Microplastics News

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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
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.

Twin ship disasters in India threaten widespread pollution on Sri Lankan coasts

Malaka Rodrigo 19 Jun 2025

Microplastics and melting ice reveal deepening crisis in Antarctica

Soledad Domínguez 16 Jun 2025
Containers floating at the site of the shipwreck. Image by Spokesperson of the Indian Navy via X.

Cargo ship carrying ‘hazardous material’ capsizes off India coast

Mongabay.com 3 Jun 2025
Plastic pellets found on a beach in New Zealand.

New EU plastic pellet rules greeted with caution

Alex Shaw 22 Apr 2025

Award-winning film highlights lasting damage from X-Press Pearl disaster in Sri Lanka

Malaka Rodrigo 11 Apr 2025

‘Plastic People’ documentary exposes the human health threats from plastic 

Mongabay.com 3 Apr 2025
Vegetables in plactic bags in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh continues promotion of biodegradable bags amid battle against polythene

Mohammad Al-Masum Molla 1 Apr 2025

Microplastics in sea turtle nests could cause a dangerous gender imbalance

Bobby Bascomb 26 Mar 2025
Plastic People film poster.

Microplastic within humans now a health crisis: Interview with ‘Plastic People’ filmmakers

Liz Kimbrough 19 Mar 2025

A dramatic rise in microplastics found in human brains, study finds

Bobby Bascomb 7 Feb 2025
Researchers on one of the field visits to the Näätämö River, remote wilderness areas and the fjord at the outflow to the Arctic Ocean.

Researchers find microplastics for the first time in the Finnish Sámi waters

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 4 Feb 2025

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