plastics

The negotiations in Busan, South Korea, were supposed to be the fifth and final round to produce the first legally binding treaty on plastics pollution, including in the oceans, by the end of 2024. But with time running out early Monday, negotiators agreed to resume the talks next year. They don’t yet have firm plans.

This week as Canada’s National Observer toured the refineries at the doorstep of Aamjiwaang First Nation, rotten egg and acrid chemical smells wafted over children playing ball hockey nearby. Air monitoring data revealed another spike of sulphur dioxide on Nov. 26, reaching 300 parts per billion — a level more than four times higher than the maximum hourly concentrations set by the federal government. Just another day in Chemical Valley.

Federal officials are relying on research by chemical industry researchers to exclude Teflon and other fluoropolymers, a type of toxic "forever chemical," from proposed rules to protect human health and the environment.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s emergency interim directive ordering the petrochemical industry in southern Ontario to clean up its act has been extended for two years.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has issued an emergency interim order to the petrochemical industry in southern Ontario, home of Canada’s Chemical Valley, following consultations with the local First Nation about declining air quality.

Rapid global warming due to greenhouse gases linked to fossil fuels is causing the region to warm at about four times the global average. This increases the speed of plastics travelling from other regions in the world.

A recent report by the non-profit Center for Climate Integrity chronicles a “decades-long campaign of fraud and deception” from Big Oil and the plastics industry to promote recycling as a solution to the plastic pollution crisis.

Phthalate exposure is just one way the plastics industry externalizes harm. Its products are made from fossil fuels, and making them releases billions of tons of greenhouse gas every year — not to mention toxic air and water emissions.

Canadians are allowing conservative politicians to lead us into an uncertain future as precious time ticks away on our ability to reverse the devastating trend toward an overheated planet.

The decision on Nov. 16 said Ottawa had overstepped by labelling all "plastic manufactured items" as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

The federal government's ban on plastic straws and grocery bags is in question after the Federal Court ruled Ottawa had overstepped its bounds in designating all "plastic manufactured items" as toxic.

The first complete "scientific health check" shows most global systems are beyond the stable range in which modern civilization emerged.

In a world facing widespread water shortages, rising emissions and escalating inequity, becoming mindful about our fashion choices is seen as a moral imperative by more and more of us each year, says Marley Alles, who started a clothing rental company.

Researchers sampled 19 strains of bacteria and 15 of fungi growing on free-lying or intentionally buried plastic kept in the ground for one year in Greenland, Svalbard and Switzerland in a potential breakthrough for recycling.

Natural History Museum scientists say plasticosis, which scars the digestive tract, is likely to affect other types of birds, too.