Plastic pollution News

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Scientists report plastic-rock formation from India’s western coast

Ananya Singh 13 May 2026
Olive ridley hatchlings at Rushikulya. They are especially vulnerable due to their size and limited strength, and face a myriad of threats on their seaward journey. Image by Aliva Sahoo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Plastic litter and ghost nets threaten olive ridley hatchlings

Phalguni Ranjan 27 Apr 2026
A ragpicker collects plastic to recycle from a garbage dump in Siliguri, West Bengal. (AP Photo/Tamal Roy)

When recycling plastic creates more problems than it solves

Ravleen Kaur 16 Apr 2026

The last Indian town before Bhutan is reeling under waste dumped on its river banks

Chandrani Sinha 25 Mar 2026
Coenobita brevimanus or Indo hermit crab, residing in a shell of the Giant African snail at a waterfall on Little Andaman. Representative image by Vandana K.

Marine litter traps thousands of hermit crabs

Vandana K. 10 Mar 2026
Toxic pollutants from industries on Bellundur lake in Bengaluru, Karnataka. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

How excess rains and poor wastewater management send microplastics into city lakes

T. V. Padma 30 Oct 2025

Centring sustainability in a growing marathon culture

Aparna Ganesan 29 Oct 2025
Plastic pollution along the shores of Bhoj wetland. Image by Manish Chandra Mishra/Mongabay.

Evidence of microplastics in a wetland sparks concern about water security

Manish Chandra Mishra 8 Oct 2025
Plastic waste collected behind an industrial area near Mumbai. Plastic production contributes about 3.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Image by Ravleen Kaur.

Communities near petrochemical plants pay the price for plastic convenience

Ravleen Kaur 19 Sep 2025
A man with a baby in his arms sat on the sculpture of Mother Earth, surrounded by broken plastic toys, bottles, and chairs scattered around. Every day, some more trash was added. Even as the man is seen thinking, Mother Earth, his own body, and the DNA helix above him, were all covered in plastic. Even as plastic has penetrated the foetus-symbolised by the DNA helix, the sea and the mountains, world leaders procrastinate to agree on a solution.

Global talks on plastic pollution end without a treaty

Ravleen Kaur 19 Aug 2025
A bronze-winged jacana in Vembanad lake. Estimates say the lake is home to some 20,000 water fowls, otters and various varieties of fish. Image by Charles J. Sharp via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

From choking backwaters to cleaner currents [Commentary]

C. J. Punnathara 13 Aug 2025
In 2006, the United Nations Environment Programme estimated that every square mile (about 2.5 km2 ) of the ocean contained 46,000 pieces of floating plastic, the debris of which is already present on most beaches around the world. Image by Emina Mamaca.

Invisible plastics are changing our oceans [Commentary]

Isha Chawla 24 Jun 2025
A container washed ashore in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala from the ELSA-3 shipwreck. Some containers that washed to the coast were even seen catching fire in Kollam district. Image by John Bennet.

Shipwreck spills oil, plastic and legal loopholes

Max Martin 12 Jun 2025

Emissions from India’s macroplastic pollution are the highest, finds study

Supriya Vohra 28 Oct 2024
A bioplastics installation.

[Video] An innovative alternative to reduce plastic pollution

Abhishyant Kidangoor, Mike DiGirolamo 14 Feb 2024

The migratory routes of plastic

Devayani Khare 8 Oct 2021