topic: Waste

topic: Waste

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Scientists explore nature’s promise in combating plastic waste
- Since 1950, humanity has produced more than 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic. Most has ended up in landfills or the environment. Now, scientists are working on biological solutions to address the plastic pollution crisis at every stage of the material’s life cycle.
- Innovative new filters built from naturally occurring ingredients can capture micro- and nanoplastics in all their diverse forms. These filters could remove plastic contamination from drinking water, and prevent microplastic pollution in industrial and domestic wastewater from reaching rivers and oceans.
- Plastic-degrading enzymes, isolated from microbes and insects and engineered for efficiency and performance in industrial conditions, can break plastics down at the molecular level and even be used to turn plastic waste into new useful chemicals.
- Biological solutions are being developed for a range of pollutants, not just plastics. But this technological research is still young. Crucially, we must not allow solutions for existing pollutants to make us complacent about the impact of new chemicals on the environment, or we could risk making the same mistakes again.

As plastic talks wrap up in Canada, fishers in Indonesia count the costs
- Fishers in the Thousand Islands archipelago off the Jakarta coast have reported extensive economic losses due to the scale of plastic waste littering their seas.
- Declining catch volume and costly repairs to boat engines are cited as drags on productivity, with one fisher telling Mongabay that his family now earns less than a decade earlier.
- Negotiators convened by the U.N. hope to conclude an international agreement in November that would limit the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic produced around the world each year.

Bioplastics as toxic as regular plastics; both need regulation, say researchers
- Emerging research shows that plant-based plastics — just like petroleum-based plastics — contain many thousands of synthetic chemicals, with large numbers of them extremely toxic. However, the bioplastics industry strongly denies that bio-based plastics contain hazardous substances.
- Scientists are finding that while plant sources for bioplastics, such as corn or cane sugar, may not themselves be toxic or have adverse health impacts, the chemical processes to manufacture bioplastics and the many performance additives needed to give them their attributes (hardness, flexibility, color, etc.) can be quite toxic.
- Those doing the research no longer see bioplastics as a solution to the global plastic pollution crisis and would like to see them regulated. However, a very large number of petroleum-based plastics and the chemicals they contain also lack tough government oversight.
- This week, representatives from the world’s nations gather for a fourth session to hammer out an international treaty to curb the global plastic pollution crisis. The High Ambition Coalition (including 65 countries) hopes to achieve a binding global ban on the worst toxins in plastics. But the U.S., China and other nations are resisting.

Beneath the surface, a toxic tide threatens Bangladesh’s water lifeline
- Despite widespread water access, millions in Bangladesh lack safe drinking water due to contamination by arsenic, salinity and heavy metals as unveiled by the nation’s first comprehensive report on groundwater quality assessment.
- Depletion of groundwater, driven by irrigation and exacerbated by climate change, intensifies contamination, particularly affecting coastal areas with saltwater intrusion and surpassing safe limits in certain regions.
- Freshwater pockets and deep aquifers provide temporary relief, but experts emphasize that long-term strategies are imperative to address the problem in coastal districts.
- The Bangladeshi government’s commitment to water issues is evident, but urgent global cooperation, improved infrastructure and data-driven solutions are essential for ensuring safe water access nationwide.

Pollution poses big risks to global clean water supplies, study shows
- Nitrogen pollution could intensify global water scarcity threefold by 2050, scientists warn in a recently published paper. In addition, “newly emerging pollutants,” such as microplastics, heavy metals, pathogens and pharmaceuticals, emitted into waterways could cause “severe water degradation in the future.”
- Modeling the escalating impact of nitrogen pollution on water quality, the scientists found that more than 3,000 river basins globally are at risk of water scarcity by 2050 in one future scenario. That finding comes along with concern that climate change could exacerbate water quality decline and increased scarcity.
- Nitrogen pollution and water contamination by heavy metals and pathogens have serious known public health consequences, while health impacts from microplastics and pharmaceuticals need far more research.
- The researchers suggest solutions that include curbing nitrogen pollution through better fertilizer management practices and improved wastewater treatment.

Fashioning a circular future for traditional and alternative leather
- Crafting leather from animal hides is an age-old industry, but its production today continues to mostly follow a linear model often mired in a range of environmental problems, including pollution, the creation of huge amounts of waste, high water use, and climate change-causing emissions.
- Applying cleaner and circular economy-based solutions to the leather industry is needed to change this paradigm and make the supply chain more environmentally friendly, say experts. Some companies are heading down this path, but efforts to roll out such solutions globally to all producer nations face a host of barriers.
- Some companies see the future of a sustainable leather industry in synthetic and biobased alternatives, using a smorgasbord of waste agricultural materials and more in the place of animal hides and plastics. But these alternatives, too, come with their own sustainability challenges or questions of scalability.
- Above all, experts say, achieving viable long-term circular solutions for the leather industry will require a diverse range of sustainable supply chain and production innovations, including the use of alternative materials.

Communities on troubled Java river mold future from plastic waste
- The Ciliwung is a highly polluted river running from Mount Pangrango in western Java, through the city of Bogor, before ending in the bay north of Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital.
- Since 2018, Bogor Mayor Bima Arya Sugiarto has overseen an initiative to rehabilitate the river, which was awash with plastics and dangerous levels of fecal coliform bacteria.
- Bogor is among more than 50 global cities participating in the Plastic Smart Cities, initiated by WWF to help eliminate plastics from nature.

Indonesian utility PLN ordered to disclose coal plants’ emissions data
- Indonesia’s Public Information Commission (KIP) has ordered state-owned utility PLN to disclose emissions data for some of the country’s biggest coal-fired power plants.
- Civil society groups have hailed the decision as a victory against government opacity and a major step toward accountability for public health.
- The KIP’s decision isn’t the end of the story, however; there’s a long history of various government ministries simply refusing to comply with its orders for data disclosure, and it’s not clear whether PLN will buck that trend.

VIDEO: Can bioplastics help shape a more sustainable future? | Problem Solved
- Humanity produces roughly 400 million metric tons of plastic each year, yet only recycles or reuses 9%, at most, of all the plastic collected.
- The global waste crisis is evident in the immense amount of plastic trash that ends up polluting the land, water, atmosphere, wildlife, and even our bodies.
- While nations are currently locked in negotiations to design a global treaty meant to rein in plastic production and address plastic pollution, researchers are working to develop fully biodegradable and naturally occurring plastic polymers known as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs).
- In this episode of Mongabay’s “Problem Solved” video series, we take a look at how PHAs are made, and what else experts say needs to be done to combat the global plastic pollution crisis.

Lessons from Finland’s attempt to transition to a circular economy
- Eight years ago, Finland became the first country to adopt a national circular economy road map to reduce the material footprint of its national economy.
- But implementing the actions called for ahead of the 2035 deadline remains a huge challenge, experts say, as the country has one of the largest material consumption footprints per capita in Europe.
- Since its inception, the road map has driven innovation at multiple levels, including in governments, research institutions and companies, to implement circular solutions; yet these efforts have not led to a decline in material usage.
- Finland’s circular economy venture provides valuable lessons, experts say, notably the importance of widespread inclusion of stakeholders and collaboration, innovation, education, and science-based target setting.

New AI model helps detect and identify microplastics in wastewater
- A new model developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada uses advanced spectroscopy and artificial intelligence to identify the presence of microplastics in wastewater.
- Researchers trained PlasticNet to detect microplastics based on how they absorb and transmit different wavelengths of light that they’re exposed to.
- The tool successfully classified 11 types of common plastics with an accuracy of more than 95%; it could potentially be used by wastewater treatment plants and food producers to identify microplastics.
- The team is currently working to make the model work faster and more efficiently, and to also streamline the process of gathering data.

VIDEO: Unmasking the environmental impact of tires | Consumed
- Ever since they were invented, tires have changed the way we live; today, we produce almost 2.5 billion tires annually.
- However, the way we make, use and discard tires has left a trail of destruction that has polluted our water, land and air.
- Consumed is a video series by Mongabay that explores the environmental impacts of products we use in our daily lives.
- In the latest episode of the series, we take a look at how tires impact our planet

Chemical recycling of plastic not so fantastic, report finds
- A new report by NGOs International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) and Beyond Plastics scrutinizes the chemical recycling industry that is on the rise in the U.S. and other parts of the world, including several European countries.
- Chemical recycling, also known as advanced recycling, is an umbrella term for industrial processes designed to use plastic waste as a feedstock to create fuel and new plastic products.
- While plastic producers and fossil fuel companies argue that chemical recycling presents a solution to the world’s plastic problem, environmentalists say chemical recycling is an unproven process that exacerbates the pollution problems it’s supposed to solve.
- In mid-November, negotiators met in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the global plastics treaty. Chemical recycling was not formally discussed, but critics are concerned that it may be a part of future treaty negotiations.

Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran & petrochemical industry stall plastics treaty: Critics
- In March 2022, the world’s nations met to launch negotiations for a global plastic treaty with the goal of achieving final treaty language by 2025. That effort came as the planet drowns in a tidal wave of plastic waste, polluting oceans, air and land.
- That treaty goal and deadline may have been put at risk this month as the United Nations Environment Programme’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC) met in Nairobi, Kenya for its third session.
- There, three of the world’s biggest petrostates — Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran — began obstructing the process in an attempt to stall the negotiations, according to environmental NGOs that attended the meeting. More than 140 lobbyists at the November conference represented the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries.
- While a coalition of more than 60 high-ambition nations is seeking a binding international treaty that regulates cradle-to-grave plastics production, the resisters argued for treaty language that would focus on recycling rather than production, would not regulate plastic toxins and would allow nations to set individual goals for plastics regulation.

What’s old is new again: Bioarchitects plot route to circular economy
- The modern construction industry is built on cement, with factories and public buildings, commercial space and apartment buildings, and homes fashioned out of it. But cement production is helping destabilize the climate, and has poor durability. Bioarchitects in Mexico think they have a solution.
- They’re reviving traditional clay adobe building techniques used since the 16th and 17th centuries in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, to give birth to a new cutting-edge school of bioconstruction aimed at reducing the ecological footprint of the cement-hungry construction sector.
- Bio-buildings are built from natural materials, are long-lasting, energy-efficient, healthier, and often with better earthquake resistance. Built with local materials by locally trained workers, with their walls easily recycled at the end of a building’s life, bio-buildings can be part of a circular economy, benefiting humanity and nature.
- Bioconstruction could radically cut construction sector carbon emissions by curbing cement production. But bioconstruction faces an uphill battle against outdated building codes, and a huge, well-entrenched cement and construction industry, whose companies are often large contributors to political campaigns in Mexico and other countries.

Banana fiber sari offers sustainable, biodegradable alternative in Bangladesh
- The sari, a quintessential part of Bangladeshi culture and attire, is known for its vibrant colors and intricate designs.
- However, traditional sari production is often associated with resource-intensive processes that raise environmental concerns.
- A couple of Indigenous Marma and Manipuri communities in Bangladesh have taken the Bangladeshi fashion scene by storm with their unique creation: a sari woven entirely from banana fiber, considered a sustainable and biodegradable alternative.

As companies buy ‘plastic credits,’ are they reducing waste or greenwashing?
- Companies and other entities are buying “plastic credits” allowing them to offset every ton of plastic they make with an equivalent amount of plastic waste collected and taken out of the environment elsewhere — often in poor nations lacking waste management programs. Several organizations now offer credits and will certify plastic collection and reuse.
- No worldwide standards or regulations govern the use of these plastic credits or assure their reliability, nor what gets done with the collected waste. Verra, which runs the world’s largest carbon credit verification system, but has come under fire for that system’s poor verification record, recently launched its own plastic credits verification system.
- Skeptics warn the plastic credit systems being created by various organizations, rather than recycling significant plastic waste, merely amount to greenwashing and allow companies to continue to make and use polluting materials, while running PR campaigns to make themselves look environmentally responsible.
- The credit system at best only deals with waste already manufactured and thrown out; it doesn’t address the need to ban the most toxic plastics, reduce production of others, or replace disposable single-use plastic with eco-friendly or reusable materials. Verra is urging that plastic credits become part of the U.N. global plastics treaty currently under negotiation.

Microplastics pose risk to ocean plankton, climate, other key Earth systems
- Trillions of microplastic particles in the ocean threaten marine life, from huge filter-feeders to tiny plankton. Although not lethal in the short term, the long-term impacts of microplastics on plankton and marine microbes could disrupt key Earth systems such as ocean carbon storage and nitrogen cycling.
- Oceans represent Earth’s largest natural carbon store and are crucial to mitigate atmospheric CO2 increase. Carbon taken up by plankton and stored in the deep ocean — known as the biological carbon pump — is a major process in ocean carbon storage. Microplastics may “clog” this pump and slow ocean carbon uptake.
- Microplastics in marine sediments alter microbial communities and disrupt nitrogen cycling, potentially magnifying human-caused problems like toxic algal blooms. Changes in plankton communities at the ocean surface could exacerbate deoxygenation driven by climate change, starving marine organisms of oxygen.
- Small plastic particles are impossible to remove from the oceans with current technology, so stopping pollution is a priority. Plastic production continues to soar year-on-year, but a U.N. treaty to address plastic pollution could offer a glimmer of hope that the international community is ready to take action.

Up in the air: Study finds microplastics in high-altitude cloud water
- A new study found tiny microplastics — sized between 7.1 to 94.6 micrometers — in cloud water collected from high-altitude summits in Japan.
- The researchers suggest that microplastics could therefore be influencing the formation of clouds and even impacting the climate.
- However, one outside expert casts doubt on the assumption that microplastics could contribute to cloud formation or affect the climate in a substantial way.
- With the total amount of plastic waste produced by humanity between the 1950s and 2050 expected to total 26 billion metric tons based on current trends, determining how plastics impact Earth’s operating systems, ecosystems and health is critically important.

Rolling car tires into the global circular economy
- More than 1 billion car tires reach the end of their life each year, and dealing with the resulting waste is an escalating management headache the world over.
- But long before tires are thrown away, they leave behind a trail of environmental harm stretching from tropical forests, along supply chains, and to consumers. Limited rubber traceability risks deforestation, experts warn, while other research shows that tire wear releases potentially toxic microplastic pollution.
- It needn’t be this way: Circular economy solutions — reducing, reusing and recycling materials in closed loops — could offer tire pollution solutions. However, these solutions come with limitations and trade-offs.
- A tire redesign is greatly needed to increase longevity, as is the cultivation of new sources of deforestation-free rubber, and alternative end-of-life strategies that emphasis recycling of the dozens of components found in tires. But given the complex makeup of today’s tires, there won’t be one simple solution.

Zimbabwe sees recycling boom as waste picking becomes lucrative business
- Recycling trash by picking it up and selling it, or buying it and converting it into profitable materials, has become a booming business in Zimbabwe, as the country and its citizens struggle under hyperinflation.
- Community-based recycling organizations, which handpick litter, quadrupled in the last few years, now picking up 15% of all plastic waste generated in the country, says Zimbabwe’s Environmental Management Agency.
- Zimbabwe struggles under the weight of its plastic waste found in rivers, streets and open areas, which causes water pollution and breaks down into microplastics.
- However, environmentalists say relying on recycling itself, which can cause its own pollution, is still not enough to tackle the country and world’s plastic waste problem at its root.

From grassroots to government, Singapore takes lead in tackling e-waste
- The disposal and recycling of electrical and electronic waste is a huge problem in land-starved Singapore, which generates an estimated 60,000 metric tons of e-waste annually.
- Innovative legislation enacted by Singapore’s government in 2019 puts the onus on producers to collect used electrical appliances and electronic goods and send them to sorting and recycling facilities.
- At the community level, a volunteer-driven initiative called Repair Kopitiam relies on an army of tech-savvy volunteers who work out of community centers to repair people’s old appliances and electronics.
- E-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the world; studies estimate e-waste generated annually will increase from 50 million metric tons today to 120 million by 2050, so lessons learned from Singapore’s groundbreaking law could guide other nations and communities around the globe to deal effectively with e-waste.

For International Youth Day, three youth conservation success stories
- This Saturday is International Youth Day, a day established by the U.N. to draw attention to youth issues worldwide.
- This year celebrates youth developing the “green skills” needed to shift the world into one that is environmentally sustainable and climate-friendly.
- In recognition of the international day, Mongabay spoke with three youths worldwide who initiated successful environmental restoration organizations in their communities.

Takin’ out the trash: How do transnational waste traffickers operate?
- Despite Western European countries having increasingly high rates of recycling, difficult-to-recycle plastic and other trash are frequently sent abroad.
- Sneaky use of waste codes, fake documentation, corruption and taking advantage of control loopholes are among the many ways waste is illegally trafficked to countries with more competitive rates and lower environmental standards.
- When discovered, however, these trash schemes can lead to international scandals like the lengthy one that recently involved Italy and Tunisia.

Plastic ‘Frankenrocks’ pose new pollution threat to coastal environment
- Scientists are finding more evidence of a new, insidious form of plastic pollution: melted plastic that has melded with rocks, coral and other naturally occurring material in coastal areas.
- Samples of these “Frankenrocks” collected from a single beach on a single island in Indonesia were likely formed by the burning of plastic trash.
- They pose a danger to marine life because they can break down into microplastics that then enter the food chain, and can also leach toxic chemicals into the environment.
- Scientists have called for more study into this new and growing phenomenon, saying these Frankenrocks require specialized cleanup management to ward off a “serious problem.”

Funding circularity: Investing in Asia’s circular economy business models
- As global raw material consumption soars and pollution skyrockets, the need to transition from a consumptive linear economy to a circular one — centering on reduced resource extraction and reuse and recycling to achieve zero waste — has grown more urgent. But paying for that transition poses many challenges.
- Circulate Capital is a Singapore-based investment management firm that finds and funds companies in emerging economies that are developing innovative circular economy business models.
- The company currently invests in companies in South and Southeast Asia that have come up with effective solutions to prevent plastic waste from reaching the ocean. It’s also looking to expand to Latin America.
- “It’s a whole way of creating value that decouples the extraction of resources from the environment and finding ways of making those resources more productive,” Ellen Martin, chief impact officer at Circulate Capital, told Mongabay.

Bangladesh ramps up use of recycled fabrics in ready-made garments
- Aligning with the European Union’s target to reduce the use of fresh cotton in the garment sector to reduce the environmental degradation, Bangladesh is increasing the use of recycled materials in its ready-made garment sector.
- The sector accounts for the country’s major share of export earnings, with a value of more than $27.9 billion in exports in the 2019-20 financial year.
- The country currently relies heavily on imported textile fiber; in 2019, almost half of RMG waste was pure cotton.
- Interestingly, many local companies are running recycling plants to meet the gradually increasing demand for recycled cotton fiber.

The circular economy: Sustainable solutions to solve planetary overshoot?
- The current linear production and consumption economic model — labeled by critics as “take-make-waste” — is taking a heavy global environmental toll. The intensive use of primary resources and overconsumption are closely linked to climate change, biodiversity loss, large-scale pollution and land-use change.
- Experts and advocates argue that a circular economy model — revolving around reduced material use, reuse and recycling at its simplest — offers a potential route to achieving zero waste, reversing environmental harm and increasing sustainability of products and supply chains.
- In the absence of a firm definition, many interpretations of the circular economy exist. To be sustainable, circular economy solutions should be underpinned by renewable energy sources, reduction of material extraction, reduced consumption, and the regeneration of nature, according to researchers.
- Caution is needed, warn some, as not every circular solution is sustainable. Other experts state that to achieve its goals, the circular economy must include societal level change and go far beyond simply recycling or improving supply chains. How this economic model works will also look differently for nations across the globe.

Seaweed farmers in eastern Indonesia struggle in a changing climate
- Seaweed farmers in Indonesia are losing out on revenue from their harvests as a result of erratic weather patterns and warming waters — signs of climate change impacts.
- The warming seas encourage the growth of a bacteria that attacks the commercially valuable Eucheuma cottonii species of seaweed.
- To avoid this, farmers are harvesting their crops earlier, before the seaweed grows to the optimal size, giving them a smaller yield and lower revenue at the market.
- The farmers have devised some workarounds to adapt to the situation, but say these solutions can’t be sustained in the face of a changing climate.

Annual Adam’s Peak pilgrimage leaves Sri Lanka biodiversity site littered
- Sri Lanka’s Adam’s Peak Wilderness sanctuary, recording the island’s highest biodiversity, continues to face multiple threats due to a pilgrimage that draws a large crowd.
- During the pilgrimage season, tons of non-biodegradable polythene and plastics are dumped and get washed down or carried by the wind.
- Adding a fresh problem, Buddhist devotees are habitually offering a beautiful and rare endemic flower, locally known as ran dothalu (Loxococcus rupicola), a practice that causes concern among environmentalists who fear the endangered palm will soon reach the brink of extinction.
- The Peak Wilderness sanctuary is facing other serious issues such as forest dieback, a direct result of the forest getting drier, as climate change adversely affects the island’s top amphibian hotspot.

In Bangladesh, microplastic threat to frogs is also concern for rice farming
- Researchers have found microplastics in 90% of frogs sampled from the Bengal Delta in Bangladesh.
- The finding raises concerns about the freshwater ecosystem health and rice cultivation, given that frogs are a key “natural insecticide” keeping pest numbers in check.
- The study adds to a growing body of literature on the prevalence of microplastic pollution in Bangladesh.
- Nearly a tenth of the 8,000 metric tons of trash generated daily in the country is plastic waste, for which there’s no proper disposal.

Strengthening crops with insect exoskeletons? Study says yes, by way of the soil
- Supplementing soil with insects’ cast-off outer skin after a molt can help increase plant biomass, the number of flowers, pollinator attraction, seed production, and even resilience to insect herbivore attacks, according to researchers.
- Farmers are already using insects, in particular the black soldier fly, for livestock feed and waste reduction, and this new use could help the transition to a more sustainable and circular agricultural system, scientists say.
- Along with further investments in research and development, a higher uptake in insect farming practices, by both small and industrial farmers, will improve for boosting crop productivity within circular agriculture.

UN Paris meeting presses ahead with binding plastics treaty — U.S. resists
- At a May-June meeting in Paris, the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) agreed to create, and submit by November, a first draft of an international plan to end plastic pollution by 2040.
- The United States declined to join the 58-nation “High Ambition Coalition” to create a legally-binding cradle-to-grave plan to address plastic production and use. The U.S. continues to hold out for a volunteer agreement that would focus on recycling.
- Delaying tactics by Saudi Arabia and other oil and plastics producing nations used up much time at this second international plastics treaty meeting, but these efforts were beaten back at least temporarily. The next international plastics treaty meeting will be in Kenya this November.
- Some activists pointed to the imbalanced representation at the Paris meeting, where about 190 industry lobbyists were allowed to attend, while communities, waste pickers, Indigenous peoples, youth and other members of civil society most impacted by plastic pollution had very limited opportunities to be heard.

Award-winning community group in Sumatra cleans up lake
- A group of locals have since 2013 tried to clean up the trash pooling in Lake Sipin in the Sumatran province of Jambi.
- Their efforts have received national attention, with their leader, Leni Haini, awarded the country’s highest environmental award in 2022 by the government.
- Indonesia has announced a plan to restore 15 lakes (Sipin isn’t included) across the country by 2024, citing their high degree of degradation, chiefly sedimentation, which has resulted in their rapid shrinking and a decline in the biodiversity they host.
- These lakes are crucial in supporting the livelihoods of millions of Indonesians, serving as a source of freshwater, a form of flood control, and a site for fish-farming and tourism.

Mongabay’s What-to-Watch list for June 2023
- Mongabay’s May videos show new discoveries of hydrothermal vents from deep in the oceans and blind fish from shallow aquifers, success and failure narratives in waste management in India, and stories of small-scale farmers in the Philippines and Cambodia.
- Watch how herders from Senegal are fighting for their land and the country’s drinking water against a U.S. agricultural company, why the Indigenous and local community in Colombia is divided over a Canadian mining company, and what the construction of a Chinese-funded dam means to a Philippine Indigenous community.
- In India, city-dwellers have taken to urban and peri-urban agriculture to encourage sustainability, and Indigenous women are gaining financial independence through traditional jewelry that uses natural materials
- Get a peek into the various segments of the environment across the globe. Add these videos to your watchlist for the month and watch them for free on YouTube.

Cycling oil palm biomass waste back into the soil can boost soil health, study says
- Oil palm growers in Indonesia can boost soil health and reduce their fertilizer use by adding waste biomass back to the soil, a new study says.
- Biomass such as pruned palm fronds and empty fruit bunches that have already been milled for their oil are rich in silicon, an important element in healthy oil palm plantations.
- Large palm oil companies already practice some form of this biomass cycling, but the high cost and effort means smallholder farmers are missing out on the benefits.
- There are 15 million hectares of oil palm plantations in Indonesia, with harvests taking place twice a week, which translates into an immense amount of biomass removal — and thus loss of silicon.

Crud-to-crude: The global potential of biofuels made from human waste
- Creating liquid biofuels from human waste shows promise as a way to meet one of alternative energy’s greatest challenges: reducing the transportation sector’s heavy carbon footprint. The good news is there is a steady supply stream where waste is treated.
- Humanity produces millions of tons of sewage sludge annually via wastewater treatment. Existing disposal methods include landfilling, application on agricultural land, and incineration; each with social and environmental consequences.
- Harnessing the carbon-rich potential of sludge as a transportation fuel for planes, ships and trucks is part of a drive toward zero waste and creating a circular economy, say experts. A host of projects are underway to prove the effectiveness of various methods of turning all this crud into biocrude.
- Some techniques show promise in lab and pilot tests, but large-scale industrial plants have yet to be built. Using pollutant-laden sewage sludge as a biofuel comes with its own environmental concerns, but lacking a silver-bullet solution to the human waste problem, it could be part of a suite of best alternatives.

Even in recycling, microplastics remain a persistent polluter, study shows
- New research has found that a “state-of-the-art” plastic recycling facility in the U.K. could be releasing up to 75 billion microplastics per cubic meter of wastewater annually.
- This amount of plastic waste accounts for about 6% of the plastic that enters the facility to be recycled, according to the study authors.
- The researchers found that 80% of these plastic particles were smaller than 10 microns — a size of plastic known to be detrimental to human health when inhaled or ingested.

U.N. parties are worlds apart on plastics treaty solutions
- The United Nations Environment Programme will sponsor a Paris meeting in late May and early June in the ongoing effort to create an international treaty to potentially control plastic production and pollution.
- Delegates from 175 nations, along with private stakeholders (including the petrochemical industry and environmental groups), remain far apart on what the treaty should cover: reuse, banning certain chemicals, limiting plastics production, whether to focus on cradle-to-grave supply chain regulation or mostly on ocean pollution, and much more.
- Perhaps most importantly, the world’s countries need to determine how the treaty will be implemented: Should the final agreement require mandatory international compliance, or should individual nations be allowed to act voluntarily to solve the plastics problem?
- China and the United States are taking a far less aggressive position on implementation, recommending a voluntary national approach, while Pacific Island countries and the European Union want to see stricter rules for compliance and more focus on production limits. At this point, no one has any idea what the final treaty document will look like.

Kenyan science interns turn Lake Victoria’s fish waste into oil and flowers
- Fish processing on Lake Victoria in Kenya generates tons of waste that harms the environment and leads to oxygen depletion and algal blooms that threaten native aquatic species.
- Science interns at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute have developed a way to extract valuable fish oil from the waste, and they are also making decorative flowers from fish scales.
- These innovations are part of a growing trend of recycling Lake Victoria’s fish waste, turning it into goods that can be sold in local communities.
- Scientists aim to reduce the environmental harms of fish waste through innovations that could eventually be scaled up to meet growing national and international demands for fish oil and other products.

FOIA lawsuit suggests Indonesian nickel miners lack environmental licenses
- A freedom-of-information ruling in Indonesia has indicated that two nickel miners suspected of polluting a river on the island of Sulawesi may not have all the required permits.
- The ruling, in a case filed by environmental journalists, ordered authorities in East Luwu district to publish the licensing documents for the two companies, but the authorities said some of the papers were still being processed.
- A lawyer for the environmental journalists points out that the companies should have already secured the licenses prior to operating, and that this revelation strongly points to them not having the licenses.
- The Indonesian government is pushing a massive expansion of the nickel mining and processing industries to feed the demand for electric vehicle batteries, but nickel mining in the country has long been associated with pollution and community conflicts.

Innovators develop seaweed-based alternatives to plastic food wrappers
- Developers at Flinders University and the German biotech company one • five have created a seaweed-based coating designed to replace plastics used in fast food packaging.
- Many food containers and wrappers contain harmful plastics derived from fossil fuels that do not biodegrade and break into tiny microplastics that pollute the environment and harm marine ecosystems.
- In the Philippines, researcher Denxybel Montinola has developed another type of biofilm from mango and seaweed that he hopes to make commercially available this year.
- The development of seaweed-based bioplastics and coatings could boost the livelihoods of seaweed farmers who benefit from an industry that helps them feed their families and send their children to school.

Tobacco: Vaping and smoking drive environmental harm from farm to fingertip
- Electronic cigarettes heavily marketed via single-use flavored products are increasingly popular. These products require disposal of large amounts of hazardous waste, including huge quantities of lithium, a resource in demand for electric car batteries and rechargeable electronics for laptops and mobile phones.
- Even as vaping use grows, an estimated 6 trillion “traditional” cigarettes are still smoked annually; 4.5 trillion are thought to be discarded into the environment each year. Researchers and activists emphasize that the tobacco industry is responsible for considerable harm to nature and human health.
- Traveling along the supply chain, tobacco production and consumption has consequences for forests, oceans, the climate, and for farmers and their families who produce the crop — all to an extent not yet fully known or understood.
- Efforts are underway to rein in some of these negative impacts against the backdrop of an industry accused of consistently greenwashing to conceal an environmental footprint that is harming both nature and public health.

As waste-to-energy incinerators spread in Southeast Asia, so do concerns
- Widely in use in countries including Japan, South Korea and northern Europe, waste-to-energy technology is making inroads in Southeast Asia, where it’s presented as a tried-and-tested green energy solution.
- Thailand plans to build 79 waste-to-energy plants in upcoming years, and there are at least 17 proposed for Indonesia.
- Concerns about environmental and public health impacts have already led to protests and project delays.
- In Europe, the technology’s climate-friendly credentials are being called into question, with several countries imposing or considering carbon taxes on waste-to-energy facilities.

Dhaka’s ailing sewage system threatens human and environmental health
- Existing sewage treatment plants in Dhaka treat only 30% of all sewage waste.
- Emerging pollutants such as antibiotics, microplastics, detergents, toothpastes, shampoos and lotion are found in Dhaka’s urban rivers and lakes.
- Microplastics are also found in fish, snails, crabs and sediments of the Buriganga River in Dhaka.
- City authorities suggest installing small treatment plants in residential buildings.

Bangladesh e-waste rules hang in limbo as electrical goods companies ask for delay
- The Bangladesh government has failed to implement electronic waste management regulations a year after introducing a new rule that was a decade in the making.
- Countries with large stakes in Bangladesh’s electrical goods market are reportedly lobbying the World Trade Organization for a one-year delay in the implementation of e-waste regulations; meanwhile, the WTO has raised several issues with the new rule, including a reduction in the standard for lead.
- As the process stalls, e-waste continues to pile up, as the Bangladesh electrical market experiences a massive boom.
- According to a 2010 report of the Environment and Social Development Organization, more than 15% of child recycling workers in Bangladesh die during and after the effects of handling e-waste each year, and more than 83% are exposed to toxic substances.

Clothes sourced from plants could expand deforestation – or abate it
- Cellulose fabrics are fibers extracted from plants and transformed into clothing. Fuelled in a large part by promises of higher environmental integrity, cellulose fibers are the fastest growing feedstock of the textile market.
- Companies dominating the market have brought with them systemic problems that have seen primary forests felled, peatlands drained and waste management poorly managed.
- Despite ongoing sustainability issues, the future of the market is promising, experts say, as new innovations and companies have a fighting chance to bring new materials and manufacturing processes to market.

Indonesian program pays fishers to collect plastic trash at sea
- The Indonesian fisheries ministry has launched a four-week program to pay fishers to collect plastic trash from the sea.
- The initiative is part of wider efforts to reduce Indonesia’s marine plastic pollution by 70% by 2025.
- The country is a top contributor to the plastic trash crisis in the ocean.
- Each of the 1,721 participating fishers will receive the equivalent of $10 a week for collecting up to 4 kg (9 lbs) of plastic waste from the sea daily.

Experts decry ‘funny math’ of plastics industry’s ‘advanced recycling’ claims
- Environmental experts say there’s a strong possibility that a federal bill will be introduced in the U.S. that seeks to strengthen an industry known as “advanced recycling,” or “chemical recycling.”
- While proponents of advanced recycling tout it as a solution to the ever-growing plastic pollution issue, critics say that it’s not recycling at all, but a highly polluting incineration process that converts plastic into fuel.
- Experts say that current advanced recycling plants are able to operate with ease due to state laws that subject them to fewer regulations.
- Critics say the passing of a federal bill into law would substantially increase the number of advanced recycling plants across the U.S., allowing them to evade many environmental regulations while disproportionately polluting the air in low-income communities and communities of color.

Weak waste management leaves Dhaka communities at risk from landfill sites
- The four major waste landfills in Dhaka have left a serious environmental impact on the soil and groundwater of surrounding areas through leachate pollution, a study shows.
- It found levels of toxic metals in the surface and groundwater and in vegetable and rice crops in the vicinity of the landfill sites that were higher than prescribed safe limits.
- Experts have called on the authorities to improve waste management, including better coordination between municipal and national authorities, as well as better-engineered landfill sites that minimize the chances of leaching hazardous waste.
- Municipal authorities deny the pollution near the landfills is due to the waste leakage alone, and say they plan to expand the city’s largest landfill site, both aboveground and underground.

Java communities rally as clock ticks on cleanup of ‘world’s dirtiest river’
- A national program to transform Java’s Citarum River into a source of drinking water expires in 2025.
- A reforestation program in uplands near the source of the river is drawing on community volunteers.
- West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil tells Mongabay that residents will see improved water quality by 2025 and that there is political will to tackle the crisis.

Three-fourths of waste in Jakarta’s notoriously polluted rivers is plastic
- Most of the waste collected from the rivers and holding facilities in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, is plastic, new field-based research has found.
- Researchers note that the plastic debris recovered from the surface water amounted to 9.9 grams, or a third of an ounce, per person on average, which is lower than an estimate from a widely cited 2015 study.
- The researchers have called for a better mitigation strategy to eliminate plastic pollution in rivers and subsequently the ocean.
- Indonesia, a country of more than 270 million people, is the No. 2 contributor to global marine plastic pollution, behind only China.

Mongabay’s What-To-Watch list for August 2022
- Mongabay’s July videos show how Indigenous communities in Brazil are recovering native crops, why a coastal developmental project in India is facing protests, how the weather can be used to control forest fires in the Amazon, and other issues globally.
- Two Mongabay YouTube series — Chasing Deforestation and Mongabay Webinars — released new episodes, about Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem and about how to cover oceans and fisheries, respectively.
- Get a peek into the various segments of the environment across the globe. Add these videos to your watchlist for the month and watch them for free on YouTube.

Tropical mammals under rising chemical pollution pressure, study warns
- Pesticides, pharmaceuticals, plastics, nanoparticles, and other potentially toxic synthetic materials are being released into the environment in ever greater amounts. A recent study warns that action is needed to better monitor and understand their impacts on terrestrial mammals in the tropics.
- Mortality and mass die offs could result, but sublethal effects — such as reduced fitness or fertility — are perhaps of greater concern in the long-term, warn experts.
- In the research, scientists raise concerns over an increasing load of chemicals released into the tropical environment, with little monitoring conducted to understand the impacts on wildlife.
- Another study released this year reported that the novel entities planetary boundary has been transgressed. Novel entities include pesticides and other synthetic substances. The boundary was declared breached because scientific assessments can’t keep up with new chemicals entering the environment.

For Sri Lanka’s crows, following the trash is all part of the hustle
- The International Crow and Raven Appreciation Day, on April 27, celebrates one of the least-liked but most intelligent groups of birds around.
- In Sri Lanka, home to two crow species, the birds are widely seen as a nuisance — but one enabled by the continued practice of poor waste management, which draws crows in flocks of up to 500.
- In “following the trash,” crows now occur even in wilderness havens such as Horton Plains National Park, where they feed on the trash left by human visitors, as well as on native wildlife species.
- Scientists studying Sri Lanka’s crows say the best way to get their population under control is through better management of the country’s waste, rather than the more extreme options of killing them or destroying their eggs.

Chemical recycling: ‘Green’ plastics solution makes more pollution, says report
- The plastics industry claims that ‘chemical recycling’ or ‘advanced recycling’ technologies, which use heat or solvents to convert waste plastic into chemical feedstocks that can potentially be further processed into new plastics, are a green alternative to mechanical recycling.
- But according to a new report, five out of eight U.S. facilities assessed use chemical processes to produce combustible fuel, not new plastics. In addition, facilities are disposing of large amounts of hazardous waste which in some cases includes benzene — a known carcinogen — lead, cadmium and chromium.
- Critics say the chemical recycling industry’s multi-step incineration processes are polluting and generating greenhouse gases without alleviating virgin plastic demand. Environmental permits for six U.S. facilities allow release of hazardous air pollutants that can cause cancer or birth defects.
- A new UN framework to fight global plastic pollution could offer nations flexibility over how they meet recycling targets, potentially allowing the industry to lobby for policy incentives and regulatory exemptions for plastic-to-fuel techniques — policies that may threaten the environment and public health, say experts.

Pharmaceutical water pollution detected deep in the Brazilian Amazon
- Major rivers in the Amazon Basin of Brazil are contaminated with a wide range of pharmaceuticals as well as with sewage and wastewater, largely coming from urban centers in the region, according to recent research.
- Water samples taken along the Amazon, Negro, Tapajós and Tocantins rivers, and small urban tributaries that pass through the region’s cities, including Manaus, Santarém, Belém and Macapá contained 40 pharmaceuticals out of 43 in concentrations that have the potential to affect 50-80% of the local aquatic species.
- Experts explain that a major cause of freshwater contamination is the Amazon Basin’s rapidly growing population along with the government’s failure to provide adequate sanitation infrastructure — even though that has long been promised. Most of the region’s sewage is untreated, a solvable problem if properly funded.

The world says yes to a cradle to grave plastics treaty: Now the work begins
- 175 countries unanimously agreed last week on a United Nations framework to fight global plastic pollution from cradle to grave. Reluctant nations, including India and Japan, sought a far more limited agreement only dealing with ocean plastic pollution. But they acquiesced in the end.
- A committee will shortly begin work on drafting the treaty, determining global rules, and financing and enforcement mechanisms, with a goal of finishing by the end of 2024.
- While many crucial details remain to be worked out over the next two years, the UN resolution calls for a combination of required and “voluntary actions” to address the cradle to grave plastics crisis. The document even addresses the extraction of chemicals used in production, meaning the final treaty could seriously impact the oil industry.
- Also, wealthier nations may be called on to provide assistance to less developed ones. Environmental groups are pleased with the agreement, though caution that much work lies ahead. The plastics industry had hoped for a far more limited agreement and it is expected to offer input on the final shape of the treaty.

Microplastics plus organic pollutants equals 10 times the toxicity, study finds
- A new study has found that interactions between microplastics and organic pollutants in aquatic environments can increase the toxicity of microplastics by a factor of 10.
- The researchers found that some “weathered” microplastics tended to absorb and release more contaminants than pristine microplastics, posing a threat to human health if these microplastics are ingested.
- Nations this week agreed to negotiate a global treaty that addresses the entire life cycle of plastics in an effort to suppress the harm it does to the environment and human health.

Can we save coral reefs? | Problem Solved
- Since the 1950s the world has lost half of its coral reef ecosystems.
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that with 1.5°C (2.7°F) of warming above pre-industrial levels we could lose up to 90% of the world’s coral reefs.
- This amount of warming could happen in as little as six years.
- Experts say there’s still time to save coral reefs, but it’ll require swiftly addressing the three largest impacts to reefs: land-based pollution, overfishing and, most importantly, climate change.

Caffeine: Emerging contaminant of global rivers and coastal waters
- Caffeine is the most consumed psychostimulant in the world, and a regular part of many daily lives, whether contained in coffee, chocolate, energy drinks, or pharmaceuticals.
- Partially excreted in urine, it is now ubiquitous in rivers and coastal waters. So much so that its detection is used to trace wastewater and sewage pollution. A new study found it to be in more than 50% of 1,052 sampling sites on 258 rivers around the globe. Another new study enumerates caffeine harm in coastal and marine environments.
- This continual flow of caffeine into aquatic ecosystems is causing concern among scientists due to its already identified impacts on a wide range of aquatic life including microalgae, corals, bivalves, sponges, marine worms, and ﬁsh. Most environmental impacts — especially wider effects within ecosystems — have not been studied.
- Soaring global use of products containing caffeine means the problem will worsen with time. Untreated sewage is a major source. And while some sewage treatment facilities can remove caffeine, many currently can’t. Far more study is needed to determine the full scope and biological impacts of the problem.

Red seas and no fish: Nickel mining takes its toll on Indonesia’s spice islands
- Fishermen in Indonesia’s Obi Islands blame the nickel mining and smelting industries for the depletion of fish in their traditional fishing grounds.
- Researchers say the pollution has turned the coastal waters into a “mud puddle” because of the high levels of heavy metal contamination.
- One of the main mining companies there had previously proposed dumping 6 million tons of waste a year into the sea, but backed down following protests.
- The company is now proposing clearing a forest area to build a tailings dam — a plan that activists and fishermen say is no better because of the persistently high risk of environmental contamination.

Tiny plastic particles accumulating in river headwaters: Study
- Researchers modeled the journey of microplastics released in wastewater treatment plant effluent into rivers of different sizes and flow speeds, focusing on the smallest microplastic fragments — less than 100 microns across, or the width of a single human hair.
- The study found that in slow-flowing stream headwaters — often located in remote, biodiverse regions — microplastics accumulated quicker and stayed longer than in faster flowing stretches of river.
- Microplastic accumulation in sediments could be the ‘missing plastic’ not found in comparisons of stream pollution levels with those found in oceans. Trapped particles may be released during storms and flood events, causing a lag between environmental contamination and release to the sea.
- A few hours in stream sediments can start to change plastics chemically, and microbes can grow on their surfaces. Most toxicity studies of microplastics use virgin plastics, so these environmentally transformed plastics pose an unknown risk to biodiversity and health.

As world drowns in plastic waste, U.N. to hammer out global treaty
- After years of largely neglecting the buildup of plastic waste in Earth’s environment, the U.N. Environment Assembly will meet in February and March in the hopes of drafting the first international treaty controlling global plastics pollution.
- Discarded plastic is currently killing marine life, threatening food security, contributing to climate change, damaging economies, and dissolving into microplastics that contaminate land, water, the atmosphere and even the human bloodstream.
- The U.N. parties will debate how comprehensive the treaty they write will be: Should it, for example, protect just the oceans or the whole planet? Should it focus mainly on reuse/recycling, or control plastics manufacture and every step of the supply chain and waste stream?
- The U.S. has changed its position from opposition to such a treaty under President Donald Trump, to support under President Joe Biden, but has yet to articulate exactly what it wants in an agreement. While environmental NGOs are pushing for a comprehensive treaty, plastics companies, who say they support regulation, likely will want to limit the treaty’s scope.

South Africa authorizes dumping at sea of cargo that turned volatile
- South Africa plans to dump unstable chemicals at sea after they reacted with rainwater during offloading from the NS Qingdao bulk carrier in Durban in October and started releasing toxic fumes.
- The country’s maritime safety authority has until March to dump the cargo of fertilizers and industrial reagents into the open ocean 250 kilometers (155 miles) offshore of the fishing town of St. Helena Bay, a two-hour drive north of Cape Town.
- The emergency authorization for the operation is predicated on it being the most “environmentally, socially and economically” suitable option, but scientists say the dump site overlaps with an area of critical biodiversity within the Benguela Current ecosystem.
- South African authorities said they will investigate what triggered the incident aboard the NS Qingdao, which flies the Marshall Islands flag but has registered owners in Hong Kong.

Innovative sewage solutions: Tackling the global human waste problem
- The scale of the world’s human waste problem is vast, impacting human health, coastal and terrestrial ecosystems, and even climate change. Solving the problem requires working with communities to develop solutions that suit them, providing access to adequate sanitation and adapting aging sewage systems to a rapidly changing world.
- Decentralized and nature-based solutions are considered key to cleaning up urban wastewater issues and reducing pressure on, or providing affordable and effective alternatives to, centralized sewage systems.
- Seeing sewage and wastewater — which both contain valuable nutrients and freshwater — as a resource rather than as pollutants, is vital to achieving a sustainable “circular economy.” Technology alone can only get us so far, say experts. If society is to fully embrace the suite of solutions required, a sweeping mindset change will be needed.

The thick of it: Delving into the neglected global impacts of human waste
- Though little talked about, our species has a monumental problem disposing of its human waste. A recent modeling study finds that wastewater adds around 6.2 million tons of nitrogen to coastal waters worldwide per year, contributing significantly to harmful algal blooms, eutrophication and ocean dead zones.
- The study mapped 135,000 watersheds planetwide and found that just 25 of them account for almost half the nitrogen pollution contributed by human waste. Those 25 were pinpointed in both the developing world and developed world, and include the vast Mississippi River watershed in the United States.
- Human waste — including pharmaceuticals and even microplastics contained in feces and urine — is a major public health hazard, causing disease outbreaks, and putting biodiversity at risk. Sewage is impacting estuary fish nurseries, coral reefs, and seagrasses, a habitat that stores CO2, acting as a buffer against climate change.
- Waste is often perceived as mostly a developing world problem, but the developed world is as responsible — largely due to antiquated municipal sewage systems that combine rainwater and wastewater in the same pipes. As a result, intense precipitation events regularly flush raw sewage into waterways in the U.S., U.K. and EU.

Despite deals, plans and bans, the Mediterranean is awash in plastic
- The Mediterranean is considered to be one of the world’s most polluted bodies of water due to waste disposal problems in many countries bordering the sea, as well as the intensity of marine activity in the region.
- There are several existing policies and treaties in place aimed at regulating plastics and reducing plastic pollution in the Mediterranean, but experts say more international cooperation is needed to tackle the problem.
- Citizen science organization OceanEye has been collecting water samples to measure the amount of microplastics present in the surface waters of the Mediterranean.

Mycoremediation brings the fungi to waste disposal and ecosystem restoration
- Mycoremediation is the process of harnessing fungi’s natural abilities to break down materials for a beneficial effect.
- Recent projects look to restore habitat marred by wildfires, or manipulate fungi in a lab to break down toxic waste and other human-created pollutants.
- Research continues looking at the broad ways fungi can possibly regenerate soils and keep moisture in the ground, which are necessities for creating wildfire-adapted lands.

Plant-based face masks? This young Philippine inventor has you covered
- A Filipino high school student has developed a plant-based wax that has shown potential in increasing the life span and effectiveness of reusable face masks.
- Kiara Raye Cartojano, 18, says she hopes the project can reduce the number of disposable face masks discarded in her city, estimated at more than 480,000 per day since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The wax is made from the leaves of the taro plant, a widespread plant with the potential to displace native vegetation and threaten agricultural crops.

Studies debunk ‘nature is healing’ narrative from 2020 lockdowns
- Several new studies have tried to tally up the costs and benefits to the environment as a result of lockdowns around the world last year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- One study showed that emissions of indirect greenhouse gases like CO and NO2 decreased significantly, but one of its authors says this likely won’t have much of an impact over the long term.
- Another study debunks the media hype behind the “animals are reclaiming the cities” trend last year, attributing the increased sightings to the fact that people forced to stay at home finally had time to start noticing the wildlife around them.
- In India, researchers concluded there were more negatives than positives for the environment, including a surge in the use of plastic packaging and PPE, as people shopped online and masked up.

Fully recyclable paper cups? They exist, but you won’t find them at Starbucks
- A new campaign draws attention to the fact that Starbucks cups are not truly recyclable due to a coating of polyethylene plastic on the inside of the cup.
- Starbucks has made several pledges to produce recyclable cups dating back to 2008 — but its cups are still unable to be recycled economically.
- Solutions already exist for fully recyclable cups, including a coating for paperboard barrier packaging that uses 40-51% less plastic.

Playing the long game: ExxonMobil gambles on algae biofuel
- Algae biofuel initially looked promising, but a few key problems have thwarted major research efforts, including development of a strain of algae able to produce plentiful cheap fuel, and scaling up to meet global energy demand.
- Other alternative energy solutions, including wind and solar power, are outpacing algae biofuel advances.
- Much more investment in money and time is needed for algae biofuel to become viable, even on an extended timeline out to mid-century. While big players like Shell and Chevron have abandoned the effort, ExxonMobil continues work.
- In 2017, ExxonMobil, with Synthetic Genomics, announced they had used CRISPR gene-editing technology to make an algal strain that could pave the way to a low-carbon fuel and a sustainable future. But many environmentalists met the claim with skepticism, suspecting greenwashing.

Biofuel in Mexico: Uphill battle against bureaucracy, organized crime
- Biofuels based on pressed plant oils, and made especially from used cooking oil, could help Mexico’s public transport sector transition to a cleaner and climate-friendly energy era, according to researchers and industry entrepreneurs.
- But there is a lack of government regulatory support, while the nation’s new president is betting on fossil fuels and neglecting biodiesel options and nature-based climate solutions.
- As a result, small biodiesel producers have to operate in a legal gray zone, while industry entrepreneurs are held back in the development of the technology and the market.
- Mexico isn’t alone: Many nations large and small are struggling with hurdles imposed by fossil fuel-friendly governments and a lack of supportive regulations to create a level playing field for the rapid development and deployment of biodiesel and other climate-friendly alternative energy solutions.

Converting biowaste to biogas could power cleaner, sustainable Earth future
- Biogas made from organic materials — including food and agricultural waste, and animal or human manure — is a renewable, sustainable, affordable and inclusive energy alternative becoming increasingly available to households, farms, municipalities and nations.
- Converting biowaste into biogas, via anaerobic digestion technology, is a strategy that could contribute to multiple U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate agreement. Biodigesters are already in use to meet a range of energy needs around the world.
- Current limiting factors to the sector’s growth include technical and adaptive challenges, lack of awareness in many regions, and unsupportive policy instruments that can discourage biogas adoption.
- Ahead of COP26, the critically important U.N. climate meeting coming this November, the World Biogas Association is urging governments to integrate biogas into their Nationally Determined Contributions — their voluntary emissions reduction targets, as agreed to under the Paris Agreement.

A startup deploys black soldier flies in the Philippines’ war on waste
- In Davao City, in the southern Philippines, a startup has introduced the use of black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens) to address kitchen waste.
- The flies are fed kitchen waste, turning the food waste into compost, while their larvae, rich in protein, is touted as alternative feed for livestock.
- Proponents say insect protein is a much better alternative than commercial livestock feed made with fishmeal, associated with depleting fish populations, or soybeans, linked to deforestation and extensive use of pesticides and fertilizers.
- Treating kitchen waste with black soldier flies is also being touted as a cleaner alternative to municipal plans to incinerate the waste to generate electricity, which would contribute to air pollution.

After two collapses, a third Vale dam at ‘imminent risk of rupture’
- Vale, the Brazilian mining company responsible for two deadly dam collapses since 2015, has another dam that’s at “imminent risk of rupture,” a government audit warns.
- The Xingu dam at Vale’s Alegria mine in Mariana municipality, Minas Gerais state, has been retired since 1998, but excess water in the mining waste that it’s holding back threatens to liquefy the embankment and spark a potentially disastrous collapse.
- Liquefaction also caused the collapse of a Vale tailings dam in 2019 in Brumadinho municipality, also in Minas Gerais, that killed nearly 300 people; the 2015 collapse of another Vale dam, in Mariana in 2015, caused extensive pollution and is considered Brazil’s worst environmental disaster to date.
- Vale has denied the risk of a collapse at the Xingu dam and says it continues to monitor the structure ahead of its decommissioning; regulators, however, say the company still hasn’t carried out requested measures to improve the structure’s safety, and have ordered an evacuation of the immediate vicinity.

‘Opening the lid’ on toilet innovation: Q&A with author Chelsea Wald
- A new book, “Pipe Dreams: The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet,” published on April 6, looks at the environmental and public health case for developing better solutions to deal with human waste.
- Science writer Chelsea Wald examines the impacts of human sanitation on our climate, ecosystems and each other around the world, from rural communities to cities swelling with human populations.
- In this “quest,” Wald finds solvable problems, if society as a whole can come together to find solutions tailored to specific contexts.

Palm oil waste is latest item declared non-hazardous by Indonesia
- A powdered clay used to clarify palm oil has been removed from Indonesia’s list of hazardous wastes, prompting warnings from environmental activists about an increase in dumping of untreated waste.
- The delisting by the government follows years of lobbying by businesses who say the treatment costs are onerous and want to be allowed to sell the waste, known as spent bleaching earth (SBE), to cement producers and the construction industry.
- Environmentalists say the delisting will lead to laxer safeguards and more haphazard management of the waste.
- The regulation that removed SBE from the list of hazardous waste also delisted the ash left over from coal burning, again at the behest of industry.

Mining sites in Indonesia’s disaster-prone areas a ticking time bomb: Report
- Nearly 800 mining concessions in Indonesia are located in areas prone to earthquakes, landslides and floods, a new report shows.
- Environmental activists say the proliferation of these concessions shows a lax attitude by companies and the government toward environmental risk assessment.
- They warn that mining activity in these areas could lead to disaster for local communities and the environment, including spills of toxic tailings and pollution of water sources.
- Communities living near many mining concessions have voiced their concerns over such risks.

Sri Lanka to the U.K.: Here’s your waste back. And there’s more to come
- Sri Lanka has sent back the first batch of 21 containers out of a total of 263 containers of waste imported from the U.K. in 2019.
- The waste was labeled for recycling, but a customs inspection uncovered suspected medical waste, which constitutes a violation of the Basel Convention that regulates the global movement of hazardous waste.
- A growing number of countries in the Global South have begun refusing to accept waste from the West and sending it back because of violations of regulations on hazardous and electronic waste.
- Experts say Sri Lanka still has to upgrade its domestic waste-processing industry, given that much of the country’s industrial waste is incinerated.

Flip-flops, fishing gear pile up at Aldabra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
- More than 370,000 flip-flops from all over the world are piling up on the Aldabra coral atoll In Seychelles, one of the remotest corners of the planet and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, according to a new study.
- The second-largest atoll in the world, with a vast lagoon enclosed by raised coral atolls, Aldabra is home to the India Ocean’s last giant tortoises and only flightless bird species, among other rare and threatened wildlife.
- The authors of the new paper estimate that plastic garbage from fishing vessels accounts for more than 80% of the trash on the atoll by weight.
- They calculate that recovering the plastic trash on Aldabra could cost as much as $7.3 million, a large price to pay for a small island nation like Seychelles.

Manila’s new white sand coast is a threat to marine life, groups say
- The Philippines’ Department of Environment and Natural Resources has come under fire from green groups and government officials after dumping dolomite sand, typically used in construction, on the shores of Manila Bay as part of a beautification project.
- Critics say the 389 million peso ($8 million) project has overlooked public consultations and is missing environmental assessments and certificates, which means its true impact on Manila Bay’s marine life remains unclear.
- A fisherfolk group says the project is a land reclamation bid posing as rehabilitation, joining several other land reclamation projects along Manila Bay that have already been flagged for social and environmental impacts.
- Lawyers say the move violates numerous environmental laws and circumvents a Supreme Court ruling that mandates government agencies to rehabilitate, preserve, restore and maintain the waters of the bay.

In Indonesia’s coastal villages, the plastic crisis is both homegrown and invasive
- Proper management of plastic waste is lacking in Indonesia’s coastal communities, where the use of plastics is outpacing mitigation efforts, according to a newly published study.
- The paper found that nearly 6,700 households in the Selayar and Wakatobi island chains had relatively low knowledge about plastic and how to manage it properly, while their use of it, particularly, single-use plastic packaging, was growing.
- The researchers have called for producers to take greater responsibility for managing the waste generated by their products, and for a transition to a circular economy.
- Indonesia is the second-biggest contributor of the plastic waste in the world’s oceans, behind only China.

As lockdown ends, activists brace to resume fight over Manila Bay reclamation
- Controversial land reclamation projects in Manila Bay look set to resume as the Philippines emerges out of the strict lockdown imposed in March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- President Rodrigo Duterte, who previously denounced any reclamation activity in Manila Bay due to the potential environmental impacts, has more recently given mixed messages on the issue as the administration looks for funds for its pandemic response.
- There are 25 reclamation projects in varying stages listed with the country’s reclamation authority, at least four of which have received the go-ahead from local government units.
- Activists say they anticipate construction — one of the activities permitted under the eased lockdown protocol set to go into force from June — to ramp up, particularly as Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program is seen as key to jump-starting the Philippine economy post-lockdown.

Locals stage latest fight against PNG mine dumping waste into sea
- The world’s most productive battery nickel plant, Ramu NiCo, has been dumping millions of tons of mine waste into the waters of Papua New Guinea since 2012.
- After a series of tailings pipeline spills, evidence for environmental and health impacts is accumulating.
- In February, a coalition of more than 5,000 villagers and a provincial government sued the company, demanding its owners pay $5.2 billion in restitution, stop dumping mine waste into the ocean, and remediate the allegedly contaminated waters.
- The lawsuit appears to seek the highest environmental damages in the country’s history, and relies on some of the biggest studies on the ocean dumping of mine waste ever conducted.

Indonesian miners eyeing EV nickel boom seek to dump waste into the sea
- Nickel-mining companies in Indonesia have pitched the government to allow them to dump their waste, or tailings, into the sea.
- The country is the world’s biggest producer of nickel, one of the key elements in the rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles and energy storage systems.
- Indonesia already has a copper and gold mine that practices deep-sea tailings disposal, or DSTD, with devastating impacts on the local ecosystem, activists say.
- Indonesia and neighboring Papua New Guinea are home to four of the 16 mines around the world that practice DSTD, but account for 91% of the estimated 227 million tons of tailings dumped into the ocean.

Satellite imagery is helping to detect plastic pollution in the ocean
- A new study illustrates how optical satellite imagery from the European Space Agency can be used to identify aggregates of floating plastic, such as bottles, bags and fishing nets, in coastal waters.
- The researchers tested their methods at four main locations — Accra, Ghana; the San Juan Islands, U.S.; Da Nang, Vietnam; and east Scotland — and reported an 86% success rate.
- It is estimated that more than 8.3 billion tons of plastic waste enter the oceans each year, threatening global ocean health.

A watery onslaught from sea, sky and land in the world’s fastest-sinking city
- The Indonesian capital has 300 days of rain a year and 13 rivers running through it, so it doesn’t lack freshwater; but rampant development has left much of its area paved over, preventing this water from replenishing the aquifers.
- Instead, the water it gets — from rain and from rivers — often leads to flooding because it can’t be absorbed into the ground and can’t run out to sea.
- City authorities and planning experts agree that the extraction of water from the aquifers must end, but to do so will require providing universal access to clean water.
- Efforts are underway to clean up waterways, educate the public to not dump waste in rivers, and build infiltration wells that will allow the earth to once again capture rainwater.

In race for a sustainable alternative to plastic, Indonesia bets on seaweed
- A local government initiative to revive seaweed farming off Bali comes amid growing interest in the crop’s promise to tackle environmental problems ranging from carbon emissions to plastic waste pollution.
- Cultivated at scale, seaweed can grow up to 60 times faster than land-based plants, making it an important carbon sink.
- Local startups are also exploring its potential to make bioplastic that is naturally degradable and even edible, for use in food packaging and other applications to replace plastic.
- For the new generation of seaweed farmers in Indonesia, the plant also offers revenue streams through ecotourism.

This solar-powered device aims to clean 1,000 rivers. Will it work?
- In October, Dutch nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup (TOC) unveiled a solar-powered river-cleaning device called the Interceptor.
- The organization plans to deploy the devices in 1,000 of the world’s most polluting rivers in just five years to stem the flood of plastic entering the ocean.
- Mongabay visited the prototype operating in Jakarta’s heavily polluted Cengkareng drain in February and found it stalled after a heavy rain.
- The designer of a similar device says TOC copied his company’s design and is attempting to interfere with its partnerships. A TOC representative denied the allegations and said lessons learned from the Jakarta prototype have led to adjustments to the second generation of Interceptors.

Plastic trash kills half a million hermit crabs on remote islands each year
- An estimated 570,000 hermit crabs become trapped and die in plastic containers on the remote Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Henderson Island each year, according to a new study.
- Accumulated plastics on beaches could cause a serious decline in hermit crab populations, the study’s authors say.
- Hermit crabs are at risk on beaches globally where crabs and plastic pollution overlap.

Indonesia probes suspected nuclear waste dumping at housing estate
- Indonesian authorities have launched an investigation into radioactive contamination at a housing estate near a nuclear research reactor outside Jakarta.
- Officials first discovered elevated radiation levels at the site in late January during a routine check, and suspect the caesium-137 was dumped there from the nearby reactor.
- Authorities say a cleanup of soil and vegetation from the site has brought radiation levels down; they are also carrying out medical exams of residents living in the area.
- Environmental activists have renewed their calls for the Indonesian government to refrain from developing nuclear power in the country, given the inability of regulators to police even a research facility.

In Bali, young people lead the fight as a plastic plague threatens paradise
- The lack of a centralized waste management system in Bali, as in much of Indonesia, has led to most trash being dumped on land, rivers, and in the sea.
- Indonesia is the world’s No. 2 contributor to the plastic waste in the oceans, behind only China.
- In Bali, the fight against plastic waste is being spearheaded by local organizations, communities and youth groups, who have already convinced the local government to ban single-use plastics.
- The groups are pushing for a greater role by the government, particularly to centralize the waste collection and processing system.

Database offers new details on the dams that hold mining waste
- A new database called the Global Tailings Portal pulls together information on 1,700 dams that store waste, or tailings, from mines around the world.
- Around 100 publicly traded companies have shared information about their dams with GRID-Arendal, the Norwegian foundation that developed the database.
- The portal’s creators say that much of the information, including the size, location, and risk factors associated with the included dams, hasn’t been publicly available before, even as catastrophic dam failures continue to occur.

Philippine study finds microplastics inside a commonly consumed fish
- A study of rabbitfish (Siganus fuscescens) in four coastal areas in the Philippines shows high levels of microplastics in the fish’s digestive system.
- The species is a key commodity in the Philippines, prepared both in its dried variety and its guts used as fermented sauce, increasing the likelihood that locals may be consuming the microplastics.
- An earlier study identified the Philippines as being one of the world’s biggest plastic polluters, with microplastics infiltrating seaweed and algae, which constitute food sources for rabbitfish and other fish species.
- The majority of fish observed to have microplastics in their guts came from Bais Bay, a major fishing ground that is part of one of the country’s largest marine protected areas.

Philippine coastal town leads war against plastic trash in Mindanao
- The town of San Isidro in Mindanao committed to eliminating plastic pollution in ten years after locals experienced repeated cases of rescuing sea turtles that eventually die with stomachs full of plastic wastes.
- The anti-plastic campaign comes at a time that the Philippines is struggling with solid wastes, particularly plastic, in its waters that endanger its rich marine life.
- The town is engaging the community by paying for collected plastic wastes, teaching financial literacy to children, and turning these wastes into “eco-bricks” for use in local construction.
- More stringent waste management policies are also being adopted, including requiring climbers who visit Mt. Hamiguitan, a UNESCO world heritage site, to carry their wastes out instead of leaving it in the mountain.

Philippine mayors under fire from environment department over open dumpsites
- The Philippines’ environment department has filed administrative cases against local government officials for violating waste disposal regulations by allowing open dumpsites within their jurisdictions.
- The Philippines has an existing solid waste management law, which mandates officials to close existing open dumpsites and to strengthen its waste collection and segregation policies.
- Last year, the department filed cases against more than 600 local government officials for failing to close existing open dumpsites, forcing them to comply with the law.

Coke is again the biggest culprit behind plastic waste in the Philippines
- Multinational food and beverage companies Coca-Cola, Nestlé and PepsiCo are the main contributors to the world’s plastic waste, according to a recently released global report based on a massive brand audit by green groups across 51 countries.
- The audit, organized by Break Free From Plastic, a global movement, focused on plastic trash collected from 484 simultaneous clean-ups carried out around the world.
- In the Philippines in particular, Coca-Cola was found to be a prolific source of plastic waste, accounting for more than 2,800 pieces out of the 11,700 Coke-branded pieces of trash collected during the clean-up.
- While some of these companies have pledged to tackle the plastic problem, activists say they’re refusing to address the root of the problem by making a drastic switch away from plastic packaging.

Indonesia re-exporting illegal waste to other countries, report finds
- A report by environmental groups says the Indonesian government is shipping containers of imported plastic waste from the U.S. to other countries instead of sending them back to the source as it claimed it would.
- The report said 38 containers ended up arriving in India, while the others were sent to countries including Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Canada.
- The Indonesian government has rebuffed the allegation, saying the re-export documents list the U.S. and Germany as the final destinations.
- The groups behind the report have called on Indonesia to work together with the source countries and to prosecute those involved in the trafficking of waste.

The Ocean Cleanup successfully collects ocean plastic, aims to scale design
- The Ocean Cleanup announced that it has created a device that successfully captures plastic waste in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
- The device has undergone many design iterations, each stage facing criticism from oceanographers, environmentalists, and plastic pollution specialists for its feasibility, durability, safety, and allocation of funding.
- The group now plans to increase the size and quantity of their devices with the goal of one day ridding the ocean of most of its plastic debris.

Beach clean-ups, community visits, and compensation to fishers build environmental awareness in Nigeria
- Children visit the Kids’ Beach Garden in Lagos, Nigeria, every week to learn about aquatic creatures, oceans, plastic pollution, recycling, and the environment while they help clean the beach.
- The project staff and volunteers bring families to join the beach clean-ups; they also visit schools and communities and introduce these themes using demonstrations, activities, and dance and drama presentations.
- In addition, the team works with fishers to reduce sea turtle hunting and bycatch and build awareness of the importance of turtles to fish lifecycles and the local ecosystem.

Food is biggest stumbling block on zero-waste nature tour
- A week-long zero-waste trip led by Natural Habitat Adventures through Yellowstone National Park diverted 50.9 pounds of waste — 99% of all the on-trip waste.
- More than 100 million pounds of garbage is generated in the U.S. national parks every year; in 2018, Yellowstone sent 48% of its waste to a landfill.
- Food waste accounted for more than half of the trip’s collected waste, a particular problem in the travel industry.
- The tour company is now creating a best practices document to share with other tour operators so they can cut unnecessary waste from their operations as well.

In the rice-rich Mekong region, will husk briquettes take hold?
- Briquettes made from rice husks or other plant waste present a cleaner alternative to wood and charcoal in a region that collectively produces nearly 100 million tons of rice per year.
- In Myanmar, biomass from agricultural waste is being used to power small home appliances and even entire villages.

In Indonesia, a court victory for Bali’s ban on single-use plastics
- Indonesia’s top court has rejected a challenge to a ban on single-use plastics on the island of Bali.
- The ban was proposed last December and was subsequently challenged by plastic-recycling industry, which argued it would harm the livelihoods of manufacturers, recyclers, and trash pickers.
- The ruling potentially paves the way for other local governments around Indonesia to impose their own bans on plastic.
- The country is the number two source of the plastic waste that ends up in the oceans, behind only China, and has set itself the target of reducing that waste output by 70 percent by 2025.

Indonesia, facing a waste crisis, plans to burn it for electricity
- The Indonesian government has targeted four cities in Java island to build incineration facilities this year to tackle the country’s plastic waste crisis.
- Environmentalists say burning waste to generate electricity is not a sustainable solution to the issue, and will only add more problems, including the emission of toxic gases.
- They instead suggest tackling the problem at the source, by reducing the amount of waste produced in the first place.
- Indonesia is the world’s second-biggest source of the plastic trash that ends up in the oceans, after China.

Southeast Asian countries pledge to tackle marine plastic waste crisis
- Member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including some of the biggest producers of the plastic waste in the oceans, have declared their commitment to addressing the trash crisis.
- Together with China, the ASEAN members Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand account for half of the 8 million tons of plastic waste that ends up in the oceans each year.
- Any meaningful action to tackle the problem should focus on reducing the production of plastic to begin with, rather than dealing with the waste after the fact, an environmental activist says.
- A growing refusal by Southeast Asian countries to take in plastic waste from developed countries for processing could provide the impetus for action by the global community to cut back on plastic production.

In Philippines’ bid to abandon plastic, incentives are needed, experts say
- The Philippines should consider providing incentives, both fiscal and non-fiscal, to propel the shift to sustainable packaging, development experts say.
- Reports show that the Philippines’ “sachet economy” involves the use of hundreds of millions of pieces of single-use plastic packaging and shopping bags on a daily basis.
- The waste sector in the Philippines contributed 7 percent to the country’s total carbon emissions in 2012, making the shift to a minimal-waste consumption model a key part of the country’s emissions reduction goal.

Flip-flop-clad boat brings plastic recycling message to East African coast
- In January, the Flipflopi, a boat built of recycled plastic, set sail on a 500-kilometer (310-mile) voyage along the East African coast.
- The purpose? To raise awareness about ocean pollution and call for the repurposing of, and a possible ban on, single-use plastics.
- Globally, research on and attention to marine plastic pollution is mounting, showing that microplastics travel up the food chain, and that marine life and people alike are being exposed to microplastics through their food.

Dam holding mining waste collapses in Brazil
- The collapse of a dam in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil on Jan. 25 left at least 58 people dead and hundreds missing.
- The dam held the waste by-product of iron ore mining from a nearby mine run by a company called Vale.
- Vale was involved in another dam collapse in 2015 — called Brazil’s worst environmental disaster — that resulted in criminal charges for several of the company’s leaders and nearly $100 million in fines.
- Critics of mining practices say that the recent failure of the dam shows that authorities should step up the enforcement of regulations in Brazil.

With its $3.85b mine takeover, Indonesia inherits a $13b pollution problem
- The Indonesian government has acquired a majority stake in the operator of the Grasberg mine, one of the world’s biggest copper and gold mines.
- The $3.85 billion deal has been lauded as a move toward resource sovereignty, but there’s been little mention of who inherits the massive pollution legacy left from decades of mining waste being dumped in rivers and forests.
- Activists are also calling for clarity in how the acquisition will improve the lives of the indigenous Papuan communities living around the mine, as well as end the long-running conflicts pitting them against the mine operator and security forces.

Chile: Mining waste continues to be expelled into the sea
- A major mining company is dumping its waste into the sea off the Chilean city of Huasco without authorization from environmental authorities.
- The waste suffocates marine life, destroys habitat and contaminates the water column with toxic heavy metals.
- Despite sanctions against the company for violating regulations, it continues to dump mining waste into the sea as it has for 40 years.

Indonesia leans on businesses to do more about plastic waste
- The Indonesian government will issue a policy this year requiring producers and retailers to take greater responsibility for the waste generated by their products.
- Under the extended producer responsibility (EPR) policy, producers will have to boost the percentage of recyclable content in their products and packaging, as well as provide post-retail recycling solutions.
- The country is the second-biggest contributor, after China, to the plastic trash crisis in the ocean.

Plastic trash from the ‘sachet economy’ chokes the Philippines’ seas
- The Philippines generates an enormous amount of trash and is the third worst ocean plastic polluter in the world, according to a 2015 study in the journal Science.
- The trash is piling up on land, clogging coastlines, spilling into the sea, and traveling to remote corners of the globe as the country fails to meet targets for improved waste management that it signed into law 18 years ago.
- The central government claims it’s done all it can, and that the onus is on local governments and the Philippine people to solve the problem.
- But environmental advocates disagree, saying the government could do more, including pressuring multinational corporations to change how they package their products.

‘Diaper Brigade’ fights a chemical crisis in Java’s rivers
- Indonesian biologist Prigi Arisandi leads a movement to tackle the dumping of millions of disposable diapers into rivers across Indonesia’s Java Island every year.
- Used diapers contain a long list of chemical components that don’t degrade easily, contaminating river ecosystems.
- Fishing the diapers from the rivers is a quick solution. Over the long term, Prigi says, governments and diaper manufacturers must establish better waste management policies, and consumers must cut back on their use of disposable diapers.

Indonesia, a top plastic polluter, mobilizes 20,000 citizens to clean up the mess
- On a Sunday last August, thousands of Indonesians gathered at 76 locations across the Southeast Asian country to participate in a massive cleanup of plastic trash.
- Government officials and NGO activists hoped the event would raise awareness about plastic pollution, especially among the youth.
- Indonesia is the world’s second-largest plastic polluter, with 10 billion plastic bags in the country alone dumped into the environment each year.

On an island in the sun, coal power is king over abundant solar
- Locals and environmentalists have opposed a plan to expand a coal-fired power plan in northern Bali, Indonesia.
- They are worried that the expansion will exacerbate the existing impact of the plant on the environment and locals’ health and livelihoods.
- A particular concern focuses on the survival of dolphins and endemic species living in close proximity to the plant, with Greenpeace saying the dolphins have particularly been affected since the plant came on line in 2015.
- Another major worry is air pollution, with many locals complaining of respiratory ailments as a result of the fumes and coal dust emitted from the plant.

As planned excise flops, Indonesia ponders how to give up plastic bags
- The proliferation of free plastic shopping bags, coupled with a lack of recycling infrastructure and a general disregard for waste management have turned Indonesia into one of the major contributors to the global plastic waste crisis.
- The government has backed down from imposing an excise on plastic shopping bags, planned for this month, following opposition from manufacturers and the Industry Ministry.
- The plan is the second to fall through, after a pilot program to charge consumers for plastic bags was abandoned by retailers in 2016.
- Plastics producers say the main problem is the inadequate waste management system to deal with all the waste.

In a land hit by the resource curse, a new gold mine spooks officials
- A company in Indonesia plans to start mining gold in a district in the country’s West Papua province that forms part of the ecologically important Cendrawasih Bay National Park — an ostensibly protected area.
- The company is currently applying for an environmental impact assessment that would allow it to obtain a mining permit, but local officials involved in the process say they see little benefit to the proposed mine. They say they prefer a development model built on tourism based on the region’s rich biodiversity.
- The district chief, who has the final say in issuing the permit, has signaled he approves of the project — flip-flopping on a pledge he made at the end of last year to prioritize an environment-focused development framework.

Waste management rules threaten to derail Indonesia mine takeover
- The Indonesian government expects to conclude this month the takeover of a controlling stake in the operator of the country’s Grasberg mine, the world’s biggest copper and gold mine.
- However, new requirements on waste management imposed by the environment ministry could derail the deal, according to officials from both sides involved in the negotiations.
- Among the requirements is that the operator, a subsidiary of Arizona-based Freeport-McMoRan, slash the toxicity levels at its waste dumping sites around Grasberg.

Plastic not so fantastic for Bali’s iconic manta rays
- Two recent videos from a diving site in Bali known for its manta rays have garnered global attention for highlighting the dire state of plastic pollution in Indonesia’s waters.
- While the local government and volunteers have made efforts to clean up the garbage, a lack of proper planning and poor awareness of waste disposal means huge volumes of trash continue to be dumped into the ocean daily.
- Indonesia produces around 130,000 tons of plastic and solid waste every day, and is the second-largest plastic polluter in the world, behind China.

Grasberg mine’s riches still a distant glitter for Papuan communities
- Through its local subsidiary, US-based Freeport-McMoRan operates the world’s largest and most profitable gold mine in Indonesia’s Papua province.
- Changes to Indonesia’s mining laws earlier this year raised hopes that Papua’s indigenous people might finally get a stake in the mine.
- With negotiations between the government and the company snagging on key issues, activists say these hopes may be premature.

Ever wondered how much your pet’s diet impacts the environment?
- There are approximately 163 million dogs and cats kept as pets in the US, and it’s safe to assume even most vegetarians feed their pets some kind of non-vegetarian food product, given that dogs and cats are both carnivorous species.
- That got University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) geography professor Gregory Okin wondering: Just how bad is the production of pet food for the environment?
- Meat production has well-documented impacts on the environment, as Okin notes in a study he published this month in the journal PloS ONE: “Compared to a plant-based diet, a meat-based diet requires more energy, land, and water and has greater environmental consequences in terms of erosion, pesticides, and waste.”

Drink beer, help the ocean?
- Saltwater Brewery has launched a prototype of biodegradable six-pack rings made from wheat and barley left over from the brewing process, which are non-toxic and disintegrate comparatively quickly in the ocean.
- The innovation could significantly reduce marine plastic pollution and protect hundreds of thousands of sea creatures harmed or killed annually by plastic rings.
- The brewery is perfecting the edible rings design, plans to eventually package all its cans using the technology and hopes investors and other breweries will support, adopt and popularize it.

Private sector innovations reduce food loss in West Africa

Other African Food Waste Articles by Margaret Egbula Together we stand: A policy approach to reducing food loss in West Africa West Africa’s weakest links: Supply chain defects are behind worst food waste Reducing post-harvest losses would mean higher incomes for farmers and market traders, like these in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Photo credit: Margaret Egbula […]
Together we stand: A policy approach to reducing food loss in West Africa

West African countries have recognized that when it comes to food security, no nation is an island. Since achieving independence, West African countries have strived for regional integration. By building strong political and economic ties, the 15 member nations of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) aimed to maximize economic development and minimize […]
Combating food waste in sub-Saharan Africa

A trader sorts mangos at the Kilombero wholesale market in Arusha, Tanzania. Credit: Rachel Cernansky. At the bustling Kilombero wholesale produce market in the town of Arusha, Tanzania, traders sort hundreds of pounds of mangos that have just been unloaded from trucks. Though the mangos have come directly from the farms where they were grown, many […]
The beef with beef: how 12 strategies could drastically cut agricultural emissions

Herd of cattle in Colombia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Eating less beef, cutting food waste, and utilizing farm landscapes to sequester carbon are three ways a new report suggests the world could rapidly tackle agricultural emissions. Currently, global agriculture accounts for nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions when agriculturally-linked deforestation is […]
Mining companies must turn to recycling as demand for metals grows

Demand for metals is likely to increase tenfold as developing economies surge ahead, putting severe stress on the natural environment, a new report from the United Nations Environment Program (Unep) has warned. The organization has suggested a novel response: bring in the mining companies—often seen as the environmental villains—to sort out the recycling. At present, […]
Improving food and water efficiency a must for the next generation

Mwamanongu Village water source in Tanzania.. Photo by: Bob Metcalf. This summer, while climate change silence reigned in the U.S. presidential race, the Stockholm International Water Institute’s conference for World Water Week focused on the global initiatives required in order to live with its effects. The report, titled “Feeding a Thirsty World,” garnered the most […]
High-tech hell: new documentary brings Africa’s e-waste slum to life

Keyboard finds its way to Agbogbloshie. Photo by: David Fedele. Shirtless boys rapidly pull the computer apart, discarding bits and pieces, until they expose the wires, yank them out, and toss them into a fire. Acrid, toxic smoke blooms as the boys prod the wires and the fire strips the plastic around the wires, leaving […]

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