plastics

Last Straw For Plastic Straws? Cities, Restaurants Move To Toss These Sippers

8:34pm May 31, 2018

by Sara Kiley Watson

As awareness grows about the environmental toll of single-use plastics, U.S. retailers and regulators alike are finding ways to decrease their use. And straws have become a prime target.

A prep cook at a San Francisco restaurant drops fish skin into a food scrap recycling container. Turning food waste into fertilizer is popular in parts of Europe and is catching on in the U.S. But tiny plastics are also making their way into that fertiliz

Another Place Plastics Are Turning Up: Organic Fertilizer From Food Waste

6:11pm April 06, 2018

by Christopher Joyce

Turning food waste into fertilizer is popular in parts of Europe and is catching on in the U.S. But tiny plastics are also making their way into that fertilizer — and into the food chain.

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Manufacturers are not required to disclose if BPA, or other similar compounds, are used in their packaging.

Health & Safety

Which Items In Our Kitchens Contain BPA?

7:00am October 06, 2017

by Natalie Jacewicz

Manufacturers are not required to disclose whether products contain BPA, which makes it hard to know which kitchen plastics include the additive — or other functionally identical compounds.

Oysters, shown out of their shell, collect tiny plastic particles while in the water. These microplastics can eventually make their way into your dinner.

Guess What's Showing Up In Our Shellfish? One Word: Plastics

11:19am September 19, 2017

by Ken Christensen

Scientists predict that plastic in the ocean will eventually outweigh the fish there. Where is it all coming from? And is it making our food unsafe? Researchers are trying to find the answers.

The larvae of Galleria mellonella, commonly known as a wax worm, is able to biodegrade plastic bags.

Science

A Worm May Hold The Key To Biodegrading Plastic

5:10pm April 25, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

More than a trillion plastic bags are used annually. They're made of a notoriously resilient kind of plastic called polyethylene – but scientists have found that wax worms are able to break them down.

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A fisherman collects water on a beach littered with trash at an ecological reserve south of Manila in 2013.

8 Million Tons Of Plastic Clutter Our Seas

3:13pm February 20, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

A scientist estimating the weight of candy wrappers, bags, bottles, syringes and other plastic trash in the world's water sees a synthetic tsunami. Should China and India create more landfills?

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