The European Union has banned all non-recyclable plastic waste being shipped to developing nations from 1 January. The large quantity of plastic sent to the Global South is often not being properly treated. A lot of this waste ends up either in landfill, the ocean, or being incinerated because these countries often don’t have the capacity to sustainably treat the waste.

Scientists show how re-engineering enzymes from a plastic eating bacteria, can provide us new avenues in plastic degradation.

Plastic can be useful. Disposable plastic is almost always wasteful. Canadians, it’s your turn to make a difference and put an end to disposable, single-use plastics in Canada.The government of

Stockholm and Bergen are among dozens of cities ditching trash cans in favor of vacuum chutes that woosh waste away through a series of underground pipes.

Plastic pollution has become one the most pressing environmental problems, as rapidly increasing production of disposable plastic products is devouring the planet – leaving traces all over nature and natural habitats. For way too long, the debate around plastic pollution has been dominated by the conversation about how consumers can change their habits and improve waste sorting.

By switching to plastic-free Apeel English cucumbers—which feature a plant-based, life-extending “peel”—the major retailer is eliminating the equivalent of 85 million plastic straws. 

Plastic waste flowing into the oceans is expected to nearly triple in volume in the next 20 years, while efforts to stem the tide have so far made barely a dent in the tsunami of waste, research shows.

The radical fix for a noxious landfill in Staten Island: Bury the trash, plant some grass and do nothing for 20 years.

Everything we buy has an impact on the environment. But some things bring us little value, even if they are "convenient"…and some of those are pure waste! So why buy them in the first place?

Recycling isn’t as guilt-free as it seems. Only about 30% of the plastic that goes into soda bottles gets turned into new plastic, and it often ends up as a lower strength version. Now, researchers report they’ve engineered an enzyme that can convert 90% of that same plastic back to its pristine starting materials. Work is underway to scale up the technology and open a demonstration plant next year.

This marks the second consecutive year that Coca-Cola has become the most polluted brand in the world. Other companies identified as major global polluters include Solo Cup and Colgate-Palmolive. In the United States, Nestlé is the most polluted company, followed by Solo Cup and Starbucks. Recently, several large companies announced their commitment to more sustainable practices. However, garbage seems to be still accumulating. Why is this?

As the sleep economy grows, companies vie to sell us new mattresses, offering 100-day returns. This has helped create an impossible waste mountain – and a wild west of rogue recyclers...

Plastic bans are increasing around the world, a necessary step to save our environment, writes Sarah King of Greenpeace Canada. Angela Logomasini of the Competitive Enterprise Institute argues that, although well meaning, such bans create more problem than they solve.

This trailblazing Canadian company is building a new standard for sustainability since they started recycling the bulk of their municipal plastic waste into lumber. Roughly 80% of the plastic recyclables collected throughout Halifax, Nova Scotia are now being processed by Goodwood Plastic Products Ltd so they can be turned into building blocks.

So many things we buy come packaged in plastic containers or wrappers that are meant to be used once, thrown away and forgotten ― but they don’t break down and can linger in the environment long after we’re gone. It’s tempting to think that we can recycle this problem away, that if we’re more diligent about placing discarded bottles and bags into the curbside bin, we’ll somehow make up for all the trash overflowing landfills, choking waterways and killing marine life.

Very little of plastic we recycle is actually removed from the waste stream.

It's about time.

Researchers have estimated the amount of microplastics Americans might be consuming every day.

The average person eats at least 50,000 particles of microplastic a year and breathes in a similar quantity, according to the first study to estimate human ingestion of plastic pollution. The true number is likely to be many times higher, as only a small number of foods and drinks have been analysed for plastic contamination. The scientists reported that drinking a lot of bottled water drastically increased the particles consumed.

The world generated 242 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2016 – a figure that’s expected to grow by 70% in the next 30 years. But this same plastic is also a commodity that’s sold and traded in a global industry that generates US$200 billion every year. Exporting plastic waste is one way rich countries dispose of their waste. By selling waste to firms that then send it to countries where recycling costs are cheaper, rich countries can avoid the unpleasant task of finding somewhere at home to dispose of it.