plastic pollution
Newsletter
Credit: Naja Bertolt Jensen/Unsplash
Microplastics found throughout ocean depths may disrupt carbon storage
A global survey has revealed that microplastics are dispersed across all ocean depths, potentially interfering with the seas’ natural carbon capture processes.
In short:
- Researchers analyzed data from nearly 2,000 sites worldwide, finding microplastics from the ocean surface to its deepest trenches.
- Small particles are evenly suspended throughout the water column, not just at the surface or seabed, challenging assumptions about plastic distribution.
- At depths of 2,000 meters, plastics may account for up to 5% of the carbon particles, raising concerns about impacts on the biological carbon pump.
Key quote:
“We expect to find plastics at the bottom of the ocean, and at the top of the ocean. But not everywhere.”
— Aron Stubbins, Northeastern University
Why this matters:
Microplastics, tiny fragments resulting from the breakdown of larger plastics, now permeate the ocean at all depths. This widespread contamination could jeopardize one of Earth’s critical climate regulators: the biological carbon pump. Normally, plankton absorb atmospheric carbon, and when they die or produce waste, that carbon sinks to the deep sea, effectively locking it away. But if plankton ingest buoyant microplastics instead of natural food, the sinking process slows or halts, reducing the ocean’s ability to sequester carbon dioxide. With microplastics also comprising a notable portion of the carbon material at great depths, they may be altering the chemistry and biology of deep-sea ecosystems.
This has broad implications for climate change, as the ocean plays a central role in moderating global temperatures. Additionally, plastics can carry harmful chemicals and pathogens, posing further risks to marine life and potentially to humans who rely on seafood.
Related EHN coverage: Plastic pollution in the ocean
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Credit: Christopher Akinlade/Unsplash
Fixing clothes is becoming a quiet, powerful rebellion against fast fashion
A global movement of visible mending is transforming the simple act of repairing clothes into a personal and environmental statement.
In short:
- Groups like the Edinburgh Street Stitchers are embracing public mending as a way to reduce textile waste and spark conversations about overconsumption.
- The fashion industry emits more carbon than aviation and shipping combined; extending a garment’s life by nine months can cut its environmental footprint by up to 30%.
- Once viewed as outdated or elitist, mending is increasingly regarded as a social, inclusive act that fosters community and mental health while resisting fast fashion culture.
Key quote:
“People are becoming more aware that the way we produce is harmful to people and the environment. It’s a smaller, quieter form of activism that I think is really exciting.”
— Sam Bennett, partner with Repair Shop
Why this matters:
From city streets to living rooms, people are sitting down with worn-out jeans and torn sweaters, patching them not with shame, but with intention. Teaching people to repair instead of replace clothing offers a simple, tangible way to protect health and climate while building community in the process. But it’s also personal. Mending becomes meditation. It’s a chance to reclaim a sense of agency, connect with others, and heal in more ways than one.
Read more: I tried to sew a compostable stuffed animal for my friend’s newborn. It did not go well.
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Credit: PramoteBigstock/BigStock Photo ID: 459325153
A controversial facility that would process plastic waste to be burned in steel mills has been cancelled
Environmental advocates are celebrating the cancellation of the International Recycling Group’s project in Erie, PA
PITTSBURGH — International Recycling Group (IRG) has announced that they will cancel a planned plastic waste processing facility in Erie, Pennsylvania, due to President Trump’s federal funding cuts and tariffs, among other reasons.
The facility, slated to be built in a former Hammermill Paper Property less than a mile from Lake Erie, would have collected 160,000 tons of mixed plastic waste from a 750-mile radius and ground it into smaller pieces of plastic to be either burned in steel mills in Northwestern Indiana or sold for other uses.
Proponents of the plant hoped it would create local jobs and help reduce plastic waste, while opponents called it a “false solution” that would turn plastic waste into climate-warming and health-harming air pollution.
“Trucking plastics across the country to burn in blast furnaces under the guise of ‘recycling’ was and will always be a complete false solution and greenwashing attempt,” Susan Thomas, director of policy and press at Just Transition Northwest Indiana, said in a press statement.
Erie, Pennsylvania and Northwest Indiana are both home to superfund sites and industrial facilities like steel mills, oil refineries, and chemical plants. These facilities emit toxic pollutants like nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, lead compounds, and particulate matter, which are linked to health effects like cancer, respiratory and heart disease, and mental illness. Advocates worried the IRG plant would add to the pollution burden and health problems in both communities.
“This project would have exacerbated toxic emissions in Northwest Indiana, harming regional health and the environment and furthering the ‘sacrifice zone’ status,” Thomas said.
Anne McCarthy, a coordinator Benedictines for Peace, an Erie-based Catholic advocacy group, said in a statement that her organization “believes this is a win for Lake Erie. We hope Erie will join the fast-growing labor force for truly renewable energy and create even more jobs than those promised by IRG.”
The project was also controversial because it received a $182.6 million loan under the federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) during the Biden administration. Last summer, more than 100 environmental groups wrote a letter to former U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm urging her to cancel the loan because “IRA money is supposed to be used to improve the environment, not worsen it.”
Those IRA funds are now on hold, according to an IRG press release, as the Trump administration works to claw back climate-related funding at the federal level. The IRG press release also cited Trump’s recently announced tariffs, which would result in higher costs for the project than anticipated, and difficulty securing buyers for recycled materials as companies backtrack on their sustainability goals.
“I am personally devastated after 18 years of working to bring this vision to a reality that we have failed to overcome these challenges,” Mitch Hecht, IRG’s founder and chief executive officer, said in the statement.
Only 5-6% of all plastic used in the U.S. is recycled due to high costs for the process and the lack of a market for recycled plastics. Numerous recycling facilities that have promised to help create a “circular economy” for plastics, like IRG’s proposed Erie plant, have been canceled or shuttered in recent years, including proposed chemical recycling plants in Youngstown, Ohio and Point Township, Pennsylvania. An Indiana-based plastics recycling company also recently filed for bankruptcy. In October 2023 the advocacy groups Beyond Plastics and the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) reported that there were 11 constructed U.S. chemical recycling facilities, only five of which are operating today, according to a spokesperson for the organization.
“Taxpayer dollars should be used for real solutions to environmental issues, not a polluting project masquerading as a quick fix to the plastic waste crisis,” Jess Conard, Beyond Plastics’ Appalachia director, said in a statement. “Providing more plastic to be burned as fuel for steelmaking is not a climate or waste solution — it only creates more pollution.”
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Newsletter
Lego opens solar-powered Vietnam factory to cut emissions and supply Asia
Lego has opened a $1 billion factory in southern Vietnam that runs entirely on clean energy, part of its push to lower emissions and grow its presence in Asian markets.
In short:
- The Danish company's new facility in Binh Duong will be its first factory designed to run entirely on clean energy by 2026, powered by solar panels and a battery-backed energy center.
- The highly automated plant, expected to eventually employ thousands, is central to Lego’s target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 37% by 2032 and hitting net zero by 2050.
- Vietnam, where manufacturing makes up a fifth of GDP, sees this project as a model for reducing its industrial emissions while maintaining economic growth.
Key quote:
“So even if the sun is only shining during the day, we store the energy and can use it all over. That will cover by far the majority of the consumption of the factory.”
— Niels Christiansen, CEO of the LEGO Group
Why this matters:
As global plastic production surges past 400 million tons annually, the toy industry’s heavy reliance on fossil fuel-derived plastics remains a largely overlooked climate liability. For companies like Lego—an icon built on brightly colored petrochemical blocks—this presents a paradox. Lego’s move suggests that multinationals can rethink how and where they manufacture goods. Yet for all its promise, the project shines a light on deeper industry tensions: the elusive search for non-fossil alternatives to durable plastics, and whether cleaner production models are scalable — or just symbolic. With plastic toy sales continuing to grow and few truly sustainable materials ready to match plastic’s cost and performance, the sector appears to be at a crossroads.
Related: Playing with toy bricks can create microplastic pollution
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Credit: U.S. National Archives/research.archives.gov/description/545246/Flickr
Opinion: Trump-era science cuts opens the door wide to industry-fueled pollution
The Trump administration’s move to gut EPA science programs could let polluting industries rewrite the rules on cancer-causing chemicals, writes Jennifer Sass for Scientific American.
In short:
- The Trump administration plans to eliminate the EPA’s independent research office, removing over 1,000 scientists whose work underpins clean air, water, and chemical safety laws.
- With industry lobbyists rewriting the rules and public science on the chopping block, environmental protections will increasingly rely on biased, polluter-funded research.
- Texas provides a cautionary tale: After EPA scientists found a strong link between ethylene oxide and breast cancer, Texas regulators pushed a weaker, industry-sponsored report that would allow thousands of times more pollution.
Key quote:
“Eliminating scientists from the EPA is kneecapping environmental safeguards. Every major environmental statute — the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Superfund law governing cleanup requirements — relies on EPA scientists to calculate how hazardous chemicals are, how people and wildlife may be exposed and what health and ecological harms may occur.”
— Jennifer Sass, senior scientist, Natural Resources Defense Council
Why this matters:
If successful, this move would give polluting industries a bigger voice in writing the rules, while pushing the people who actually study cancer risk and chemical safety out of the room. When science is sidelined, health risks skyrocket. If polluters get to define what’s “safe,” communities face higher chances of cancer, asthma, and long-term illness. Without that science, the system tilts even further in favor of corporations, while people are left breathing the consequences.
Read more:
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Newsletter
Plastic ban in Bangladesh struggles as eco-friendly bags face high costs
Government raids in Dhaka reveal the ongoing failure of Bangladesh’s plastic bag ban, as consumers and businesses continue to rely on cheap, single-use polythene bags.
In short:
- Bangladesh banned plastic bags in 2002 but weak enforcement has allowed widespread use to persist, especially in Dhaka, where each resident discards about 24 kg of plastic waste per year.
- Biodegradable alternatives made from cassava, jute, and potatoes exist, but their higher prices and limited availability hinder consumer adoption and market penetration.
- Government investment in jute-based “Sonali” bags and new retail partnerships for cassava-based bags aim to revive alternatives, but producers face unfair competition from untaxed illegal plastic manufacturers.
Key quote:
“Our main challenge is the price competition against polybag, where we are paying 51% of taxes including import, sales and value added tax [VAT]. Meanwhile, the banned polybag producers — as they are mostly illegal — pay nothing, absolute 0%.”
— Mohammad Raihan, founder and CEO of Ecospear Ltd
Why this matters:
Plastic pollution in Bangladesh has quietly become a full-scale crisis, choking waterways, overwhelming waste systems, and seeping into everyday life. Although Bangladesh was once hailed for its pioneering 2002 ban on plastic bags — a global first — implementation has faltered. Cheap, single-use plastics are back with a vengeance, their popularity driven by convenience, affordability, and limited access to alternatives. Public health experts warn of increasing risks linked to toxic runoff, especially in urban slums where exposure is hardest to avoid. As the environmental load grows heavier with each passing year, so too does the toll on human health, ecosystems, and the country’s ability to adapt to the escalating impacts of climate change.
Related: Bangladesh begins enforcing ban on single-use plastics
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Credit: Yuki Shimazu/Flickr
A small Japanese town is quietly redefining what zero waste really means
In the forested mountains of Shikoku Island, the tiny town of Kamikatsu has become a living experiment in how far a community can go to recycle, repurpose, and rethink its relationship with waste.
In short:
- Kamikatsu, Japan’s first zero-waste town, requires residents to sort their trash into 45 categories and achieved an 81% recycling rate — far above the national average.
- Its waste system is deeply rooted in community effort, but challenges persist, including elderly accessibility, rising waste volumes, and a shrinking population.
- Despite obstacles, a wave of young transplants drawn by Kamikatsu’s environmental ethos are helping to sustain and evolve its vision of sustainable living.
Key quote:
“Something about it shocks people into thinking about the composite parts of waste.”
— Kana Watando, co-founder of INOW
Why this matters:
As the global waste crisis worsens, Kamikatsu shows what’s possible when a community rewires its habits from the ground up to make environmental responsibility a shared ritual. But even here, cracks are showing — aging residents struggle with the sorting demands, and like much of rural Japan, the town’s population is shrinking. Still, Kamikatsu has become something of a pilgrimage site for eco-dreamers, with young newcomers helping reimagine what a sustainable life can look like when it’s built from the ground up. Can the rest of the world learn something from it?
Read more: Zero- and low-waste businesses band together against plastic pollution.
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