plastic waste Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Foam dock floats, laundry filters, hotel shampoo amongst newest bids to reduce plastic pollution

By Tom Banse January 12, 2023

This decaying plastic litter on the beach at Newport, Oregon, is on its way to becoming microplastic pollution

Everywhere they look, Pacific Northwest scientists find teeny-tiny plastic pollution. Broken down particles are in our water, falling out of the air, in salmon, shellfish and in our own bodies. Scientists, environmental advocates and Democratic lawmakers in Olympia and Salem have seen enough to make them seek more regulations.Read More

Half Of The World’s Single-Use Plastic Waste Is From Just 20 Companies, Says A Study

By NPR News May 18, 2021

A worker operates a forklift to move household waste at a facility that stores recyclable materials in Seoul, South Korea. In 2019, more than 130 million metric tons of single-use plastics were thrown away, according to a new report. CREDIT: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

In 2019, more than 130 million metric tons of single-use plastics were thrown away, with most of that waste burned, buried in a landfill or dumped directly into the ocean or onto land. Now, a new report finds that just 20 companies account for more than half of all single-use plastic waste generated worldwide.Read More

COVID-19 Has Resurrected Single-Use Plastics. Are They Back To Stay?

By NWPB News July 26, 2020

File photo. Washington and Oregon lawmakers are considering statewide bans on single-use plastic bags in grocery stores. CREDIT: JULIA REIHS/KUT

COVID-19 is changing how the U.S. disposes of waste. It is also threatening hard-fought victories that restricted or eliminated single-use disposable items, especially plastic, in cities and towns across the nation.Read More

Coronavirus Fears Prompt Suspensions Of Bans On Single-Use Plastic Bags

By NPR News April 13, 2020

Rick Wittenmyer shops for groceries at the West Side Market, Friday, April 10, 2020, in Cleveland. There were fewer shoppers this year before the Easter holiday than in previous years due to the coronavirus. CREDIT: Tony Dejak/AP

Manufacturers, lawmakers and grocery store workers say the reusable bags could transmit the virus, but according to scientists there aren't enough studies to know whether that's true.Read More

Turning Pollution Into Art With A Purpose On The Oregon Coast

By NPR News December 5, 2019

Angela Haseltine Pozzi founded Washed Ashore in 2010. The nonprofit turns plastics taken from Oregon's beaches into eye-opening sculptures of threatened marine life. CREDIT: Kirk Siegler/NPR

This particular stretch of the Oregon coastline is famous for being pristine and wild. But train your eyes down a little closer to the beach and sand as Angela Haseltine Pozzi so often does, and even here you'll find bits of plastic.Read More

Don’t Want Plastic With Your Seafood? Neither Do Otters And Orcas In Northwest Waters

By Tom Banse October 2, 2019

OSU masters student Katherine Lasdin separates the innards of a donated rockfish at the Port of Newport, Oregon, for later analysis to see if it ingested microplastics. CREDIT: TOM BANSE/N3

Plastics in the ocean food chain has become a hot topic for local scientists, for similar reasons city and state policy makers and activists are debating plastic bag bans and how to reduce plastic straw and bottled water usage. All are concerned that the world's oceans are awash in plastic trash and fibers.Read More

U.S. Recycling Industry Is Struggling To Figure Out A Future Without China

By NPR News August 21, 2019

Collected material, including plastic, is baled at TerraCycle. Courtesy of TerraCycle

The U.S. used to send a lot of its plastic waste to China to get recycled. But last year, China put the kibosh on imports of the world's waste. The policy, called National Sword, freaked out people in the U.S. — a huge market for plastic waste had just dried up. Where was it all going to go now?Read More

Plastic’s New Threat: Indestructible Rafts For Ocean-Crossing Invasive Species

By NWPB News August 2, 2019

Marine organisms like these gooseneck barnacles are crossing the Pacific Ocean to North America by hitching rides on floating debris composed of man-made materials — mostly plastic. Courtesy of Russ Lewis

The 2011 earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Fukushima, Japan, also triggered tsunami warnings for our coastlines here in the Pacific Northwest. And while the resulting waves did not turn out to be catastrophic when they reached our local shores, those same forces delivered a wake-up call.Read More

Plastics Or People? At Least 1 Of Them Has To Change To Clean Up Our Mess

By NPR News July 31, 2019

Plastic bags wash up as part of the litter on beaches around the world. CREDIT: REUTERS/RICARDO ROJAS

As consumers rebel against plastic waste, there's a growing question: Do we invent something people can toss without harming the environment or do we change people by giving them a chance to reuse?Read More

Plastic Has A Big Carbon Footprint — But That Isn’t The Whole Story

By NPR News July 9, 2019

By one estimate, emissions from producing and incinerating plastics could amount to 56 gigatons of carbon — almost 50 times the annual emissions of all of the coal power plants in the U.S. — between now and 2050. CREDIT: KOJI SASAHARA/AP

Plastic waste gets a lot of attention when photos of dead whales with stomachs full of plastic bags hit the news. Pieces of plastic also litter cities, and tiny plastic particles are even floating in the air.Read More

Where Will Your Plastic Trash Go Now That China Doesn’t Want It?

By NPR News March 13, 2019

The U.S. used to ship about 7 million tons of plastic trash to China a year, where much of it was recycled into raw materials. Then came the Chinese crackdown of 2018. CREDIT: Olivia Sun/NPR

For years, America sold millions of tons of used yogurt cups, juice containers, shampoo bottles and other kinds of plastic trash to China to be recycled into new products. But last year the Chinese government dropped a bombshell on the world recycling business: They cut back almost all imports of trash. And now a lot of that plastic gets shipped to other countries that Read More