LEGO Drops Plans To Make Bricks From Recycled Bottles
LEGO is abandoning plans to use recycled plastic bottles for its bricks. CNN's Laila Harrak speaks with a recycling expert on why this change in plans is not that surprising.
Lego Says Making Bricks From Recycled Bottles Produces More Carbon Than New Plastic
For years, the toymaker Lego has been trying to figure out how to make its plastic building blocks out of sustainable materials. It’s experimented with all kinds of things — Brazilian sugarcane, for instance, which worked, at least for some pieces. It also tried recycled plastic bottles, which … didn’t work. The company said Monday it’s abandoning an effort to make its bricks out of recycled PET, the plastic found in many of our bottles and food containers.
Plastic Industry’s $1M ‘Recycling Is Real’ Campaign Designed To Reclaim the Narrative
The Plastics Industry Association says its campaign is meant to overcome “anti-recycling” rhetoric by educating lawmakers and brands. Advocacy groups say this ignores plastic recycling’s challenges.
Climate Protesters March on New York, Calling for End to Fossil Fuels
Ahead of U.N. meetings this week, thousands gathered in Midtown to demand that President Biden and other world leaders stop new oil and gas drilling.
EPA Announces New ‘Work Plan’ for East Palestine 7 Months Later
Minutes after workers burned five tankers of vinyl chloride after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, a toxic plume of smoke smothered the area for miles. Residents scrambled to get away, worried for their health and safety. Now, seven months later, the Environment Protection Agency announced a new “work plan” — which, for the first time since the derailment, broadens the scope of possible contamination.
Climate Week Nyc’s Headline Partner Is a Notorious Polluter
As the only headline partner of Climate Week, the top level of sponsorship for the event, Saint-Gobain will have the opportunity to host discussions like a “Sustainable Construction Talk,” dedicated to “preserv[ing] our planet, while providing everyone with comfortable, decent housing“ and “building a comprehensive response to climate change.” But Saint-Gobain’s history in New York tells a very different story.
Turkey’s Plastic Recycling Industry Is Booming. But It Comes at a Cost.
Dotted across the southern Turkish city of Adana are illegal dump sites for plastic recycling waste that never got recycled. The labels show they've come from consumers in Europe and the United States. These countries now ship recyclable plastic waste to countries like Turkey. But this rapidly growing industry often skirts regulations, leading to health and environmental risks for the surrounding community. The World's Durrie Bouscaren reports from Adana.
Most Plastic in the U.S. Can’t Be Recycled
While Americans often diligently sort and recycle plastics at home, only 5% of plastics in the U.S. can actually be recycled. Judith Enck of the non-profit Beyond Plastics joins us to talk about plastic pollution and solutions to it.
Can Plastic Recycling Ever Really Work?
Many plastics that carry the “chasing arrows” symbol, like soda cups and yogurt tubs, are rarely recycled. A new California law is raising the bar.
The Plastic Recycling Hoax
Plastic is just about everywhere, and there’s going to be a lot more of it. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development expects global plastic use to triple by 2060. So what are we to do with all the waste?
How to Navigate A World Filled with Plastic
Plastics are everywhere, but L.A. Times environment reporter Susanne Rust thought she was doing a pretty good job avoiding them. That was until she spent a week recording her daily plastic interactions. She found plastics in her phone. Her car. Her swimming equipment. There was almost nothing that Rust encountered that didn’t have plastic in it.
A Slim Percentage of Plastic Gets Recycled. How Can We Change That?
The reports on plastic waste are staggering. Households in the U.S. generated 51 million tons of plastic waste in 2021 and 5 to 6% of that was recycled, according to Greenpeace. Beyond Plastics and The Last Beach Cleanup similarly puts the rate at 5 to 6%. On Cincinnati Edition, we're going to dive into these findings and talk about what happens when plastic is recycled, looking at the sorting and reprocessing of the material. Plus, we'll talk about what can and cannot be recycled and look at efforts to reduce plastic waste.
EPA Approved a Fuel Ingredient Even Though It Could Cause Cancer in Virtually Every Person Exposed
The Environmental Protection Agency approved a component of boat fuel made from discarded plastic that the agency’s own risk formula determined was so hazardous, everyone exposed to the substance continually over a lifetime would be expected to develop cancer. Current and former EPA scientists said that threat level is unheard of. It is a million times higher than what the agency usually considers acceptable for new chemicals and six times worse than the risk of lung cancer from a lifetime of smoking.
For the Love of God, Stop Microwaving Plastic
A study of baby-food containers shows that microwaving plastic releases millions upon millions of polymer bits.
Ohio Activists Join National Groups to Deliver Petition to EPA to Ban Vinyl Chloride
Environmental and community groups are calling on the US EPA agency to ban vinyl chloride, a chemical used to make PVC pipes and many other consumer products. It’s also the chemical vented from five derailed train cars in East Palestine, Ohio earlier this year and burned, resulting in an explosion. The groups submitted 27,570 signatures to the agency this week.
Ohio residents rally in DC for Vinyl Chloride ban, Emergency Aid
East Palestine residents were in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, hoping to reach lawmakers and influence a ban on vinyl chloride nearly six months after a devastating Norfolk Southern train derailment released the toxic chemical into their community.
President Biden, Come to East Palestine and Bring FEMA With You
The Ohio train derailment is not a comeback story, it's a grim warning. It's about an industry that values profit over people and the environment, and about a regulatory system that has failed to keep these industries in check. There is an undeniable connection between this disaster and the plastics industry. The production of PVC plastic depends on transporting harmful chemicals like vinyl chloride. The insatiable demand for plastics has driven the need for increased transport of these hazardous substances, placing communities near rail tracks under constant threat. As company profits soar, our communities are left to grapple with the aftermath of their negligence.
Interview: Megan Wolff, Beyond Plastics Policy Director and Isaac Cheek, Cottonwood Environmental Law Center Grassroots Conservation Coordinator
In Conversation with Megan Wolff, Beyond Plastics Policy Director and Isaac Cheek, Cottonwood Environmental Law Center Grassroots Conservation Coordinator about Families for a Livable Climate and the Plastics Working Group.
The Risks of 'Chemical Recycling'
So-called ‘chemical recycling’ of plastics is a highly inefficient process that releases large amounts of carbon emissions and hazardous pollutants. James Bruggers reports for Inside Climate News and joined Host Steve Curwood to discuss the health and safety problems he’s been covering at the Brightmark chemical recycling plant in Indiana.
Company Seeking Subsidies Circulates Fake Study
A plastics manufacturer seeking tax breaks to build a plant in Lockport has put its application on hold after being called out Thursday for circulating a summary of a study that was fabricated and produced by artificial intelligence. Prior to a public hearing Thursday, the India-based firm SRI CV Plastics, seeking $312,000 in subsidies from the Lockport Industrial Development Agency, provided the agency’s board a one-page summary of a study that touted the safety of PVC pipes, one of the products the company plans to make at the plant.