Plastic Pollution

This piece was originally published by InvestigateWest. When dealing with the life cycle of plastic, hundreds of solutions await, from alternative bioplastics that might be able to degrade themselves through the magic of fungus, to complex chemical recycling that can break plastics down to become other petroleum products or to…

Hilal Ezgi Toraman, Virginia S. and Philip L. Walker Jr. Faculty Fellow in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State. Credit: Penn State University Turning plastic waste into useful products through chemical recycling is one strategy for addressing Earth's growing plastic pollution…

The plastic problem is well publicised. A very small percentage of the plastic produced today is successfully recycled (the OECD estimates as little as 9%), with eight million tonnes of plastic thought to enter the oceans every year. One way to address plastic pollution in the food and beverage industry…

Plastic has many advantages in the food and beverage industry. It keeps food safe and fresh; and is cheap to produce, readily available, durable, and versatile. However, plastic pollution is a major concern. “Plastic has no place in the environment,” ​stresses Ignacio Gavilan, Director of Sustainability at The Consumer Goods…

Monrovia — The Executive Director of Liberia's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Prof. Wilson K. Tarpeh has called for a united front to tackle the menace of plastic pollution across the African continent. Addressing the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN)'s 18th Ministerial Dialogue in Dakar, Senegal,Prof. Tarpeh also called…

Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Monica Medina will travel to Miami, Florida, on September 15, 2022, to participate in Smart City Expo USA. She will take part in a panel discussion on how cities can help achieve global climate goals and will meet with leaders…

A green sea turtle basking on one of the beaches in Hawaii. These marine species could serve as a potential bioindicator for plastic pollution in the North Pacific Ocean. Credit: J. Lynch/NIST With an estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic waste escaping to our oceans each year, plastic pollution…

PADI has kicked off the second season of its “Dive Stories” podcast hosted by Ocean Allison, with a whole slew of guests talking about shark conservation, adaptive diving, plastic pollution and more. One of the episodes features award-winning shark photographers and conservationists Andy and Emma Casagrande, and another showcases PADI…

The impact of plastic pollution in lakes is less well researched than in the oceans. Chemicals leaking from plastic waste make bacteria grow faster in European lakes, according to research published Tuesday that authors said could provide a natural way to remove plastic pollution from freshwater ecosystems. Microplastics have been…

A freshwater lake in Norway, one of 29 European lakes that were part of the study. Credit: Samuel Woodman A study of 29 European lakes has found that some naturally-occurring lake bacteria grow faster and more efficiently on the remains of plastic bags than on natural matter like leaves and…