Plastic News

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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
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 woman sits under a tree surrounded by dry waste in East Java.

Burning, burying and banning: Indonesia’s cities struggle to manage their garbage

Jeff Hutton 23 Jul 2025
Food served on areca leaf and other biodegradable tableware.

Bangladesh turns to nature for biodegradable plates to replace plastic ones

Mongabay.com 18 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

Scientists turn plastic waste into pain medicine

Bobby Bascomb 14 Jul 2025
Following the shipwreck, plastic pellets, also known as nurdles, began washing up along Kerala’s southern beaches.

Oil and plastic pollution from shipwreck raises concerns, legal scrutiny in India

Max Martin 9 Jul 2025

Colombian waste pickers inundate iconic Bogota square with plastic bottles to protest falling wages

Associated Press 26 Jun 2025

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