Waste News

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204 stories

Compost, racoons and sea turtle predation in Costa Rica

Bobby Bascomb 25 Mar 2026

Deadly Indonesia landfill collapse a ‘serious warning’ of systemic failure

Naina Rao 20 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
The construction site of Bridge Data Centre's 0.2 GW QHI01 data center in Khlong Tamru subdistrict, Chonburi province, Thailand. Photo by Andy Ball/Mongabay.

Thai data center boom sparks fears of water shortage, air pollution

Gerald Flynn 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

Malaysia renews Lynas Rare Earths’ license for 10 years, orders end to radioactive waste by 2031

Associated Press 3 Mar 2026

Deadly landfill collapse exposes risks faced by Philippines’ waste pickers

Michael Beltran 2 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
A caddisfly in the Oligotricha genus.

Insects are moving pharmaceutical pollutants from rivers to land; risks unknown

Sean Mowbray 13 Feb 2026

Pilot projects aim to break Indonesia’s habit of burning household waste

Hans Nicholas Jong 12 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
Sirsiya river in Nepal. image by Suresh Bidar

‘Holy river’ carries industrial waste & sewage from Nepal to India

Suresh Bidari 21 Jan 2026
Ocimum basilicum flower.

Amazon entrepreneur spreads seeds of growth with recycled paper

Rafael Spuldar 6 Jan 2026
Ningsih is about to add chlorine to the "Gentong Mas Santun" septic tank, which functions to inhibit the growth of and eliminate bacteria and microbes in feces.

On Indonesia’s longest river, a Borneo community passes crucial public health milestone

Anggita Raissa 29 Dec 2025
A sewage outlet in Bangkok.

Marine heat waves and raw sewage combine to put human health at risk

Sean Mowbray 18 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

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

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