- Sea Life Is Colonizing Islands of Plastic Garbage In the Ocean, Scientists Say https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxddmb/sea-life-is-colonizing-islands-of-plastic-garbage-in-the-ocean-scientists-say 7 comments nature
- Vettel has gone fully electric in his private life & uses a photovoltaic system on the roof of his own house. Seb: "We are avoiding plastic wherever its possible. And when I go shopping at a store / supermarket, I always have a backpack or something similar with me." https://www.rtl.de/cms/formel-1-pilot-sebastian-vettel-werde-bei-der-bundestagswahl-die-gruenen-waehlen-4785326.html?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true 3 comments formula1
- Addressing the plastics problem: Today’s plastics were primarily designed for functionality, without due consideration for what happens at the end of their life. The plastics of tomorrow cannot afford to continue this trend. https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/addressing-the-plastics-problem/4011557.article 28 comments science
- The five species affected by plastic pollution: From crabs to whales, bacteria to humans, the plastic in our seas is harming life all along the food chain https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/04/five-species-affected-by-plastic-pollution 11 comments worldnews
- Sperm whale found dead in Italy with 22 kg of plastic in its belly echoes waste threat to sea life https://o.canada.com/news/world/sperm-whale-found-dead-in-italy-with-22-kg-of-plastic-in-its-belly-echoes-waste-threat-to-sea-life/wcm/ca35d176-8753-4802-a62b-5676e37aa95d 7 comments worldnews
- Spontaneous mutation rate is a plastic trait associated with population density across domains of life http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2002731 4 comments science
- Rahma Haruna, the teenager who lived in a plastic bowl her whole life, dies on Christmas day http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/573343/teenager-who-lived-plastic-bowl-whole-life-dies-christmas-day 3 comments worldnews
- British households fail to recycle a 'staggering' 16m plastic bottles a day - Almost half of all plastic bottles used in the home end up in landfill sites, research shows, with huge impacts on marine life https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/oct/15/british-households-fail-to-recycle-a-staggering-16m-plastic-bottles-a-day 135 comments worldnews
- "The life of a plastic football fan." http://ctnfootball.com/2012/03/06/the-life-of-a-plastic-football-fan/ 90 comments soccer
- Life of plastic solar cell jumps from hours to 8 months http://www.physorg.com/news196355743.html 3 comments technology
- It turns out 'paper or plastic' is a life or death question for our environment. http://www.alternet.org/environment/61607/ 18 comments science
- French prosecutors said on Friday they would investigate the appearance of vast quantities of tiny toxic plastic pellets along the Atlantic coast that endanger marine life and the human food chain https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230127-france-to-probe-microplastic-pellet-pollution-on-atlantic-beaches 14 comments worldnews
- In many fishes, sexuality is not only extremely plastic, but sex change is a usual and adaptive part of the life cycle. https://www.karger.com/article/fulltext/449297 40 comments science
- Addressing the psychological desire for the convenience of single-use plastics in everyday life may be the key to overcoming the build up said plastics in the world. https://tomthegreennomad.com/2018/07/09/the-cost-of-plastic-convenience-noplasticjuly/ 14 comments science
- Plastic in Nemo bubble bath poses threat to marine life http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/environment/article1689570.ece?cmp=oth-gnws-standard-2016_04_23 3 comments nottheonion
- In my life time plastic production has more than tripled, currently global production is at around 300 million metric tons http://www.statista.com/statistics/282732/global-production-of-plastics-since-1950/ 5 comments science
- 'Mountains and mountains of plastic': life on Cambodia's polluted coast | World news https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/25/mountains-and-mountains-of-plastic-life-on-cambodias-polluted-coast 7 comments worldnews
- Microbeads: Environmentalists say the tiny microbeads found in shower gel are moving into the water supply and endangering aquatic life, leading some lawmakers around the world to suggest a ban on the plastic beads. http://www.csmonitor.com/environment/2016/0824/microbeads-why-britain-may-ban-a-popular-face-soap-ingredient 8 comments worldnews
- World will be ‘unable to cope’ with volume of plastic waste in 10 years, warns expert | Countries must curb production now and tackle plastic’s full life cycle, says Norwegian minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim ahead of key UN talks this week https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/24/world-unable-cope-10-years-talks-un-global-treaty-to-end-plastic-waste 84 comments futurology
- What are some viable, real-life solutions to the Great Garbage Patches we've created in our seas? I'm interested to hear about any innovate technology or forward thinking to solve this problem and prevent re-occurrence of plastic waste leeching into the ocean. https://memod.com/Elizabeth/plastic-pollution-and-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-4927 4 comments environment
- Coronavirus Has Renewed Our Addiction To Plastic | Environmental activists are sounding the alarm as city streets become littered with masks and gloves, and single-use plastics get a new lease on life. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-plastic-environment-europe_n_5ece4243c5b6f46e9ce398fc?utm_campaign=hot%20news&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=88619922&_hsenc=p2anqtz-9azj_ml6oq0jg8ajwhhky07t3ctqz4ta6dtemfnmhyca8cysuo_ol8immq4k8lnymj_bvfaybavnc9n1cqvfhqaqf88w&_hsmi=88619922 7 comments worldnews
- Great Pacific Garbage Patch: giant plastic trap put to sea again - Floating boom is designed to trap 1.8 trillion items of plastic without harming marine life – but broke apart last time https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/23/great-pacific-garbage-patch-floating-plastic-trap-deployed-again 3 comments technology
- Otter with plastic cable around neck highlights how litter is 'choking the life out of British wildlife' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/29/otter-plastic-cable-around-neck-highlights-litter-choking-life/ 3 comments worldnews
- Tesco set to scrap 5p single-use plastic bags - and you'll have to pay a little more for a 'bag for life' instead - Britain's biggest retailer, is launching a ten-week trial in three stores to see how customers get on without the single-use bag option http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tesco-set-scrap-5p-single-10489533 9 comments worldnews
- For those in r/history who don't subscribe to WTF, here's a crosspost of my Friday submission: In 1955, some Hiroshima survivors came to the US for plastic surgery. While there, they met the co-pilot of the Enola Gay on national TV during a "This Is Your Life" broadcast. [vid] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_58byulbu0 17 comments history
- Fireworks packaging should come with graphic images of life-changing burns, UK plastic surgeons say - BAPRAS president Mark Henley said: "Although packaged as toys, these are serious explosives, and the types of reconstructive surgery being required would not be out of place in a war zone." https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/03/fireworks-packaging-should-come-graphic-images-life-changing/ 87 comments worldnews
- Marine life turned off by swimming in plastic chemicals. Research found once the animals were exposed to a chemical, they would break apart from their mate and take much longer -in some cases days - to repair, and sometimes not at all. https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/news/no-sex-please-marine-life-turned-off-by-swimming-in-plastic-chemicals 18 comments science
- A life cycle analysis by Denmark's Environment Ministry finds that you have to reuse an organic cotton shopping bag 20,000 times for its environmental damage to be lower than that of one plastic bag https://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-73-4.pdf 18 comments science
- Dumped fishing gear is biggest plastic polluter in ocean, finds report - Greenpeace calls for global action over nets, lines and traps that are deadly for marine life https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/06/dumped-fishing-gear-is-biggest-plastic-polluter-in-ocean-finds-report 3 comments worldnews
- Americans throw away 12 billion oil barrels' worth of plastic bags every year. Unless they've been incinerated -- a noxious proposition -- every plastic bag you've ever used in your entire life, including all those bags that the newspaper arrives in on your doorstep, even on cloudless days when there isn't a sliver of a chance of rain, still exists in some form, even fragmented bits, and will exist long after you're dead. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/10/plastic_bags/index.html 3 comments reddit.com
- The most ubiquitous consumer item on Earth, the lowly plastic bag is an environmental scourge like none other, sapping the life out of our oceans and thwarting our attempts to recycle it. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/10/plastic_bags/print.html 18 comments reddit.com
- Scientists have demonstrated that it is possible to efficiently turn industrially processed lignin into high-performance plastics, such as bio-based 3D-printing resins, and valuable chemicals. A life-cycle analysis reveals the approach can be competitive with similar petroleum-based products, too. https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2022/january/biomass-lignin-to-plastics-chemicals-can-be-economical/ 51 comments science
- New research reveals that phenotypic plasticity is an age-specific and sex-specific phenomenon: juveniles in early life and males shortly prior to reproduction appear to be most plastic [model system: cichlids] http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/696264 3 comments science
- Ocean acidification is deadly threat to marine life, finds eight-year study - Plastic pollution, overfishing, global warming and increased acidification from burning fossil fuels means oceans are increasingly hostile to marine life. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/23/ocean-acidification-deadly-threat-to-marine-life-finds-eight-year-study 177 comments worldnews
- A substantial drop in fertility rates over the past half century could be the linked to pollution from the burning of fossil fuels — and the migration of chemicals, oil and plastics into virtually all components of modern life, according to a study in Nature https://thehill.com/policy/equilibrium-sustainability/585985-fossil-fuels-may-be-linked-to-fall-in-sperm-counts 4 comments environment
- Human-made materials now equal weight of all life on Earth. The amount of concrete, asphalt, metal, and plastic on Earth is growing fast. This year may mark the point when artificial stuff outweighs living things. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2020/12/human-made-materials-now-equal-weight-of-all-life-on-earth/ 11 comments worldnews
- Afroz Shah gives Mithi River a new life, manages to clear 1.25-km stretch in Mithi of plastic waste. | A slum colony near Vihar Lake, from where Mithi originates, has stopped dumping plastic into the river https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/cover-story/beach-hero-gives-mithi-a-new-life/articleshow/69919903.cms 28 comments india
- Sydney Harbor’s Plastic Pollution at "Alarming" Levels - Microplastics less than 5mm lg threaten marine life. Scientists find samples had 60-100 plastic particles per 100ml of wet sediment, far higher than overseas sites – like Sweden with 24 particles per 100ml. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/25/sydney-harbours-plastic-pollution-alarming-levels 7 comments worldnews
- Christmas appeal: how solar lamps are transforming life in one Kenyan county. She quickly realised the £5 orang plastic lamps would pay for themselves because she and her husband, who farms a small plot, would no longer have to pay £8 a month in fuel for their paraffin lamp. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/dec/06/christmas-appeal-solar-lamps-kenyan-county 369 comments technology
- Vanuatu bans non-biodegradable plastic to protect ocean life - Other countries have made similar moves, but Vanuatu says it's going further than even its Pacific neighbors & aims to become plastic-free. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-04/vanuatu-bans-non-biodegradable-plastic/9303348 82 comments worldnews