NEWSROOM

Nurdles: The Plastic Production Leakage Problem
Andra Janieks Andra Janieks

Nurdles: The Plastic Production Leakage Problem

Commonly referred to as “nurdles”, plastic pellets serve as the building blocks of most plastic products you see every day. During production, storage, and transport, nurdles frequently escape into the environment — 230,000 tons of nurdles are lost to the environment each year.

The magnitude of pellet emissions to the environment is a clear indication that action is needed to reduce this major source of microplastic pollution. The Plastic Pellet Free Waters Act would protect our waterways and hold polluters accountable.

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Setting Sail for Microfiber Solutions: What’s Next?
Andra Janieks Andra Janieks

Setting Sail for Microfiber Solutions: What’s Next?

For the first time in nearly five years, the 5 Gyres team set sail for new research! We gathered leaders from the textiles sector, boarded a tall ship, raised our sails, and embarked on an expedition in San Francisco Bay to chart solutions for microfiber pollution.

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Paddling with Porpoise: Documenting Trash Around the Baja Peninsula
Andra Janieks Andra Janieks

Paddling with Porpoise: Documenting Trash Around the Baja Peninsula

5 Gyres Ambassador, Sean Jansen, is halfway through a solo journey paddling the length of the Baja Peninsula to raise awareness for ocean conservation and plastic pollution — an adventure he’s dubbed “Paddling with Porpoise”. In this excerpt, Sean shares his experience and observations related to trash and plastic pollution he’s seeing on the coastline.

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Setting Sail for Microfiber Solutions in the San Francisco Bay
Andra Janieks Andra Janieks

Setting Sail for Microfiber Solutions in the San Francisco Bay

To shine a light on the seemingly invisible issue of microfibers and workshop a range of possible solutions, 5 Gyres is partnering with Materevolve to lead a mini expedition in the San Francisco Bay this fall. The goal is to bring cross-sector leaders together, representing companies, brands, manufacturers, scientists, and innovators, to conduct scientific research and foster open discussions about potential solutions.

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U.S. Congress Introduces Bill to Protect National Parks from Plastic Pollution
Andra Janieks Andra Janieks

U.S. Congress Introduces Bill to Protect National Parks from Plastic Pollution

Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley introduced the Reducing Waste in National Parks Act to reduce and eliminate the sales and distribution of single-use plastics in national parks. This bill will address some of the most common items found during 5 Gyres’ Plastic-Free Parks project, including plastic bottles, bags, and utensils.

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What’s Missing from the Global Plastics Treaty? Sectors.
Andra Janieks Andra Janieks

What’s Missing from the Global Plastics Treaty? Sectors.

With more than 171 trillion plastic particles afloat in the world’s ocean, we are excited to see world leaders taking action to address the issue at the source and releasing an initial plastics treaty draft. However, we know that plastic pollution is complex and it's not a singular issue. The zero draft addresses fishing gear and single-use plastics, but what about car tires, textiles, agricultural waste, or the many other sectors of plastic use in society?

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How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies
Hannah Tizedes Hannah Tizedes

How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies

Plastic is ubiquitous in our everyday lives. It encases our food, it’s in the air we breathe, it’s in our blood. It’s hard to picture a world without plastic, but that world actually existed not too long ago. In A Poison Like No Other, Matt Simon takes us back in time to where it all began.

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Plastic Doesn’t Belong in Our National Parks
Andra Janieks Andra Janieks

Plastic Doesn’t Belong in Our National Parks

When we visit national parks, we get a rare glimpse of nature as it should be – untouched and protected from the throes of mankind. Native plants snaking up forest canopies, deer brazenly trotting out in the open, vast landscapes that haven’t given way to city skylines.

But when we look closer, we see a different story. One that consists of overflowing trash cans, cigarette butts littering the forest floor, and plastic water bottles used once and discarded.

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Stealing Xanadu and the Evolution of Plastic in Music
Andra Janieks Andra Janieks

Stealing Xanadu and the Evolution of Plastic in Music

Innovation over the last century steadily brought plastic to the music industry, from the introduction of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) records in 1948 to polycarbonate (PC) compact discs in the 1980s. In recent years, our shift to digital music has led to a decline in plastic waste but an increase in electronic waste, which brings another set of environmental and social problems.

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What to Know About California’s New Plastics Law
Hannah Tizedes Hannah Tizedes

What to Know About California’s New Plastics Law

The Plastic Pollution Reduction & Recycling Act (SB 54) was signed into law by California Governor Newsom in an effort to promote a pathway toward a circular economy and “turn off the tap” on single-use plastics in California. The bill aims to do this by reducing unnecessary plastic, supporting reuse and refill programs, and holding producers financially accountable for their packaging through extended producer responsibility (EPR) measures.

Read on to understand the nuances of this legislation and what it means for the future of plastics in California.

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The Road to a Global Plastics Treaty
Hannah Tizedes Hannah Tizedes

The Road to a Global Plastics Treaty

Our planet is awash in plastic pollution. We’ve found plastic on all 19 of our research expeditions, from the Galapagos Islands to the Arctic. It’s in the water we drink, the fish we eat, and even in our own bodies. The rate we are continuing to produce, use, and dispose of fossil fuel-based plastic is a systemic threat to the environment, wildlife, human health, and our entire planet.

But now, a global plastics treaty is on the horizon, giving us a glimmer of hope.

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Camels: Plastic Eaters in the Desert
Hannah Tizedes Hannah Tizedes

Camels: Plastic Eaters in the Desert

We traveled to Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Dubai to survey plastic in the Gulf of Arabia, where a veterinarian said, “If you want to see plastic, follow me.”

We dug into the skeletons of five camels, finding large masses of tanged plastic bags and rope in their chests. One had an estimated 2,000 plastic bags inside.

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Playing Chess with the Government
Hannah Tizedes Hannah Tizedes

Playing Chess with the Government

As the nation held its breath on November 3, 2020, waiting on the decision on who will lead our country for the next four years, we collectively knew the results wouldn’t be available immediately. We all knew we would need to wait for the counting to end and the tallies to be added up and that ultimately our system would triumph. Today, we still wait for the results of an unprecedented election in an unprecedented time.

For nonprofits like 5 Gyres, government plays a critical role in our work as the gatekeepers to better laws that influence the way resources are used and disposed of. In particular, plastic waste has become a hot topic over the past ten years with mainstream media picking up on the global health crisis we’ve reported through our expeditions and first hand research. These findings, along with the findings and work of hundreds of other organizations that have emerged, are now being discussed by the public and elected officials alike. Without a foundation of science it would be an uphill battle to pass new laws to govern the use and disposal of plastic.

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In Conversation with the ACC: Finding Solutions To Plastic Pollution
Hannah Tizedes Hannah Tizedes

In Conversation with the ACC: Finding Solutions To Plastic Pollution

How do we reduce substantial plastic leakage into the environment—one of the greatest challenges we face as a society? In Summer 2020, Meridian brought together Marcus Eriksen of the 5 Gyres Institute and Stew Harris of the American Chemistry Council (a plastics industry trade organization) for a conversation on how to achieve this shared vision. They represent historically-opposed communities on the issue of plastics, but the conversation illuminated many shared values and ideas—as well as some differences of perspective that leave room for further dialogue.

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Celebrating 5 Years of SEA Change
Hannah Tizedes Hannah Tizedes

Celebrating 5 Years of SEA Change

5 years ago, the Sea Change Expedition sailed across the North Atlantic – the culmination of our global survey of plastic pollution, but are we any better today than we were then?

The tragedy of the pandemic has unleashed a flood of single-use plastics in the form of protective gloves and masks, and an exponential increase in goods delivered with throw-away packaging and materials. What world do we want to create when the economy re-emerges?

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Plastic Is The New Tobacco
Hannah Tizedes Hannah Tizedes

Plastic Is The New Tobacco

Americans throw away 35 billion plastic water bottles every year, and only 12 percent of these get recycled or downcycled. Metal cans, by contrast, are endlessly recyclable, becoming new cans over and over without deteriorating at all.

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Plastic in Polar Regions: Keeping plastic from trashing people and at risk places
Hannah Tizedes Hannah Tizedes

Plastic in Polar Regions: Keeping plastic from trashing people and at risk places

It’s no surprise to find a plastic candy wrapper frozen in an iceberg. You can’t watch trillions of bits of plastic, large and small, leave our communities globally and not expect the wind and waves to take it far and wide. The linear economy for plastics is failing people in remote communities and hampering the conservation of pristine places, but there’s a way out.

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Ground-Breaking Federal Legislation Tackles the Root of the Plastic Pollution Crisis
Hannah Tizedes Hannah Tizedes

Ground-Breaking Federal Legislation Tackles the Root of the Plastic Pollution Crisis

The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, co-authored by Senator Tom Udall and Representative Alan Lowenthal, is unprecedented legislation that seeks to meaningfully address the plastic pollution crisis by shifting responsibility for waste management and recycling to manufacturers and producers, setting up a national beverage container refund program, establishing minimum recycled content standards, as well as a phasing out certain single-use plastic products that aren’t recyclable. Additionally, this legislation will prohibit plastic waste from being exported to developing countries and place a temporary pause on new plastic facilities until the EPA updates and creates important environmental and health regulations on those facilities.

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