plastic after beach clean-up volunteers sifted microplastics from water and sand in Kailua Bay, a few miles south Kāneʻohe Bay, Oʻahu. Image courtesy of: Ken G Kosada/Lethal Lens Photography.

Another threat to reefs: Microplastic chemicals may harm coral reproduction

Kari Goodbar 5 Dec 2025
A turtle consumes a plastic bag.

Lethal dose of plastic for seabirds and marine animals ‘much smaller than expected’

Elizabeth Claire Alberts 19 Nov 2025
Juruá red howler monkeys. Image courtesy of Anamélia de Souza Jesus.

Microplastics found in the stomachs of Amazon tree-dwelling monkeys

Shanna Hanbury 15 Oct 2025
A trash picker looks for recyclable plastics at a waste dump in Bali. Image by Jonas Gratzer for Mongabay.

Can courts combat plastic pollution? Lessons from Indonesia (commentary)

Syahriza Alkohir Anggoro 30 Sep 2025
Plastic waste in Amazonas state, Brazil. Image courtesy of Michell Mello/Fiocruz Amazônia.

First review of Amazon plastic pollution finds widespread contamination

Shanna Hanbury 29 Sep 2025
Consumed book cover

Consumed by convenience: The culture of disposability

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Sep 2025
A protestor sums up INC-5.2’s failure with the slogan: “Consensus kills ambition.”

As plastics treaty talks break down, are there paths to a breakthrough?

Charles Pekow 29 Aug 2025
Waste burning in the Maldives. Open burning of plastic is a cheap way of reducing waste volume, but the practice is rife with health and environmental risks.

Global South bears growing burden of health threats from plastic burning

Mongabay.com 25 Aug 2025
Plastic washed up on a beach in Barcelona.

As UN plastic treaty talks face possible deadlock, what are the ways forward?

Tosca Ballerini 31 Jul 2025
Researchers Dušan Materić, left, and Helge Niemann, right, collecting water samples in the North Atlantic Ocean. Image courtesy of NIOZ.

Scientists use the ‘smell of burned plastic’ to measure nanoplastics in the ocean

Shanna Hanbury 30 Jul 2025

Sri Lanka Supreme Court orders $1 bn payment in X Press Pearl marine disaster

Malaka Rodrigo 29 Jul 2025
A barrier collects plastic waste at Kingston Harbor in Jamaica. Image courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup.

Scientists find millions of tons of nanoplastics in the North Atlantic Ocean

Shanna Hanbury 25 Jul 2025
Banner image of the Liberia-flagged vessel MSC Elsa 3 that sank on May 25 off southern India. Image courtesy of the Indian Coast Guard.

Sri Lanka hit by plastic pollution after cargo ship sinks off Indian coast

Mongabay.com 24 Jul 2025
A waste site near Mombasa, Kenya. Separating plastic waste from growing mountains of domestic trash is a huge hurdle facing the world’s communities.

Open burning of plastic is an escalating public health threat, say experts

Sean Mowbray 17 Jul 2025

Plastic bag bans linked to sharp decline in coastal litter, study finds

Bobby Bascomb 25 Jun 2025

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