#plastic-pollution

#plastic-pollution

If you throw away a plastic item today, it'll very likely still be around for decades to come. In fact, some research suggests that certain plastic items could take up to 500 years to decompose. To put that in context, that means that if, say, Henry VIII threw away a plastic coffee pod in Tudor England, it would only just be finished degrading now. He didn't, of course; plastic wasn't used regularly until the 20th century. But you get the point.

In January the island's beaches were inundated with waves of plastic pollution, a phenomenon that has been getting worse by the year. Photographer and film-maker Sean Gallagher travelled to Bali to document the increasing tide of rubbish washing up on beaches and riverbanks, and the people facing the monumental challenge of cleaning up. His portraits are on show now as part of the 2025 Head On photo festival at Bondi Beach promenade until 30 November Putu Agus Indrawan holds up bags of plastic water bottles

Millions of tiny, toxic plastic beads are thought to have escaped into the sea from Eastbourne sewage works in East Sussex about two weeks ago when a screen keeping them in broke. They began to wash up on Camber Sands beach last Thursday, with the situation worsening over the weekend. Environment Agency sources suspect this is one of England's worst ever plastic pollution events, with approximately 10 tonnes of beads spilled:

This is the worst pollution event I have ever seen. It is contaminated plastic. Marine animals will ingest small plastic items once they are in the sea, they will attract algae, they will smell like food, effectively. Once they've eaten it, that's it: they can't get it out. They will float on the surface. It will create a slick which attracts plunging seabirds.

In September, a firework display on the ecologically delicate Tibetan Plateau was widely criticized for the pollution and environmental damage that might result.

State Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said companies Novolex Holdings, Inteplast Group and Mettler Packaging violated a state law passed in 2014 that banned plastic bags at grocery store checkouts that weren't recyclable. Under the law, shoppers could pay 10 cents for thicker plastic bags that needed to be reusable and recyclable. But the makers of the bags labeled them as recyclable even though they were not - recycling facilities cannot process them and they end up dumped in landfills, incinerated, or in the state's waterways, Bonta said.

Data analysed by the The Last Beach Cleanup, a US group campaigning to halt plastic pollution, showed that the increase in UK exports in the first half of 2025 was mainly to Indonesia (24,006 tonnes in 2025, up from 525 tonnes in 2024) and Malaysia (28,667 tonnes, up from 18,872 tonnes in 2024). Total plastic waste exports remained relatively high in the first half of 2024 and 2025, at 319,407 and 317,647 tonnes respectively.

The chair of stalled UN plastics treaty talks, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, is preparing to step down, after accounts of behind-the-scenes pressure from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The move will be announced at a UN meeting on Tuesday, with an official announcement expected by Thursday. Vayas Valdivieso confirmed in an interview with the Guardian that he was resigning and said: There have been some challenges in the process.

When a virulent material enters an ecosystem, it can wreak havoc on existing life. Bittersweet vines in Upstate New York, for example, were brought to the region in the second half of the 19th century to combat erosion and for their sinuous, woody beauty. Native to eastern Asia, these largely poisonous plants quickly became invasive, smothering other specimens and even uprooting trees.

As fossil-fuel derivatives, plastics are made of refined carbon. By 2015, about 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic waste had been generated, with around 79% of this accumulating in landfills or the natural environment, where it breaks into ever smaller pieces. Each year, plastic production increases exponentially: the total weight of carbon in plastic has surpassed the mass of all animals combined, and is likely to equal the mass of all bacteria by 2095 (see 'Litter legacy').

The Russian invasion of Ukraine will have long-lasting consequences for all of us. Like the 1939 invasion of Poland introduced the world to 'blitzkrieg'-high-speed tanks and air power quickly jumping enveloping and eliminating enemy lines-this war is the herald of a new military era of relentless unmanned war machines hunting the enemy through air, land, and water. The drones are part of a new, high-speed technological race with a major unintended consequence: endless miles of plastic string pollution.

For almost two years, Palestinians in Gaza have been documenting their experiences, highlighting their existence through various perspectives, from trained journalists to everyday citizens.

Our campaign aimed to confront the alarming findings that microplastics were found in 80% of tested penises, prompting a critical conversation about environmental impact.

"At one end of the spectrum are the small island states, which are confronted with immense plastic pollution on their coasts and in their seas without contributing significantly to the pollution themselves," said Jochen Flasbarth, Germany's state secretary for the environment.

Negotiators left the plastic summit without a treaty, failing to reach an agreement on reducing plastic production and implementing legally binding controls on toxic chemicals.

"Just because something is recyclable doesn't mean it's getting recycled. Currently, it is simply cheaper to just make a new plastic product than to collect it and recycle it."

According to research from Ocean Conservancy, most U.S. states receive failing grades on plastic policy, with the country’s recycling rate remaining below 9%.

Bethanie Carney Almroth described a hostile environment during the UN negotiations on plastic pollution, with personal harassment and intimidation by representatives of chemical companies.

Every year, a staggering 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used around the world, and unfortunately, a portion of these bags ends up drifting in our oceans.

With a clear trend to longer, hotter heatwaves, it is important we shine a light on the true cost to human life, our economy, infrastructure, agriculture and healthcare system.