It is Carnival season in New Orleans. That means gazillions of plastic green, gold and purple beads are being tossed to crowds. But the beaded necklaces are increasingly seen as a problem.

Mardi Gras is amid a sustainable transformation, with biodegradable beads replacing plastic ones due to environmental concerns. The Krewe of Freret has banned plastic beads, opting for biodegradable ...

Biodegradable plastics are sold as a simple fix for a world drowning in packaging, but the reality is far messier than the marketing suggests. Labels that promise bags, cups, and utensils will ...

Plastic pollution is one of the most defining environmental challenges of our time. Despite efforts to recycle or responsibly dispose of plastic, vast garbage patches in the oceans continue to grow, ...

About half of all of the plastics in the world have been created in only the past 15 years, and we are now swimming in the stuff. This tough material is made from petroleum-based chemicals, and is ...

Polystyrene is made from styrene building blocks and is the most widely used plastic in terms of volume, for example in packaging. Unlike PET, which can now be produced and recycled using ...

Japan-based materials experts have made impressive progress in the search for a better biodegradable plastic. The breakthrough starts with an abundant material: cellulose from wood pulp. Takuzo Aida, ...

What are you supposed to do with Mardi Gras beads after you catch them? How about planting them in your garden – new LSU ...

(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- In recent years, at least a half-dozen countries have embraced plastics made with an additive intended to break them down into carbon dioxide, water and harmless organic ...

Plastics make up approximately 5–12 % of global waste generation, constituting around 20–30 % of waste by weight. Alarmingly, about 60 % of plastics end up as plastic waste (PW) in the environment. 2 ...

It’s hard to imagine a time before traditional plastics became commonplace for many single-use food packaging and food-contact applications. It’s even harder to imagine a time without them using ...

Billions of tons of plastic waste clutter our world. Most of it has accumulated on the ground and in the oceans or disintegrated into tiny particles known as microplastics that pollute the air and the ...