Almost a decade ago, California became the first state in the United States to ban single-use plastic bags in an effort to tackle an intractable plastic waste problem. Then came the reusable, heavy-duty plastic bags, offered to shoppers for ten cents. Designed to withstand dozens of uses, and technically recyclable, many retailers treated them as exempt from the ban.
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Plastic bills stall, but pollution persists on barrier island in Biscayne Bay.
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Researchers from the Ocean Conservancy and the University of Toronto analyzed more than a dozen different types of proteins including seafood, pork, chicken, beef, and tofu. They found microplastics in nearly 90% of the samples they tested and estimated that the average American adult may consume at least 11,000 pieces of microplastics each year.
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Over the past several years, U.S. cities and states have passed hundreds of policies restricting the sale and distribution of single-use plastic bags. A new report says these laws have largely succeeded in their goal of reducing plastic bag use.
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Single-use plastic bag bans have successfully reduced plastic bag use and associated litter and pollution, a new study has found. Bans in five US states and cities with a combined population of around 12 million people have cut single-use plastic bag consumption by about 6 billion bags per year, according to the research.
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Think single-use water bottles are wasteful? Brace yourself — they even exist for dogs. A Reddit user shared a short video of the product, showing water — yes, just water — packaged in disposable plastic bowls. The bowl, for sale at Target, features a label that reads: “[Ready to drink] bowled water for pets. Simply peel off the lid and serve your pet clean water anytime, anywhere.”
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Scientists from Columbia University are raising alarm bells about the amount of small flecks of plastic — known as nanoplastics — in bottled drinking water. Their research, which was published on Jan. 8 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that three popular plastic water bottle brands (which went unnamed in the research) had 10 to 100 times greater amounts of nanoplastics than previously estimated.
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Plastic is everywhere. From the food we eat to the air we breathe, tiny particles of plastic — also known as “microplastics” — can be found in almost anything. Not only does plastic cause real havoc on our oceans and take centuries to decay, causing even more of an environmental crisis, but toxicologists have questioned whether consuming microplastics can negatively impact health. Especially if there are pieces of plastic you’re using on a regular basis, like say your handy-dandy plastic cutting board.
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Nanoplastics have been found in our blood. Now, researchers at Duke University have evidence that these tiny but ubiquitous bits of pollution may potentially be impacting our brains. The study is among some of the latest findings about how small particles — including air pollution and plastic — are linked to troubling health problems.
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Giving gifts is a tradition in many countries around the world. Unfortunately, it has become linked to consumerism, resulting in a lot of unnecessary gifts that eventually wind up in the trash. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
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