Plastic

Explained: 3 ways countries can make single-use plastic bans more effective

Single-use plastic bans can inspire wider changes to social systems. But without planned access to alternatives, a phased introduction, and efforts to nurture public support, product bans have a limited effect on plastic pollution

Alternatives to single-use plastic: Delhi government to urge Centre to reduce GST rates on raw materials

The Delhi government will request Centre to reduce GST rates on raw material to manufacture alternatives to single-use plastics

Explained: What are plastic-munching superworms which could revolutionise recycling?

Scientists at Australia's University of Queensland have now discovered that superworms, the larvae of Zophobas morio darkling beetles, are eager to dine on polystyrene, and their gut enzymes could hold the key to higher recycling rates

Elephant in the room: How plastic spoons, glass entered the diet of wild pachyderms in India

Researchers have warned that while trash passes through the digestive systems of elephants, the animals could be ingesting a slew of chemicals that may contribute to declines in population numbers and survival rates

Explained: How COVID-19 contributed to plastic pollution and overwhelmed waste management system

In the past year, in the midst of an unfolding catastrophe like the coronavirus pandemic, we've also added more plastic to our daily use: PPE kits, gloves, face shields, N95 masks

COVID exposed the broken system of the plastic production and recycling sector: Here’s how we can fix it

Since before the pandemic, governments worldwide have shown a tendency to seek quick-fix solutions to plastic pollution in order to signal a decisive stance on sustainability.

Insidious danger: Microplastics have made their way to the remotest corners of earth

Even pristine rain and snow now contain a cocktail of different types of microplastics, chemicals, natural and artificial particles

Cost of cleaning up plastic pollution around the world in 2019 amounted to $3.7 trillion: WWF report

WWF said societies were "unknowingly subsiding" plastic, with their estimates for the lifetime costs of 2019 production equivalent to more than India's GDP.

Migratory animals are 'most vulnerable' to plastic pollution, microplastics finds UN Asia-Pacific regional report

Researchers cited estimates that 80 percent of the plastic that ends up in the oceans originates on land -- with rivers thought to play a key role in carrying debris out to sea.

Indian moves to phase out single-use plastic items by 2022: Here are all the plastic items that will be banned

India generates around 25,940 tonnes of plastic waste per day and approximately 9.46 million tonnes of plastic waste per year.