Bio-based materials may pose a greater health risk to some of the planet’s most important species than the conventional plastics they are designed to replace, a new study has shown. Such materials are increasingly being advocated as environmentally friendly alternatives to plastics, and used in textiles and products including clothing, wet wipes and period products. … Read more
A new study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology tested the effects of conventional polyester fibers and two bio-based fibers –viscose and lyocell—on earthworms, a species critical to the health of soils globally. Credit: Lloyd Russell/University of Plymouth Bio-based materials may pose a greater health risk to some of the planet’s most important species … Read more
Previously made from ivory, the modern snooker or billiard ball is made from plastic. Before it threatened biodiversity, the oceans and the global food chain, plastics saved lives and transformed societies as a durable, malleable and cheap material. From the 1950s, plastics enjoyed a positive image “in all areas of life”, according to the Plastic … Read more
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Tucked into a green-sounding federal recycling bill filed last month is a wish list, not of tough new mandates to get a handle on the world’s plastic’s crisis, but of regulatory rollbacks and … Read more