New California Bill Could Revolutionize How the U.S. Tackles Plastic Pollution
A sweeping “circular economy” bill in the California legislature aims to drastically reduce plastic waste and boost domestic recycling.
ocean plastic pollution
How the Island of Zlarin is Ditching Single-Use Plastics
Beginning this spring, Zlarin’s businesses — including shops and restaurants that primarily serve tourists — will eliminate single-use plastics from their operations and ensure that all organic waste is composted rather than taken to landfill.
Plastic Pollution: The Age of Unsolvable Problems
Does that mean that the problem of plastic pollution unsolvable? No. It is, actually, a minor problem in comparison to other, much more difficult problems we face.
Searching for Real Solutions to Ocean Plastic Waste
I’ve discovered via a unique fellowship opportunity, that there are many more ways that we all need to, and can get involved in, addressing the real solutions to ocean plastic waste.
The Fallacy of Cleaning the Gyres of Plastic With a Floating “Ocean Cleanup Array”
As the policy director of the ocean conservation nonprofit 5Gyres.org, I can tell you that the problem of ocean plastic pollution is massive. In case you didn’t know, an ocean gyre is a rotating current that circulates within one of the world’s oceans – and recent research has found that these massive systems are filled with plastic waste. There are no great estimates (at least scientific) on how much plastic is in the ocean, but I can say from firsthand knowledge (after sailing to four of the world’s five gyres) that it’s so pervasive it confounds the senses. Gyre cleanup has often been floated as a solution in the past, and recently Boyan Slat’s proposed ‘Ocean Cleanup Array’ went viral in a big way. The nineteen-year-old claims that the system can clean a gyre in 5 years with ‘unprecedented efficiency’ and then recycle the trash collected. The problem is that the barriers to gyre cleanup are so massive that the vast majority of the scientific and advocacy community believe it’s a fool’s errand – the ocean is big, the plastic harvested is near worthless, and sea life would be harmed. The solutions starts on land.