Author: Jim Robbins

For two decades, researchers worked to solve a mystery in West Coast streams. Why, when it rained, were large numbers of spawning coho salmon dying? As part of an effort to find out, scientists placed fish in water that contained particles of new and old tires. The salmon died, and the researchers then began testing the hundreds of chemicals that had leached into the water. A 2020 paper revealed the cause of mortality: a chemical called 6PPD that is added to tires to prevent their cracking and degradation. When 6PPD, which occurs in tire dust, is exposed to ground-level ozone, it’s transformed into multiple other chemicals, including 6PPD-quinone, or 6PPD-q. The compound is acutely toxic to four of 11 tested fish species, including coho salmon.

Author: Megan Quinn

Plastics’ new outreach to legislators and brands underscores the tensions between industry and advocacy groups as more and more state lawmakers introduce bills that could impact plastic recycling and production. Plastics management has also been the subject of numerous federal hearings and bills in recent years.

Author: Lisa Song

The plastic crisis has grown exponentially. Despite marketing claims, less than 10% of the plastic waste from recent decades has been recycled. The rest gets incinerated, is buried in landfills or piles up as litter on land and in the water. Today, it is widely acknowledged that everything about plastic — from extracting fossil fuels to make it, to manufacturing products that use it, to disposing of it — can seriously harm public health and the environment. Plastics are a growing driver of climate change. As growth in renewable energy threatens the rule of fossil fuels, that industry is clinging to the creation of new plastics as its Plan B.

Author: Sabrina Shankman

In a typical year, Massachusetts’ state agencies buy roughly 100,000 plastic bottles — water, sodas, you name it. Like other plastic items, these bottles are made from fossil fuels and create climate-warming emissions both when they are manufactured and as they degrade. Citing the climate damage they cause, Governor Maura Healey said she has ordered a government-wide ban, preventing state agencies from buying single-use plastic bottles. Massachusetts is the first state in the country to take that step.

Author: Beyond Plastic

Our country and world’s addiction to plastic is a growing problem, responsible for country-sized swirling gyres of plastic waste in our oceans and growing landfills in our country’s interior. In the U.S. we generate enough plastic waste to fill Cowboys Stadium, the largest professional football stadium in the country, every 16 hours. 

Author: Matt Simon

Given the ceaseless procession of disasters this summer—from heat domes to hurricanes to the fiery destruction of Lahaina—the slow-motion disaster of plastic pollution may not be top of mind. But the United Nations recently released a “zero draft,” or the principles under consideration, of what could become one of the most consequential treaties ever written: “the international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.” 

Author: Associated Press

California has filed a lawsuit against some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, claiming they deceived the public and downplayed the risks posed by fossil fuels. The civil lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in San Francisco also seeks creation of a fund – financed by the companies – to pay for recovery efforts after devastating storms and fires. Democratic governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement the companies named in the lawsuit – Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and BP – should be held accountable.

Author: Chris D'Angelo and Jimmy Tobias

The Environmental Protection Agency waited a month to consult some of its top experts about the risk of dangerous chemical exposure around East Palestine, Ohio, following the fiery derailment of a Norfolk Southern train hauling toxic materials, internal emails show. That delay left at least two EPA scientists surprised and concerned. And it occurred while the agency was deferring to the railroad giant and its web of contractors to spearhead environmental testing, including crafting protocols for sampling soil, water and air for chemicals — a move many saw as a glaring conflict of interest.

Author: Joshua Doherty

The government should ban the export of refuse derived fuel (RDF) before extending the emission trading scheme to cover energy recovery from 2028, according to the Environmental Services Association (ESA). This, according to the association, is required to ensure the export of waste is not encouraged. The call was made in a report entitled ‘a sustainable transition into the Emissions Trading Scheme’, published by the ESA earlier today (14 September). This set out the ESA’s strategy for the successful application of the ETS to waste incinerators, which could place a tax on each tonne of carbon emitted.

Author: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Sept 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced plans for about $100 million in grants to boost recycling and waste management - its first major effort in these areas in 30 years. The agency's National Recycling Strategy is targeting a 50% recycling rate by 2030, compared with around 32% currently. The rate for recycling plastic waste is only about 5%. It has selected 25 communities to receive over $70 million in grants to improve their recycling facilities and will offer another $32 million to states and territories to implement their own waste management plans.

Author: AFP/The Local

Sweden's right-wing coalition plans to abolish a tax on plastic bags as of November 2024, a tax originally brought in by the previous centre-left government in an attempt to cut the use of plastic. "We're convinced that the Swedish people use plastic bags wisely in their daily lives and that there's no reason they should be extra expensive," Climate Minister Romina Pourmokhtari told Swedish broadcaster SVT on Wednesday.

Author: Marissa Heffernan

The first working draft of the United Nations’ global plastics agreement lays out the broad strokes of what is intended to be a legally binding way to manage plastic pollution on land and in the oceans. Although the Sept 4. draft has several blank “placeholder” sections and many sections containing several versions of potential language, the text shows that the agreement may cover microplastics, chemicals, design for recyclability, reuse and refill systems, PCR, extended producer responsibility, labeling, fishing gear, environmental justice and innovation in non-plastic alternatives.

Author: Joseph Winters

For years, companies have been trying to offset their greenhouse gas emissions with carbon credits. Now, they want to do the same thing for their plastic pollution. A growing number of companies are claiming “plastic neutrality” through the purchase of so-called plastic credits, tradable units that typically each represent 1 metric ton of plastic waste that’s been removed from the environment. These credits, sold by dozens of unregulated businesses and nonprofits, are supposed to complement companies’ internal plastic reduction strategies while also funding waste collection in the developing world.

Author: Justin Worland

Whenever I order food for delivery, I play a little game to guess how many sets of cutlery the restaurant will provide with my meal. Sometimes restaurants will throw in two, three, or four sets for just one order. But I rarely need any cutlery at all, and the waste goes in the trash or collects dust in a kitchen drawer. Researchers working with Chinese technology conglomerate Alibaba tried a simple fix to this pervasive problem. Instead of just wastefully doling out cutlery sets, the company required food-delivery customers in select cities in China to pick how many sets of cutlery they wanted to receive.