A green turtle on Aldabra entangled in abandoned fishing gear.
Rich Baxter
Remote islands in the Indian Ocean are now strewn with plastic waste – the origin of this waste has until now not been established.
Companies can do more to reduce plastic waste.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
Plastic pollution can be checked in Nigeria if the government insists that companies integrate corporate social responsibility into their processes.
Plastic bottles, cutlery, boxes and bags sold by takeaways dominate ocean litter.
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How to make England’s new ban a success.
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Humans are expert pattern-finders. But artificial intelligence tools are better at trawling through vast data sets to find anything from waste dumps to heat-tolerant corals.
International waste pickers and allies visiting a sorting plant in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Patrick O'Hare
Waste pickers want a say in how policies are designed and implemented.
The mismanagement of plastic waste is one of the main causes of plastic pollution in nature.
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Many countries export their plastic waste abroad – but the mismanagement of this plastic waste is one of the leading causes of plastic pollution in nature.
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Most single-use plastics produced worldwide since the 1970s have ended up in landfills and the natural environment. Recycling is not a silver bullet.
Used masks threaten urban wildlife.
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Billions of face masks and other personal protective equipment have been used throughout the pandemic. Containing plastic, these items are damaging wildlife and their environments.
Plastic waste in Kampala, Uganda.
Omer Faruk Ozbil/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
It’s important to look at the whole value chain in the plastics economy, starting with design of products that can be reused and recycled.
Plastic pollution is a growing global problem.
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The plastic industry uses powerful tactics to convince us it’s not that bad, but in reality many of their green solutions aren’t working.
People fish in the Vaal River but are not always aware of the risks associated with microplastic pollution.
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The Vaal River, which serves more than 11 million people, is considerably polluted with microplastics.
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Better enforcement of existing international laws would be a much faster way of addressing plastic pollution from fishing vessels than waiting for a new treaty to be adopted.
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This Plastic Free July, we need to be teaching children to demand less plastic from the world’s worst producers instead of expecting change from individual recycling efforts.
Plastic waste from land based sources pollute the beaches and other water bodies.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via GettyImages
Nigeria generates 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste yearly. Research and public enlightenment can help address the problem.
A green turtle with a satellite tag at Poilão Island, Guinea-Bissau. Photo: Miguel Varela.
Miguel Varela
Protecting green turtles is difficult because they perform some of the longest migrations known in the animal kingdom.
The sticky biofilms that form on microplastics can harbor disease-causing pathogens and help them spread.
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Normally land-bound pathogens that cause deadly diseases for both humans and animals can cling to microplastics and end up in your seafood.
The global issue of plastic pollution has been has been worsening every year, disrupting the entire ecosystem.
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A global treaty on plastic pollution must incentivize a take-make-reuse waste management system and include quantitative targets based on geography-specific emissions.
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Plastic waste is a huge problem. To fix it, we need systemic change, not just a focus on picking it up or recycling plastic once it becomes rubbish.
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Over 170 countries have endorsed a resolution to negotiate a plastics treaty that’s much more precise than the Paris climate change agreement.
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Without action in the next five years, an extra 80 million tonnes of plastic may end up in the ocean by 2040.