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Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) mother and calf as seen from the air. Image by Christin Khan NOAA/NEFSC via Wikimedia. (CC BY-SA 4.0).

With high seas treaty in place, West African countries plan for protected area

Victoria Schneider 31 Mar 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
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
A woman standing in a street carries a basin filled with a colourful variety of plastic bottles while in the background there are busy stalls and shoppers in the street. Image by Elliot Ovadje via Flickr.

Recycling startups test limits of private solutions to deluge of waste in Lagos

Abdulwaheed Sofiullahi 20 Feb 2026
Open burning of plastic in a community in Guiyu, China. This practice is fast becoming a common way to dispose of plastic and other waste.

Plastic household waste burned as fuel on rise in Global South, risking health

Sean Mowbray 5 Feb 2026

Malaysia bans e-waste imports, vows to end illegal dumping

Associated Press 5 Feb 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
Scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini), photographed in Yonaguni, Japan.

Top ocean news stories of 2025 (commentary)

Alfredo Giron, Ana Spalding, Erin Skoczylas, Vanessa Constant 24 Dec 2025
Smoke rises from a coal-burning power plant. Refuse-derived fuel (RDF), which includes large amounts of plastics, is replacing fossil fuels in some energy and industrial furnaces. But critics say this practice is merely replacing one dirty fuel for another.

Boom in burning waste for fuel could put human health and environment at risk

Sean Mowbray 10 Dec 2025

New report warns of mounting planetary crises — and pathways to hope

David Akana 9 Dec 2025
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
Spraying pesticides on a field. Chemical pesticides have become ubiquitous in industrial agriculture, and have contributed to a rapid rise in chronic diseases, researchers say.

‘Silent epidemic of chemical pollution’ demands radical regulatory redo, say scientists

Mike Gaworecki 3 Dec 2025
Workers at BRAC's plastic project sort out single-use plastics.

New ventures set out to tackle the plastic choking Bangladesh’s ECAs

Abu Siddique 2 Dec 2025
Sorting of plastic bottles collected in Costa Rica for analysis. Photo by Juan Manuel Muñoz-Araya.

Lost at sea, found in Latin America: the journeys of discarded plastic bottles

Olivia Maule 2 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
Consumed book cover

Plastic’s triumph was no accident. It built an economy addicted to throwaway living

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Oct 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 free-ranging chicken amid metal scrap in Thailand. The mismanagement of ash from incineration and metal production is another serious public health issue.

‘Alarming’ levels of toxins found in free-range eggs near dumpsites globally

Sean Mowbray 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

As Sri Lanka struggles with ghost nets, volunteer youth lead seabed cleanup

Malaka Rodrigo 25 Sep 2025
Johan Rockström presenting a planet boundaries talk at the 2025 Frontiers Planet Prize event in June.

Ocean acidification threatens planetary health: Interview with Johan Rockström

Julian Reingold 24 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
A fisherman cleans the plastic waste caught in his net.

New coalition focuses on ‘reuse’ to tackle top polluter Indonesia’s plastic waste problem

Hans Nicholas Jong 21 Aug 2025
A woman collects plastic and other waste for recycling in South Africa. Less than 10% is recycled worldwide, with the rest remaining in the environment.

UN plastic treaty negotiations end in failure, again

Bobby Bascomb 15 Aug 2025

One of the world’s most polluted cities has banned single-use plastics. It’s not so easy

Associated Press 13 Aug 2025

Participants in the negotiations on plastic pollution are determined to finalize a treaty

Anne Nzouankeu 11 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

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