Plastic Pollution

Some 11.5 trillion 'nurdles' -- or tiny plastic balls -- end up in the ocean each year, according to UK charity Fauna & Flora International. On an early spring afternoon, Tregantle Beach is bathed in a dazzling light reminiscent of a painting by British landscape artist JMW Turner as sea,…

A new study has been released demonstrating the risks of plastic pollution to all life on this planet. The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health report is a comprehensive look at the effects of plastics and the hazard they pose. A key section of the report dealing with the…

In a new study, researchers from Japan proposed a new recycling strategy that facilitates material recycling without any loss in their properties. In “closed-loop” recycling, a polymer film composed of polyacrylate-based microparticles is disassembled into individual microparticles, which can be reassembled to form the film without losing any properties. This…

ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast announced that it will host this year's World Environment Day on June 5 on the theme of "solutions to plastic pollution". Jean-Luc Assi, the country's minister of environment and sustainable development, called plastic pollution "a menace to us all". Organised by the United Nations, more than…

During the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5), the global community came together to recognize the plastic pollution crisis as an environmental priority, and unanimously agreed to develop a new international legally binding agreement on plastic pollution. An Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) has been established to develop…

Researchers blame 'lack of recycling, a flood of toxic products and packaging' There are an estimated 170 trillion pieces of plastic in the world's oceans today, according to new research published this week. (Photo: AFP) PARIS: Plastic pollution in the world's oceans has reached "unprecedented levels" over the past 15…

Environment Global data on ocean surface level pollution suggests there are now 2.3 million tonnes of microplastic pollution floating in the world’s seas, with concentrations surging since 2005 By Madeleine Cuff 8 March 2023 A handful of plastic washed ashore at Kamilo Beach, Hawaii The 5 Gyres Institute, CC-BY 4.0…

A global dataset of ocean plastic pollution between 1979 and 2019 reveals a rapid and unprecedented increase in ocean plastics since 2005, according to a study published March 8, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Marcus Eriksen from The 5 Gyres Institute, USA, and colleagues. Understanding plastic accumulation…

Chairman of the Nippon Foundation, Yohei Sasakawa says the report is a "timely call for urgent, ambitious solutions" to the plastic crisis, and recognises that global effort and coordination are needed to handle the crisis Naja Bertolt Jensen/Unsplash A new report warns that plastic consumption and waste are rising rapidly,…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain In the last decade, growing numbers of researchers have studied plastic pollution, one of the world's most pressing environmental hazards. They have made progress but still face challenges, such as the comparability of results, especially with regard to microplastic particles. There is no standard sample collection…