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by Sébastien DUVAL WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — “How do you drink a milkshake without a straw?” It is a question the city of Washington will soon face after deciding, in the interest of the environment, to ban plastic drinking straws — an almost sacrilegious act in the birthplace of this simple object, a seemingly indispensable part of daily American life. In the last century, millions of straws were produced in the Stone Straw Building, […]
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexico City’s legislature voted Thursday to ban businesses from buying, selling or giving their customers disposable plastics, a major shift for a sprawling capital that is awash in them. The ban, set to come into force in December 2020 or January 2021, includes such articles as non-biodegradable plastic bags, straws, cutlery, cups and coffee capsules, the legislature said in a statement, calling them a “serious environmental problem.” It puts the […]
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — A starving whale with 40 kilos (88 pounds) of plastic trash in its stomach has died after being washed ashore in the Philippines, activists said Monday, calling it one of the worst cases of poisoning they have seen. Environmental groups have tagged the Philippines as one of the world’s biggest ocean polluters due to its reliance on single-use plastic. That sort of pollution, which is also widespread in other southeast Asian […]
(Eagle News) – Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu has called on all Filipinos to cut down on plastic use as the Philippines becomes one of the top five countries in the world that contribute to plastic waste in oceans. Citing a United Nations report, Cimatu said the Philippines is one of top 5 contributors of plastic waste in the world’s oceans, accounting for about half of the total plastic leakage. “We produce 2.7 metric tons […]
by Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Animals living in the deepest ocean trenches have been found with plastic fragments in their gut, according to new research published Wednesday showing how manmade pollution reaches into the bowels of the planet. More than 300 million tonnes of plastics are produced annually, and there are at least five trillion plastic pieces floating in our oceans. Because deep-sea exploration is expensive and time-consuming, most studies […]
(Eagle News) — Malaki umano ang tsansa na matamo ng Pilipinas ang target na zero waste. Iyan ay kung kikilos ang local government units, mga korporasyon at maging ang pamahalaan sa pagpapatupad ng total ban sa single-use plastic sa lahat ng lungsod sa Pilipinas. Sa isinagawang “Zero Waste Cities Forum” ng Global Alliance For Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) at Mother Earth Foundation ay hinikayat ang mga opisyal ng iba’t ibang local government unit sa bansa na […]
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) — Young Nepalis created a map of the Dead Sea with used plastic bags Wednesday in a bid to set a new international record and raise awareness about the vast volumes polluting the world’s oceans. Volunteers tied 100,000 colorful used plastic bags on a metal grid 20 meters (65 feet) long and five meters (16 feet) tall, shaped like the Dead Sea, on open ground in Kathmandu’s city center. The record attempt […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A sperm whale has been found dead in Indonesia with 115 plastic cups and 25 plastic bags in its stomach, raising concern among environmentalists and throwing the spotlight on the country’s rubbish problem. The items were part of nearly six kilograms (13 pounds) of plastic waste discovered in the 9.5-meter (31-foot) carcass when it washed ashore in Wakatobi National Park, in Southeast Sulawesi province, on Monday. Other debris included flip flops […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Bits of plastic have been detected in the faeces of people in Europe, Russia and Japan, according to research claiming to show for the first time the widespread presence of plastics in the human food chain. All eight volunteers in a small pilot study were found to have passed several types of plastic, with an average of 20 micro-particles per 10 grams of stool, researchers […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand became the latest country Friday to outlaw single-use plastic shopping bags, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying they will be phased out over the next year as a “meaningful step” towards reducing pollution. New Zealand uses “hundreds of millions” of single-use plastic bags each year, many of which end up harming marine life, Ardern said. “We need to be far smarter in the way we manage waste and […]
by Ivan Couronne Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — For months, a major recycling facility for the greater Baltimore-Washington area has been facing a big problem: it has to pay to get rid of huge amounts of paper and plastic it would normally sell to China. Beijing is no longer buying, claiming the recycled materials are “contaminated.” For sure, the 900 tons of trash dumped at all hours of the day and night, […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – Global coffee giant Starbucks announced Monday it is to eliminate all plastic straws from its 28,000 stores by 2020, becoming the latest corporate giant to take steps to combat pollution from disposable plastic. After months of tests, many of them carried out in Britain, the firm announced the news on Twitter. The plastic straws will be replaced by recyclable lids that have a small raised opening allowing consumers to sip […]
