New York Packaging Reduction Bill Faces Ticking Clock
New York’s long-debated and many-times-revised Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act is the center focus again, with days left to move to the Senate and Assembly before the legislative session ends. Proponents say the legislation would address an out-of-control waste problem while providing economic payoffs.
A New Report Details the Climate, Health and Human Rights Impacts of a Plastic Bottle
On May 23, Defend Our Health, in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Beyond Petrochemicals campaign, released “Hidden Hazards: The Chemical Footprint of a Plastic Bottle,” a new report that explores the impact of PET plastics across their entire life cycle. Its authors find that the proliferation of single-use PET plastics — notably by companies like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo — “may prolong the climate crisis, threaten human health, and promote environmental racism.”
California Expands Plastic Producer Probe Into Bag Manufacturers
California's attorney general on Wednesday sent letters to top plastic bag manufacturers requesting information about their claims that the bags they produce are recyclable, the latest move by the state to scrutinize the plastics industry and their role in the global plastic pollution crisis.
Plastic Bags Are Supposed to Be Recyclable in California. The Attorney General Suspects They Are Not.
Nearly a decade ago, a California law required manufacturers of plastic bags to make their bags recyclable. The state’s top cop says this doesn’t appear to be happening. On Wednesday, Attorney General Rob Bonta sent letters to seven plastic bag producers that supply the bulk of California’s grocery stories, demanding they provide proof that their bags can really be recycled.
Supreme Court Case Could Restrict Biden’s Effort To Tackle Climate Crisis
Joe Biden’s faltering effort to tackle the climate crisis faces a further, potentially devastating, blow on Monday in a supreme court case that experts warn could severely restrict any future US government attempt to limit planet-heating emissions.
Coca-Cola And PepsiCo Ranked As World's Leading Plastic Polluters
WION | February 1, 2022 | Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have been ranked as the world's leading plastic polluters for the fourth consecutive year.
How The Fossil Fuel Industry Is Pushing Plastics On The World
CNBC by Katie Brigham | January 29, 2022 | Why oil and gas companies are betting on plastic.
Plastics Group Recommends Phaseout Of Some Materials
C&EN by Alexander Tullo | January 28, 2022 | The US Plastics Pact—a collaboration between plastic-industry participants, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies—has released a list of 11 items its members aim to eliminate from packaging by 2025. Reviews from industry and environmental groups were mixed.
How Bad Are Plastics, really?
The Atlantic | January 3, 2022 | Plastic production just keeps expanding, and now is becoming a driving cause of climate change.
Is “Biodegradable” Just a Buzz Word? Here’s What is Really Means.
If you believe you’re doing the planet a favor by using biodegradable or compostable plastic, you probably aren’t. Frustrating to hear, I know.
Letter: Plastics are the new coal in carbon emissions
It is imperative we switch to renewable energy as quickly as possible to save our planet. It is also extremely important to understand where all our emissions originate. We need to publish the fact that plastic is the new coal.
Plastic Is the New Coal, Says New Report: Here’s why that’s trouble for COP26
Your plastic water bottle will likely spend its golden years floating around the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but its life began thousands of feet underground. How it got from there to you—and why it was made in the first place—has big implications for global climate goals.
Pena: Climate change and plastic
Climate change and plastic waste are two of the big environmental problems we have today. In almost all the literature I read on print and the internet, these two problems are independent of each other and addressed separately. It is only recently that I stumbled upon a study that links these two global environmental issues.
How to make COP26 a success? Talk about plastics
The annual climate conference needs world leaders to commit to tangible goals. Reducing plastic production is an urgent issue
Role of plastics as a climate change driver to grow, researchers say
Scientists recently figured out that expected surges in plastics manufacturing may cause enough greenhouse gas emissions to cancel out gains made through closures of most of the country’s coal-fired power plants.
The Climate and Plastic
Plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to this planet, and according to a report by the advocacy group Beyond Plastics, greenhouse gas emissions from plastic production in the United States are on track to outpace domestic coal emissions. Judith Enck, a former regional administrator of the EPA and founder of Beyond Plastics, co-authored the report and joins Living on Earth’s Bobby Bascomb to discuss.
CLIMATE MARCH: ‘PLASTICS ARE THE NEW COAL’
Recent research entitled The new coal: plastics and climate change shows in detail the scale of emissions in each link of the plastic chain in the United States. The chain goes from the extraction of shale gas at one end to the incineration of discarded plastic at the other.
US plastics revival hits the poor, will overtake coal for GHGs
To date Rethink Research has not bothered itself with plastics, although expecting to have to address the complex industry sooner or later, but a report out this week, means it has to become a new focus.
Plastics Will Outpace Coal in U.S. Carbon Emissions, Study Shows
Plastics will outpace coal plants in the U.S. by 2030 in terms of their contributions to climate change, according to a report released Oct. 21 by Beyond Plastics, a project at Bennington College in Vermont.
US plastics' emissions could overtake coal’s by 2030
US plastics are on course to take over from coal in terms of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. According to a report from Bennington College’s Beyond Plastics project, the plastics industry in the US will be more polluting than the country’s coal industry by the end of the decade.