IPEN International Pollutants Elimination Network

a dirty plastic bottle on a beach
Can a plastic bottle made of 65% recycled material be considered green?

¿Puede una botella de plástico fabricada con un 65% de material reciclado considerarse verde? El reciclaje está en el centro del debate de la lucha contra la invasión del plástico.…

men burning a small pile of plastic trash, France24 logo in foreground
Tackling plastic pollution: ‘We can’t recycle our way out of this’

The scale of plastic pollution is growing, relentlessly. The world is producing twice as much plastic waste as two decades ago, reaching 353 million tonnes in 2019, according to OECD…

chickens in a plastic waste dump, Salon logo in foreground
Plastic is destroying Earth — and recycling won’t help

A new report by Greenpeace USA reveals that recycling plastic not only fails to help the problem — it may actually make things worse. More significantly, the report reviews dozens…

a huge pile of plastic waste next to a house, logo of The Conversation in foreground
Plastic recycling is failing – here’s how the world must respond

Recycling was once considered the obvious solution to the excessive amount of new (or virgin) plastic produced each year. This is no longer realistic. Global recycling capacity simply cannot keep…

a woman recycling worker sitting in a pile of plastic e-waste, DW logo in foreground
Nations meet to strike plastic pollution treaty

More than 145 countries are hoping to hammer out a Plastics Treaty by 2025, with Norway co-leading the High Ambition Coalition in the talks. But environmental groups are warning that…

a crane in a large trash pile, Washington Post logo in foreground
Administration seeks more relaxed approach on reducing plastics

The Washington Post reports that as negotiators seeking a global plastics treaty gather in Paris this week for another round of talks, the Biden administration is pushing to let countries…

a truck piled high with trash, Reuters logo in foreground
Plastic recycling in focus as treaty talks get underway in Paris

As talks start this week on a global plastics treaty, debate is emerging between countries wanting to limit the production of more plastics and the petrochemical industry favoring recycling as…

a man carrying trash over his head, AP logo in the foreground
UN talks on a treaty to end global plastic pollution open in Paris

A United Nations committee met in Paris Monday to work on what is intended to be a landmark treaty to bring an end to global plastic pollution, but there is…

a white glove with a large handful of black plastic pellets, C&EN logo in the foreground
Disagreements and tempers surge ahead of UN plastics meeting

Tensions are running high as representatives from the plastics industry, advocacy groups, and governmental organizations from around the world head to Paris for a meeting of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental…

a large pile of plastic bottles, Guardian logo in foreground
Recycled plastic can be more toxic and is no fix for pollution, Greenpeace warns

Recycling plastic can make it more toxic and should not be considered a solution to the pollution crisis, Greenpeace has warned before the latest round of negotiations for an international…