Environment

Almost all plastics contain toxic chemicals that are not removed during recycling but are carried over to the new products, and the recycling process can even generate new toxic chemicals such as dioxins. The increased recycling is intended to contribute to a so-called circular economy, but plastics containing toxic chemicals should not be recycled. Instead, they should be considered non-circular materials.

Plastic pellets, or nurdles, are used to make plastic products but are often lost during production, transportation, and storage. They can carry many different chemicals, both those intentionally added and pollutants that attach to the plastics in the environment. Some of these chemicals are especially concerning since they are known to have several negative effects on human health and the environment.

Unlike other pollutants that are single elements or simple chemical compounds, microplastics represent a cocktail of toxicity: plastics contain at least 10,000 different chemicals. Those chemicals are linked to diseases from diabetes to hormone disruption to cancers.

Every single stage of the lifecycle of plastic, from the extraction of oil and gas to the disposal of plastic waste, causes harm to our environment and our health. It's time to look at the big picture. This is the life cycle of plastic-from cradle to grave.

Plastic clean-ups have proliferated in response to the growing plastic crisis. Such clean-ups may involve large-scale unsupervised methods of plastic collection that do not discriminate between aquatic life, plastic and organic matter. As a result, the rise of these plastic cleanup technologies has raised red flags in civil society and academia.

This report addresses the plastic industry’s claims that chemical recycling, also known as “advanced recycling,” can play a significant role in reducing global plastic pollution. The science and data currently available do not support this claim and actually point to the conclusion that chemical recycling would support expansion of plastic production, while potentially causing unacceptable levels of environmental and social harm.

Promising research continues to emerge around alternative materials to single-use plastic. However, labels like “compostable” and “biodegradable” are misleading. The case study offers greater transparency around these novel materials, their behavior in the environment, and other concerns.

This report explores the current state of PET-based bottle recycling in Europe, as well as its potential for improvement, alongside analysis of common claims made to consumers on bottle labels relating to recycling.

Plastic water bottles are one of Europe’s most frequently purchased consumer products, a well-recognised source of plastic pollution and other environmental harm. Yet they remain widely promoted through claims relating to recycling. These claims are either vague, factually inaccurate, or otherwise not substantiated.

When China closed its borders to foreign waste in 2018, countries in Southeast Asia were flooded with garbage from the Global North. This investigative report uncovers how communities on the ground were impacted by the sudden influx of foreign pollution, and how they’re fighting back.