Acid rain, air pollution, oil spills and multiple countries falling back on dirty fuels are just some of the catastrophic health and environmental costs of the conflict – costs that will be borne long after the financial markets restabilise and the news cycle moves on.

Criminal prosecutors in the Vosges region allege the world’s largest bottled water company illegally polluted soils and water with discarded plastic from their plants for decades, exposing ecosystems and millions of residents to unprecedented and “immeasurable” microplastic contamination.

A new Netflix documentary, The Plastic Detox, follows six couples with unexplained infertility over six months as they lower their exposure to plastics: will it finally help them conceive?

Spoiler alert: Netflix has also published an article to share what happened after the cameras stopped rolling.

The second fatal waste disaster this year in Southeast Asia, at Bantar Gebang – Indonesia’s biggest landfill – triggers calls for system reform and better protections for waste pickers.

A new report from Clean Creatives analysing over 1800 ads documents Big Oil’s shift from making green promises to framing fossil fuels as essential to society and quietly abandoning plans to a clean energy transition.

A new study published in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry claims adults ingest a dinner plate’s worth of microplastics annually and identifies five key biological pathways for the plastic particles to harm the brain and increase the risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

In 2021, the Canadian government included a statement in the Environmental Protection Act to recognise all manufactured plastic items as toxic. In 2023, after vociferous protests from the plastics industry, the wording was ordered to be removed by a Federal Court judge.

But now, a unanimous ruling from the Federal Court of Appeal has overturned that decision, paving the way for single-use plastics bans in Ottawa and beyond.

Early research on rats in Japan suggests a common foodstuff – dietary fibre – could help to prevent ingested microplastics from entering the bloodstream, as well as helping to remove them entirely from the gut.

Scientists are now working to identify the exact type of fibre that has these effects. Until more is known, the best policy remains avoidance.

On 7 February in Geneva, countries elected Julio Cordano, Chile’s climate COP chief negotiator, to revive the talks that have been stalled since August 2025. Although discussions at that meeting were limited to procedural matters, the outcome shows that progress is possible if parties move beyond consensus and use all available decision-making tools.

The Tox Free Life For All project found all 81 models (both in-ear and over-ear), including those from major brands like Bose, Samsung and Panasonic, contained toxic additives; and the migration from plastic to skin was found to increase with heat, sweat and daily use.

The cocktail of chemicals in plastic have been linked to the global rise in rates of cancer, obesity and infertility.

A new AP report focusing on American consumers, says the result would be more than 90 million metric tons less greenhouse emissions in the USA, a remarkable reduction for small lifestyle changes in just 10% of the population.

Now, let’s hear about the impact of 1 in 10 polluting companies changing their ways! That would likely have an even greater impact.

A thought provoking essay suggests that to effectively address climate breakdown and environmental pollution we should spend less time worrying about emissions mitigation and more on fixing the power asymmetry between green and fossil asset owners. Read the full analysis here.

A major new study in The Lancet predicts rising harm driven by the production of new plastic, through greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and the release of toxic chemicals.

Researchers identified risks at every stage of the plastics life cycle and concluded that only radical systems change, including limits on production, could reduce the anticipated health burden.

“Preventable tragedy” claims lives of 36 waste workers and injures 18 more, leading to calls for an independent investigation and drastic system change.

This article gives the inside story of “living and dying on the edge of the dump.”

A major new investigation reveals the world’s largest plastic producers are mislabelling mainly virgin plastic as “recycled” and selling it to brands who use it to promote their sustainable credentials to shoppers. Not only that, but the EU seems to be caving to pressure to both legalise and subsidise the misleading practice.

The EU banned multiple items of single-use plastic in 2021. So why are they still around?

Global markets, weak enforcement and legal loopholes are all to blame, says a new report by Deutsche Welle.

The global trends of excessive plastic production, waste export (overseas dumping) and urban poverty are converging to create conditions where families are eating and heating with toxic trash, according to new research.

The survey looked at low-income households in 26 countries across the Global South and found the same disturbing patterns; the researchers called for more attention to this “hidden problem”.

The Jakarta Post features the work of our Indonesian volunteers, and how it is helping to tackle the real problems upstream.

“Knowledge from the ground, rooted in lived experience, has the power to shape policy,” concludes the reporter.

97% of packaging pollution could be stopped by 2040 with investments in reuse infrastructure and replacement of plastic with safer alternative materials, according to the Pew Foundation, whose Breaking the Plastic Wave 2025 report also predicts that if nothing is done, plastic pollution will double in the same timespan.

The UK Advertising Standards Agency finds the brands were making exaggerated and unsubstantiated claims about the environmental benefits of their clothing in Google Ads published earlier this year.

Recycled polyester, promoted as a sustainable material by big brands like Patagonia, Zara and H&M, has been found to shed 55% more microplastic fibres than regular polyester, in lab testing carried out by Changing Markets Foundation. Its increasing use is worsening the pollution it set out to solve.

The formidable Goldman Prize winner, Diane Wilson, has filed an intent to sue Dow for “untold quantities of plastic nurdles and other pollutants” her organisation has found leaking from its Seadrift, Texas plant into the surrounding waters and lands.

Excessive dumping and minimal regulations have left all residents exposed to dangerous toxins, leading to a life expectancy a full decade less than the national average in Vietnam.

We need to modernise a system that was built for a different era and different problems than the complex, interconnected ones we face today, says a UCL scientist in this interesting thought piece.

The CopoMais deposit and return service piloted this year will be rolled out across the city centre in the first quarter of 2026, making Lisbon one of the first European cities to enable reuse at scale and saving millions of single-use takeaway cups.

Researchers from Ocean Conservancy analysing data from thousands of animal autopsies have confirmed the quantity of ingested plastic that would lead different marine creatures to an almost certain death: the amount is unexpectedly small. It’s a sobering thought to keep in mind when you do cleanups.

The American petrochemical giant is lobbying globally for weaker regulations that would allow it to expand its dirty technologies – and suing any critics for defamation, reports the Financial Times. Measures including reclassifying chemical recycling as “manufacturing” rather than incineration and increasing the credits allocated to its products.

Overrun by lobbyists, paralysed by petrostate veto power: will the annual climate conference ever be fit for purpose? We have a round-up of the most insightful analysis direct from Belém:

• A breakdown of all the deals and outcomes
• The EU’s position in the new geopolitical reality
• The countries taking the discussion outside of UNFCCC
• Round up of reactions

PBAT, a common “compostable” plastic used in agriculture, medical supplies, grocery bags and foodware has been found to leave “long-lasting” microplastics and chemical residues in soil. The methodology developed by the researchers is the first to be able to track and quantify the biodegradation process, and could be a useful tool to assess other “plant plastics”.

Indonesian NGO Ecoton sampled the air at human breathing height (1-1.5 metres) over three months in 2025 and found elevated levels of tyre dust, packaging fragments and microfibres from multiple types of plastic in all the cities tested.

Only 65 states out of 195 have submitted new plans to cut carbon, the UN says, despite all being required to do so. The task ahead in Belém, to get warming back under 1.5C, looks daunting.

The official declaration of this fundamental human right will have profound impacts on policy related to climate change and all forms of pollution, as well as protect activists in their work in the region.

In a first for one of the world’s largest road races, runners will have to carry their own reusable container to hydrate, with rapid refill stations being provided en route.

Four packaging companies have stopped the sale of grocery bags and paid US$1.75 million in fines after the California Dept. of Justice found their labelling was misleading consumers.

Their proposal, to be delivered at the upcoming WHO meeting of the Convention on Tobacco Control, would stop the sale of all tobacco products containing single-use plastic, including “biodegradable” filters.

An IPEN experiment reveals the extent of the “toxic stew” the three CNN reporters across the globe were exposed to, over a week of wearing the bands in their daily lives.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in everyday plastics are a leading cause of male infertility and “subtle deformities” in development, according to environmental health experts.

A new report from The Lancet put the health costs of plastics at $1.5 trillion a year and urges policy makers to act in response to the global crisis

Nearly 700 residents in Ratchaburi are to receive compensation after a landmark victory against a recycling company that poisoned their water supply with hazardous waste.

Over 90% of stork nests studied contained synthetic materials, leading to strangulation, necrosis and other fatal injuries for 1 in 8 chicks.

Tuaran District Office in Sabah, Malaysia, invited stakeholders to help develop policies to reduce plastic use, alongside zero waste experts from the Philippines.

Lobbyists and petrostates are doing everything to scupper the agreement to end plastic pollution, reports The Guardian.

Plastic you can’t see is everywhere in the Atlantic – and entering your body, according to new research.

Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) is dirtier than coal and has documented health risks, including cancer.

California alone shipped 7,260 metric tonnes of plastic trash to the SE Asian country in 2024 – campaigners hope the state will now find a way to deal with it at home, rather than dumping it in a different country.

Korean authorities seized dozens of plastic umbrellas, coats and boots sold on AliExpress and Temu, which also contained dangerous levels of lead and formaldehyde.

European waste dumped in the country is poisoning rivers and people with toxic chemicals, including dioxin.

Major study finds areas with plastic bag regulations saw reductions in coastal bag litter of up to 47% – and 37% fewer animals entangled.

The formal declaration, from a majority of countries, is a welcome show of strength before the final round of negotiations in August.

A new study showing bacteria can turn PET plastic into paracetamol reveals the fossil fuel origins of the everyday painkiller.

Just 56 companies are responsible for more than half of branded trash found worldwide – with the top 5 on the list producing 24% of this pollution.

Researchers find an immediate effect on fish larvae exposed to the contaminated water, with disruption to hormones and fat metabolism.

Microplastics are escalating into a financial and legal nightmare for businesses, forcing insurers to deal with potential health claims, environmental damages, and greenwashing lawsuits.

Swiss newspaper “20 Minutes” shares Trash Hero’s perspective on littering and why it is just one piece of the much larger crisis of waste and pollution.