Studies have recently detected microplastics in human lungs and blood, and previous research shows humans ingest and inhale many microplastics even at home. In 2020, scientists uncovered microplastics in human organs for the first time. Now, researchers are making sense of how microplastics that are ingested can make their way from the gut to other […]
Researchers completing the first dive survey of Lake Tahoe have found an accumulation of plastic litter in a small section of the lake. Lake Tahoe, which lies on the border of California and Nevada, is the 10th deepest lake in the world. Last year, researchers from the Desert Research Institute and University of California Davis […]
European Union (EU) member states and lawmakers have reached an agreement to stop exports of certain types of waste, including plastics, to countries outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group of mostly rich countries starting in mid-2026. “Exports of certain non-hazardous wastes and mixtures of non-hazardous wastes… will be allowed only to […]
With a rising interest among consumers for more sustainable products, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is in the review process as it considers updates to its Green Guides for the first time in over a decade. The updates are meant to address greenwashing and misinformation around recyclable and renewable product labeling. Although the Green […]
If you are at a sports stadium, you might notice a new logo on recycling bins: that of PureCycle. PureCycle is a U.S.-based company seeking to turn plastic waste into an infinitely recyclable material. Over the last year, the company has partnered with stadiums in Orlando, Cincinnati and Jacksonville on a pilot project to capture […]
One morning, I came out of the shower, reached for my towel and found myself face-to-face with a shelf full of different products. Although I used these things every day, I looked at the shelf as if I had seen it for the first time, and I was horrified. Staring back at me were bottles […]
Environmental organizations Greenpeace and Everyday Plastic have conducted one of the most ambitious voluntary research projects to examine the size of the plastic waste problem in the UK. The results of The Big Plastic Count show that UK households dispose of close to an estimated 100 billion pieces of plastic packaging every year, while recycling […]
Could plastic pollution make you sick? A new study published in Marine Pollution Bulletin found that it might. A research team from the University of Stirling in Scotland found that harmful bacteria including E. coli had colonized sewage waste like wet wipes that washed up on beaches in the area. “We all know that sewage […]
Amazon shareholders rejected a proposal that would have mandated that the company report on how much plastic it used, the plusses of reducing plastic use and the minuses of continuing its current habits. This was just one of 15 environmental or social-justice proposals that shareholders voted down at the company’s annual meeting Wednesday, even as […]