Waste 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

What would this scientist tell Trump? Interview with Robert Watson, former chair of the IPCC

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
Sámi reindeer herders and conservationists set up a protest camp at the facilities of the Blue Moon Metals Nussir mine in Finnmark county, Norway. Photo by Rasmus Berg / Natur og Ungdom.

Plans to dispose of mining waste in Norway’s Arctic Ocean worries Sámi fishers, herders

Aimee Gabay 18 Nov 2025

Radioactive leak in Banten exposes workers to danger & reveals regulatory failures

Anggita Raissa 25 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

Local divers pick away at Lake Malawi’s underwater garbage problem

Charles Mpaka 14 Oct 2025
Tony Pritzker speaking at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES) gala. Courtesy of IoES.

Tony Pritzker’s patient strategy for the planet

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 Oct 2025

From Chile to Greece, ‘ghost gear’ from fish farms haunts the seas

Guia Baggi 25 Sep 2025
Consumed book cover

Consumed by convenience: The culture of disposability

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Sep 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 bird perches on debris looking for food in Brazil. Image courtesy of AP Photo/Andre Penner.

Waste-to-energy project could boost Brazil’s decarbonization goals

Adriana Amâncio 22 Aug 2025
In the dump, men, women and children are looking for plastic and clothes that they can then sell. The people who work on the dump often wear no protection. It is estimated that 3,000 households make a living from this recycling.

The clothes that never die: How fast fashion is burying Africa in plastic

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 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

Air quality study of East Java waste-to-energy plant sparks dispute, health warnings

Petrus Riski 16 Aug 2025

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

Anne Nzouankeu 11 Aug 2025

As Africa pays the price for rich world’s fast fashion fix, new French bill targets brands

Elodie Toto 9 Aug 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
NASA's Artemis program plans to return humans to the moon, with the U.S. government agency working with SpaceX to develop the company's Starship human landing system.

Commercial space race comes with multiple planetary health risks

Sean Mowbray 22 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

Ancient eco-friendly pilgrimage brings modern threats to Sri Lanka wildnerness

Malaka Rodrigo 1 Jul 2025

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

Associated Press 26 Jun 2025

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

Bobby Bascomb 25 Jun 2025
Keleino and his colleagues leave a community after training for the city of Lae.

‘It’s our garden’: PNG villages fight to prevent mine waste dumping in the sea

John Cannon 13 Jun 2025
Biyem-Assi is one of the most populous districts, with nearly 49,000 inhabitants, not far from the city center.

In Yaoundé, fecal sludge flows through ‘Caca Junction’ streets

Fanta Mabo 9 Jun 2025
Sarmi, a resident of Gupit village, Nguter district, who is a representative of residents in a class action lawsuit against PT. RUM, which caused pollution. Her house was decorated with murals in solidarity as a sign of the residents' struggle.

Central Java villages take fast fashion to the cleaners at Indonesia’s Supreme Court

T. Handoko 26 May 2025
Under-construction residential buildings in Kolkata. Image by Biswarup Ganguly via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

India sets construction waste recycling targets with new rules

Mongabay.com 21 May 2025
Student volunteers with trash collected during the 2024 Himalayan Cleanup campaign. Image courtesy of The Himalayan Cleanup.

F&B packaging fuels growing plastic waste crisis in Indian Himalayas: Report

Shreya Dasgupta 20 May 2025

Landslide deaths again highlight safety failures in Indonesia’s nickel industry

Hans Nicholas Jong 1 May 2025
Banner image of marine pollution by Christian Yakubu via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

UN report recommends ‘deep change’ theory to address global crises

Kristine Sabillo 25 Apr 2025

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