The Ocean Cleanup project was launched in September this year with the aim of clearing up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. However, the ambitious project has already hit a snag. It has been reported that while the U-shaped device was scooping up plastic, it was then losing it. Inventor Boyan Slat, 24, said that the slow speed […]
Now here is one great news for the environment! European Union is slowly inching towards a blanket ban on some of the most common single-use plastics like cigarette butts, straws, bottles, disposable cutlery and cotton buds in order to tackle the problem of marine plastic pollution. Negotiators from the European Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement […]
A new report from environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth identified four main culprits behind microplastic pollution in the oceans from sources in the UK – vehicle tyres, synthetic clothing, plastic pellets used to make plastic items and plastic paints that flake off from buildings. Out of these, the two leading sources are tyre abrasion, […]
In a grim reminder of how plastic pollution is impacting marine life, yet another dead whale washed ashore in Wakatobi National Park, Indonesia, with almost 6 kg of plastic trash inside its stomach. Park officials say the large mass of plastic inside the sperm whale’s stomach included “115 plastic cups, four plastic bottles, 25 plastic […]
In another reminder of how the problem of plastic pollution has gone from bad to worse, for the first time, scientists have found traces of plastic in the stomachs of freshwater fish in the Amazon basin. Scientists studied the stomach contents of fish in Brazil’s Xingu River, one of the major tributaries of the Amazon, and […]
We have literally drowned our planet in plastic – plastic debris can be found in the deepest of oceans, inside the bodies of marine animals, table salt, drinking water and so on. Unsurprisingly, microplastics have now found their way inside our bodies too. A small study has detected microplastics in human excrement for the first […]
UK Environment Secretary Michael Gove just announced that a ban on plastic straws, cotton buds and stirrers could be in place within a year. The move is aimed at tackling the mounting problem of plastic pollution and forcing business establishments to offer readily available non-plastic alternatives. The ban would come into force at some point between October 2019 […]
The news that a team of researchers from South Korea’s Incheon National University and Greenpeace East Asia found microplastics in a whopping 90% of table salt they sampled shouldn’t really come as a surprise considering how ruthlessly we are dumping millions of tons of plastic trash into our water bodies every year. Microplastics are virtually everywhere. […]
A bear cub in Maryland recently got his head stuck in a ‘good-smelling’ plastic jar, most likely in search of some tasty treats. The 100-pound male bear had been missing since 3 days when he was located by rangers from Maryland Department of Human Resources – Wildlife & Heritage Service. The rangers tranquilized him and […]
A new research has shown that after China’s new policy of not accepting any foreign plastic trash due to its own pollution woes, there has been a sharp rise in US plastic waste exports to developing nations. While the US sent more than 70% of plastic waste to China in 2017, almost half of the […]