The global trade in plastic waste reveals stark inequalities. For decades, high-income countries like the UK, US, Germany and Japan exported much of their plastic waste to lower-income nationals, often with weak waste infrastructures (OECD 2022, Plastics Treaty Briefing 2023). This practice, often referred to as “waste colonialism,” offloads the environmental burden of consumption onto those least able to manage it. As recently as 2018, Asia imported 70-80% of the world’s tr

The idea that plastic will outweigh fish in the ocean by 2050 has become one of the most widely-quoted statistics in environmental discussions. But this disguises the real nature of the problem. Fish make up around 29% of animal biomass on this planet (Ritchie 2024) but calculating their mass in oceans is very difficult. We can estimate algae concentrations from satellite imagery - a proxy for fish food - but actual marine biomass remains uncertain and rather variable. Est

Ocean plastic is often misunderstood - and misrepresented. Media images of massive garbage patches floating in the Pacific suggest the ocean is blanketed in rubbish. The reality is more complicated - and arguably more concerning. Of the 460 million tonnes of plastic produced annually around the globe (OECD 2022), 353 million tonnes go to waste and only about 9% is recycled in any meaningful way. Approximately 82 millions tonnes of this waste (of the 9%) is mismanaged - eith

If there’s one thing to take away from the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC 2025) and the ocean plastics crisis, it’s that solutions do exist, but that they’re not scaling, not enforced and not shared equally. Cleanup technology may help in pollution hotspot areas, but they treat symptoms, not causes and are cost intensive. Recycling has a role, but its effectiveness is vastly overstated and most plastics are actually not recyclable to date. Individual actions - whilst

October 2025 saw the 13th annual Great Global Nurdle Hunt, a citizen science project with over 1,500 volunteers in 25 countries searching their shorelines for nurdles. Nurdles are the pre-production building blocks of most plastic products. They’re lentil-shaped microplastic pellets, ~2-3mm in diameter, which are melted down in plastic production. Unfortunately, nurdles have found their way into every corner of the world, with this year's hunt reporting that 92% of participat

The 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) brought ocean issues back into the global spotlight. Delegates from over 100 countries convened to reaffirm commitments to SDG 14: Life Below Water, address overfishing and clamp down on marine pollution. The tone was urgent, the diversity of stakeholders impressive and the pledges ambitious - but the gap between promises and action remains as wide as ever, with a clear lack of dedicated funding to prevent plastic and microplast

On December 8th, 2023, an environmental crisis occurred off the northern coast of Spain when a cargo ship lost part of its load. In an alarming incident, an estimated 25 tonnes of plastic pellets, commonly referred to as nurdles, were released into the sea. This event elicited concern within the local community and renewed discussion about the environmental risks linked to plastic pollution. Nurdles are small, lentil-sized plastic pellets that serve as the starting material f

In 2016, headlines proclaimed that by 2050, plastic in the ocean could outweigh fish. The science behind this claim is weak - estimating biomass is notoriously difficult - but the message is no less important. The real issue isn’t a race between fish and plastic. It’s the failure of governments, industries and global systems to prevent known harm. At the 2025 UN Ocean Conference (UNOC), governments once again pledged action on marine pollution. But critics, including ClientEa

Microplastic pollution has become a major environmental concern, receiving growing interest from scientists, policymakers, and the general public. While much attention has been given to the persistence and toxicity of plastics themselves, research has more recently suggested that microplastics may pose an additional and less visible risk: they can act as carriers for microorganisms, including potentially harmful pathogens. Once in the natural environment, microplastics are ra

Over the past decades, ocean plastic pollution has become one of the most urgent global environmental challenges. Plastics continue to enter marine environments through a variety of pathways, accumulate and persist for long time periods in many different forms, from large items to microscopic fragments that are integrated into ecosystems and food chains. Most of the plastic entering the ocean originates on land. Mismanaged waste, especially single-use plastics such as packagi

It is estimated that 11 million tonnes of plastic debris enter the oceans each year. Every year, the world produces over 400 million tonnes of plastic, and with recycling rates remaining below 10% globally, the volume entering our oceans continues to grow. Poor waste management and littering cause plastic to enter rivers and waterways, eventually pouring into the ocean. Discarded fishing gear is another major contributor. Once in the ocean, plastic is easily swept away by oc

Ghost nets, or “ghost fishing gear”, are fishing and aquaculture nets abandoned, lost, or discarded in the sea (ALDFG = Abandoned, Lost, or Discarded Fishing Gear). Once in the water, they do not become inert trash, but they continue to “fish” passively. Drifting with currents, or settling on the seabed, they can trap fish, turtles, marine mammals, seabirds, and other organisms, often killing them slowly by entanglement, starvation, or injuries. Ghost nets can also damage vul

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will reach the report stage in the House of Lords on 24th February. Every day, an estimated 3 million cigarette filters are littered in the UK. This means that since the first reading of the Bill in parliament on the 20th March 2024, approximately 1.8 billion cigarette filters have been dropped onto UK streets and into waterways. With this bill the UK government could reduce plastic pollution and improve public health by answering the call from re

Cigarettes are among the most littere d items worldwide with an estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette filters entering the environment every year. Cigarettes also make up around two thirds of all litter found in England across 80% of surveyed sites . Despite the prevalence of cigarettes discarded in the environment, filters have rarely been tackled as a source of plastic in efforts to reduce this environmental waste. So why should we be concerned about cigarette filters? Cigarette

In March 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly committed to addressing the ever-growing threat of plastic pollution and established the Global Plastics Treaty. The treaty aims to regulate the full lifecycle of plastic from production to disposal. This includes regulation of the most harmful marine plastic pollution: Abandoned, Lost, or Discarded Fishing and aquaculture Gear (ALDFG). It is estimated that over 11000 tonnes of ALDFG enters European seas annually, the m

The United Nations is currently tackling a global crisis: ghost gear . Ghost gear is plastic fishing or aquaculture gear that is abandoned, lost or discarded and it is the most damaging source of marine pollution in the ocean . Why ghost gear is so harmful Every year, 2% of ghost gear ends up in the ocean due to extreme weather, tangled on the seabed or simply thrown away. Ghost gear does more than just pollute; it harms protected or endangered marine life, it damages the

From bread bags to bubble wrap, crisp packets to cling film, we are still heavily reliant on soft plastic packaging despite the damage it does to the planet after use. Recycling has been shown to be largely ineffective . We need to reduce our reliance on soft plastics in the first place and encourage reusable packaging. The Role of Supermarkets Despite promising to phase out soft plastics, UK supermarkets have been failing to meet their own targets on reducing soft plastic

Ben Addelman and Ziya Tong’s Plastic People exposes the problems presented by plastic production and pollution in the world today. Fortunately, there is a glimmer of hope. Some solutions are afloat in this time of crisis. Rick Smith ( Slow Death by Rubber Duck ) is confident that society can solve pollution problems . Previous generations were exposed to pollutants that ceased to exist once the health costs became clear. Banning certain chemicals improved population health.

As shown in Ben Addelman and Ziya Tong’s Plastic People, national and community-scale decisions and bans on plastics can be effective. In Rwanda, Juliet Kabera*, Director General of the Rwanda Environment Management Authority, discusses their 2004 nation-wide implementation of an effective plastic carrier bag ban. This was followed by a law against polythene bags in 2008. The next step is curtailing use of other single-use plastic items including straws, plates and cutlery.

Ben Addelman and Ziya Tong’s evocative documentary Plastic People covers a range of the impacts of plastic pollution on our bodies. Professor Dick Vethaak* states that not only do microplastics affect the health of animals, plants and the environment, but also our own health - if one component is affected by microplastics, it also affects the health of humans. According to Vethaak, this impact on human health includes a higher probability of cancer development later in life