plastic pollution

Birds Around the World Are Building Their Nests With Trash

Birds Around the World Are Building Their Nests With Trash

A new study has found that 176 bird species around the world are building their nests with trash from humans, such as cigarette butts, candy wrappers and plastic string. Birds on all continents except Antarctica were found to make nests with this waste, which could harm the birds and the chicks. Researchers analyzed nearly 35,000 […]

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    80% Plastic Pollution Reduction Could be Achieved by 2040: UNEP Report

    80% Plastic Pollution Reduction Could be Achieved by 2040: UNEP Report

    While the amount of global plastic pollution is staggering, the United Nations Environment Programme has found that it is still possible to reduce plastic pollution as much as 80% by 2040. It would require major changes, but these efforts would still be convenient and even affordable to take on. The UNEP shared the possibility for […]

    Microplastics 101: Everything You Need to Know

    Microplastics 101: Everything You Need to Know

    Quick Key Facts We use a lot of plastic.  Since the 1950s, more than 8.3 billion tons of plastic has been produced by humans. All in all, only 9% of these plastics have actually been recycled, and the rest has either been incinerated or landed up in landfills — and, in many cases, in the […]

    Oyster Mushrooms Could Consume a Million Cigarette Butts in Australia

    Oyster Mushrooms Could Consume a Million Cigarette Butts in Australia

    In a new program trial in Australia, oyster mushrooms are taking on an important new task. The fungi will consume the toxic chemicals and plastics inside up to 1.2 million cigarette butts, which will be diverted from landfills for the trial. In Australia, people smoke about 18 billion cigarettes a year, and up to 9 […]

    Plastic Consumption Could Nearly Double by 2050 Without Ambitious UN Treaty

    Plastic Consumption Could Nearly Double by 2050 Without Ambitious UN Treaty

    Negotiators working on a legally binding United Nations treaty to end plastic pollution will need to be as ambitious as possible with the final document.  That’s the main takeaway from a new report from Back to Blue — a collaboration between Economist Impact and the Nippon Foundation — released Monday. The report modeled what would […]

    Scientists Identify Plastic as New Threat to Andean Condors in Protected Areas

    Scientists Identify Plastic as New Threat to Andean Condors in Protected Areas

    Plastic is everywhere and now, scientists have confirmed plastic as a new threat to Andean condors even in protected areas of Peru. Research revealed high amounts of plastic in the diets and the regurgitated pellets of these birds. Researchers were studying Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) feeding interactions in Peru when they noticed that samples from […]