Reckoning With the U.S. Role In Global Ocean Plastic
Reckoning with the U.S. Role in Global Ocean Plastic Waste calls for a national strategy by the end of 2022 to reduce the nation's contribution to global ocean plastic waste at every step - from production to its entry into the environment - including by substantially reducing U.S. solid waste generation.
Plastics and Microplastics: A Threat to the Environment and Health
EHHI reviewed nearly 500 scientific studies for this report and found that each of us ingests and inhales millions of microscopic plastic particles each year. Microplastics carry chemical additives and coatings as well as potentially pathogenic microbes. Disturbingly, their impact on human health is not yet known.
Plastic Waste Poisoning People in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe & Latin America
Plastics and food packaging contain chemical contaminants from manufacturing along with many additives to make them inflammable, more flexible, grease-resistant, or sterile, as well as other substances to create many other properties. Many of these additives are toxic and they leak from products during use and can be released during recycling and from recycled products.
This study focuses on persistent organic pollutants (POPs), whose releases are closely related to plastic wastes. The POPs include additives in the plastic as such, as well as unintentionally produced POPs (UPOPs) generated mostly by burning, incineration and/or other thermal treatment of plastics.
Four samples from this study are among the ten highest ever measured levels of chlorinated dioxins in chicken eggs globally.