Charging grocery shoppers a small fee for plastic bags works. At least that’s what the UK government has found. Since it introduced a five-pence fee for plastic shopping bags in 2015, plastic bag sales at England’s seven biggest retailers have fallen 90 percent, NPR reported. “No one wants to see the devastating impact plastic waste […]
The movement to ban plastic straws has gained major momentum this month, with Seattle’s ban going into effect July 1 and companies like Starbucks, Hyatt and American Airlines all agreeing to phase the sucking devices out as well. But the anti-straw push has had unintended consequences for people with disabilities, many of whom need the […]
Chile’s Constitutional Court ratified a bill that bans plastic bags across the country after rejecting an appeal from the plastics industry. Last month, Chile’s Congress unanimously approved the ban in order to protect the environment and especially the ocean. Shortly after, the Santiago-based Association of Industrial Plastics (Asipla) launched a legal challenge to overturn the […]
The Australian states of Queensland and Western Australia, as well as the supermarket chains Coles, Big W and Woolworths joined the war on plastic pollution July 1 with new restrictions on single-use plastic bags, National Public Radio (NPR) reported. But some angry customers have been fighting back in a phenomenon the press is dubbing “bag […]
The Texas Supreme Court struck down the city of Laredo’s plastic bag ban—a decision that will likely overturn similar bans in about a dozen other cities, including Austin, Fort Stockton and Port Aransas. The court ruled Friday that only the state has the authority to regulate solid waste disposal in Texas. In the 19-page opinion, […]
Momentum is building in the war against single-use plastics. In the past week, a slew of major companies—including SeaWorld parks, American Express, cruise company Royal Caribbean, IKEA, A&W Canada and Burger King UK—have pledged to eliminate items such as plastic drinking straws, stirrers, lids and bags in efforts to protect our oceans and their inhabitants. […]
The theme for this year’s World Environment Day, the world’s largest environmental celebration which takes place June 5, is “Beat Plastic Pollution.” In honor of the occasion, UN Environment released the first ever “state of plastics” report, tracking government action against plastic waste, a UN Environment press release reported. The report, titled “Single-Use Plastics: A […]
A pilot whale died in southern Thailand last week after swallowing 17 pounds of plastic waste, despite a five-day effort to save the animal’s life. A necropsy revealed that the plastic debris, which included 80 plastic bags, clogged the whale’s stomach, Reuters reported. The whale was found in critical condition in a canal near Thailand’s […]
Chile is set to become the first country in the Americas to ban plastic bags to help protect the environment and especially the ocean. Congress unanimously approved the measure on Wednesday. The bill was initially designed to outlaw plastic bags in Patagonia, but was later extended nationwide. President Sebastian Piñera celebrated the news. “We have […]
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