The amount of plastics Australians generate in one year produces as much greenhouse gas as 5.7 million cars on the roads annually, which is more than one-third of emissions yielded annually by the country’s car fleet. In a new study, the Australian Marine Conservation Society and WWF-Australia found that if Australia continues on its current…

By Eileen Ogintz From Tribune Content Agency Got your reusable water bottle? That’s one of the easiest things you can do to reduce your environmental footprint when you are traveling. Around 85 percent of plastic water bottles, which can take up to 1,000 years to degrade, end up as waste, according to a new report…

A recently published meta-analysis shows that global sperm counts are declining worldwide—at an accelerating rate. The article, published in the journal Human Reproduction Update in November 2022 by an international team of researchers, reviewed 2936 scholarly abstracts and 868 full articles and analyzed data from 38 sperm count studies done on six continents, updating their…

California-based ecomodernist Michael Shellenberger has said that the collapse of Australia’s largest plastic bag recycling program was expected as plastics cannot be recycled and are often shipped to poor nations where it risks being dumped into the ocean. It comes amid revelations that the REDcycle team was stockpiling instead of recycling millions of soft plastics—plastic…

A new study warns investors and insurers that plastic pollution is costing society $100 billion per year and litigation is coming. Thanks to new legal pathways, people around the world could sue plastics manufacturers for damages totalling more than $20 billion by 2030, with most lawsuits originating in the U.S., according to a new study….

A new study has detected microplastics in human breast milk for the first time, sparking concerns over the potential toxic effects and health impact they may have on infants. Researchers in the study found microplastics composed of polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polypropylene with sizes ranging from 2 to 12 micrometers in the breast milk of women. Microplastics…

The Alberta government will challenge federal legislation requiring that all plastics be labelled as “toxic substances” under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). “It’s clear to Alberta that the federal government’s actions are unconstitutional infringement on our provincial jurisdiction under the Constitution,” said Premier Jason Kenney during a press conference announcing the province’s legal challenge on Sept. 8….

More than two dozen plastic makers are asking the Federal Court to put an end to Ottawa’s plan to ban several single-use plastic items including straws, cutlery and takeout containers. It is the second lawsuit filed in the court by a coalition of plastics makers calling themselves the Responsible Plastic Use Coalition. The first suit…

Phthalates are a group of chemicals used to make plastics more durable. They are often called plasticizers. Some phthalates are used to help dissolve other materials. Phthalates are in hundreds of products, such as vinyl flooring, lubricating oils, and personal-care products (soaps, shampoos, hair sprays). Some phthalates are in polyvinyl chloride plastics, which are used…

The medical nonprofit Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI) has issued a research report outlining how plastics and microplastics may jeopardize both human health and the natural world. Released Jan. 11, the report highlights a few staggering statistics on plastics use. Notably, the plastic generated every year weighs in at roughly 380 million metric tons,…