Sewage sludge fertiliser leaves farmland with microplastics for decades
A 25-year field study found sludge application raised soil microplastic levels by up to 1,445%, persisting for at least 22 years.
Community groups
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Plastic could use up 10–13% of the world’s remaining carbon budget by 2050
Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)’s Plastic & Climate report estimated lifecycle plastic emissions at 850 million tonnes in 2019, rising to 1.34 billion…
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Global plastics treaty: still no agreement, next formal round March 2027
Four years after the UN mandate, negotiations have collapsed twice over production caps and chemicals, and a new chair is trying to restart them.
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England’s plastic bag charge cut single-use bag sales at the main supermarkets by 98%
The main 7 supermarkets sold 126 million single-use bags in 2025/26, down from 7.6 billion in 2014, before the charge. All 94 reporting retailers…
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Six of Australia’s eight states and territories ban a core set of single-use plastics
Since South Australia led in 2021, six states and territories have banned plastic straws, cutlery, plates and polystyrene food containers; Tasmania has proposed bans…
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The plastic made in a single year will cost society US$3.7 trillion over its lifetime
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Dalberg estimated the lifetime cost of 2019’s plastic at more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of…
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Breaking the Plastic Wave: ocean plastic inflow could nearly triple by 2040
Business as usual takes annual plastic flows into the ocean from 11 to 29 million tonnes by 2040, but existing solutions together could cut…
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56 companies are responsible for more than half of branded plastic litter
Five years of brand audits across 84 countries show a few consumer-goods giants dominate plastic pollution, and pollution rises in step with production.
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Uncollected waste and open burning, not littering, drive plastic pollution
A Nature study finds 52 million tonnes of plastic entered the environment in 2020, most of it burned or dumped where rubbish collection does…
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Single-use plastic waste is still growing: 139 million tonnes in 2021
Minderoo’s Plastic Waste Makers Index names the polymer producers behind single-use plastic and shows it growing despite bans.