Laundry washwater is a major source of microplastic fibers that can end up in water and soil.
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Your washing machine is polluting the ocean.
Scientists have identified a condition they call plasticosis, caused by ingesting plastic waste, in flesh-footed shearwaters.
Patrick Kavanagh/Wikipedia
Many marine animals, birds and fish are ingesting plastic. New research identifies the first named health effect from it.
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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Product standards have real power. We could use them to reduce waste at every part of the plastic lifecycle.
Kathryn Willis
Here’s some good environmental news – local governments and local actions have slashed the plastic on our beaches. Incentives, awareness and access are the key.
Fish stocks are in decline around the world, in part because of the way we value nature and fail to account for their long-term benefits.
(Shutterstock)
Humans have failed to take good care of the ocean — and the environment at large — because we undervalue its goods and services.
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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.
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Thousands of shipping containers are lost at sea each year, dispersing Lego, inkjet cartridges and rubber ducks across the world’s beaches.
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Ocean swimmers often wax lyrical about the benefits of a regular dip in the salt water.
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The Pacific Ocean produces oxygen, helps regulates the weather, provides food and livelihoods. It’s a place of fun, solace and spiritual connection. But its delicate ecology is under threat.
Deceased post-hatchling loggerhead sea turtle next to plastic pieces found in its stomach and intestines.
Gumbo Limbo Nature Center
A new study reports that baby Florida sea turtles are consuming large quantities of plastic waste during a critical early life stage at sea.
An estimated 640,000 tonnes of lost and abandoned fishing gear enters the oceans annually.
(Piqsels)
An enormous amount of fishing gear is cut loose in the ocean each year. The losses cut into fishers’ profits and kill marine wildlife. A new project aims to get ghost gear out of the ocean.
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New research reveals how roads channel microplastics from car tires and brake pads to remote ocean habitats.
Cogdogblog/Flickr
A media study of public criticism of plastic reveals that stigmatisation may result in limited bans, it leaves the vast majority of plastic production and pollution unexplored.
Jennifer Lavers/AAP
New research from Australia’s national science agency shows a huge amount of ocean plastic ends up on land, where it gets trapped.
A woman sorts plastic bottles at a workshop in Hanoi. The world is being overwhelmed by plastic waste, and companies should do more to address it.
EPA/LUONG THAI LINH
Advertisers that tell a good story can persuade the public of all sorts of things. But some messages are disingenuous and misleading.
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Where does plastic waste go when it reaches the ocean? For most of it, not far.
Even remote beaches are often strewn with plastic debris.
Susan White/USFWS
Plastic washed ashore from the ocean is hard to recycle. What else can we do with it?
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New research shows that chemicals leached from ocean plastic impair the growth and oxygen production of the planet’s most abundant photosynthesiser - endangering marine ecosystems and the climate.
This biodegradable plastic bag had plenty of life left in it, even after three years.
Lloyd Russell/University of Plymouth
Biodegradable bags still strong enough to carry shopping after three years in the ground show that ‘biodegradability’ isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.