Plastic Pollution

Think of ocean plastic and you may picture bottles and bags bobbing on the waves, slowly drifting out to sea. Yet the reality is more complex and far more persistent. Even if we stopped all plastic pollution today, our new research shows that fragments of buoyant plastic would continue to…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California ramped up its efforts to curb plastic pollution Friday — suing three plastic-bag makers, alleging the companies falsely claimed their products were recyclable. State Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said companies Novolex Holdings, Inteplast Group and Mettler Packaging violated a state law passed in…

Egypt has extended its project promoting circular economy practices in the single-use plastics value chain by one year, pushing its completion to 2027 instead of 2026. The extension comes as part of national efforts to curb plastic pollution and accelerate the transition toward sustainable production and consumption models. Local Development…

By Martin Metieh The Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for the African Region (BCCC-Africa) has organised a workshop for students of the University of Ibadan to train them on how to create awareness on the dangers of plastic waste and solutions to the menace when they proceed to their compulsory one-year…

In 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted a new resolution laying the first groundwork toward a new legally binding international agreement to end plastic pollution. The treaty will contain ambitious targets covering every stage of the plastic life cycle, including introducing restrictive measures against the production and consumption of…

Fifty years ago, plastic products did not have a grip on our lives and households as they do today. Ceramic, glass, and clay jars, like the Egyptian water jug qolla, were used for storage, and metals like copper and tin were used for cooking and preserving food. Palm leaf baskets,…

World Bank WASHINGTON, September 9, 2025 - The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors today approved a new program to support coastal communities in India by protecting and conserving ecosystems, reducing plastic pollution and providing more and diverse jobs for 100,000 people in the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.…

Events this August raise a critical question: Can the United Nations process to combat global plastic pollution ever reach agreement? Or is some other way forward necessary? The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC) set a goal in 2022 of a legally binding treaty by the end of 2024...Read…

An artwork in Geneva, Switzerland, where talks on a global plastic treaty took place last week FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images On 14 August, exhausted UN delegates filed into a windowless plenary hall, after hours of intensive debate and little sleep, to watch their hopes of a global treaty to…

Why did the Global Plastics Treaty fail? Summary Treaty talks involving 183 countries ended without legal agreement Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever expressed disappointment over failed negotiations Food industry hoped treaty would limit virgin plastic and boost recycling Fragmented regulations increase business costs and hinder sustainable investment Talks will resume, with…