Seagulls have no qualms about sifting through dumps for scraps. But this buffet comes at a cost, filling their stomachs with plastic, glass, metal and even building materials.
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Articles on Plastic
Displaying 201 - 220 of 330 articles
Silicon is cheap and a good semiconductor, but it’s bulky and rigid. Using organic polymers as semiconductors could yield solar panels with the physical characteristics of plastics.
Tech fixes to environmental problems are guaranteed to grab attention, but real change for the planet requires community organising.
Fast-food restaurants and coffee shops are banishing the straw. While it may seem like a small measure, your pessimism isn’t justified.
New Zealand is home to more seabirds than any other country, and many species are already under pressure from climate change and over-fishing. Plastic pollution could push some closer to the brink.
How do you help a country get over plastic? By creating awareness and minor inconveniences and by providing lots of reminders.
If we are truly invested in addressing the issue of marine plastic and offsetting the potential harms, we have to understand which fish eat plastic and which ones don’t.
Connecting smugglers, disposable workers, garbage pickers and the poorest of consumers, the flip-flop trail is one of globalisation’s darker stories.
We’re drowning in plastics. With governments setting un-ambitious targets, corporations are now listening to consumers who are demanding less plastic packaging and food containers.
We can safely say goodbye to most single-use plastics. But they do have essential uses in some areas, such as for medical or scientific samples, or storing food for humanitarian aid.
Illegal dumping is costing governments millions – but satellite technology could help put a stop to it.
Microplastics in seafood are well recorded but there are many other sources.
Little chunks of plastic are now scattered throughout the oceans and pollute most beaches around the world, including the nesting sites of threatened and endangered sea turtles.
Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of the seaweed that offers a solution for the global plastic crisis.
Health care produces 7% of Australia’s carbon emissions. And hospitals produce about half of this. Not to mention all the single-use items thrown away every day.
Richer countries import products but not the emissions used to make them.
Ocean plastic has made a big splash, but there may be even more microplastic on land. The problem is that we have no idea exactly how much is in Australian soil, where it is, and what it’s doing.
Plastic can only be recycled a few times before it becomes useless. But even non-recyclable plastic can be used to help produce petrol and diesel. Could this process help overcome the recycling crisis?
Under a new target, 100% of Australian packaging will be recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025. But this is not enough - we also need to ensure that recyclable materials are actually recycled.
Ocean plastic has gained notoriety, but we’re starting to realize that microplastics pollute our freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems too.
Top contributors
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Senior Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere, CSIRO
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Professor of Sustainable Development, Keele University
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Lecturer, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University
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Research Chair, Indigenous Approaches to Environmental Management, Keele University
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Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO
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Lecturer in Ornithology, Charles Sturt University
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Postdoctoral researcher, Stanford University
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Professor, School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University
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Professor of Coastal Oceanography, The University of Western Australia
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Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto
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Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmospheres, CSIRO
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Research associate, Loughborough University
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Professor of Global Environmental Politics, University of California, Berkeley
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Oceanographer, The University of Western Australia
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Professor in Oceanography and Public Engagement, Utrecht University
