Plastic pollution touches nearly every ecosystem on Earth, from deep ocean trenches to mountain snowpack. This archive tracks real progress: policy wins, material innovations, cleanup breakthroughs, and the researchers, companies, and communities driving measurable change. 167 stories and counting.
Germany is banning the sale of single-use plastic straws, cotton buds and food containers, bringing it in line with a European Union directive intended to reduce the amount of plastic garbage that pollutes the environment.
The Indian unit of Amazon has eliminated all single-use plastic in its packaging across fulfillment centers in the country, in line with its target to weed out the packaging material by June.
The plans, devised by renewable chemicals company Avantium, have already won the support of beer-maker Carlsberg, which hopes to sell its pilsner in a cardboard bottle lined with an inner layer of plant plastic.
Plans to ban a wide range of single-use plastics have been confirmed by the Welsh Government. Plastic straws, cotton buds and balloon sticks are among the items set to be outlawed or restricted by 2021
In 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) stated that by the end of 2020 single-use plastic bags would be banned in all of China’s major cities. By the end of 2022, the plastic bag ban was to be extended to all cities and towns. As the world’s most populous nation and second-largest economy, this became the most significant plastic bag ban in history.
The new law went into effect January 1. By 2021, the same law will ban handing out plastic straws, spoons, coffee capsules and other single-use items.
The regulation imposes a ban on single-use plastic bags in modern department stores, supermarkets, and traditional markets. It will also serve as a legal basis for the usage of eco-friendly bags in stores and markets.
In an expansion of its Environmental Sustainable Sourcing Principles that were announced in 2011, Mattel plans to use 100% recycled, recyclable, or bio-based plastics materials in both its products and packaging by 2030.
Glasgow has announced a new goal of completely eliminating all unnecessary plastics by the year 2030 and eliminate all single use plastics by 2022.
Brewery giant Heineken joins other drinks manufacturers to reduce its plastic packaging by switching to cardboard.
