Bag It
The Plastics Crisis
Plastic waste is ubiquitous, and micro-plastics are invading our bodies. The world is looking for solutions to a plastics problem that the United Nations says factors into a triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature loss and pollution. As the petrochemical industry faces a global backlash it also searches for ways to make more plastic. “Bag It” holds industry and government to account while probing the latest science on how micro-plastics harm humans and the environment.
In Houston, a City Council Member Questions ‘Advanced’ Recycling of Plastic and a City Collaboration with ExxonMobil
Councilmember Letitia Plummer said pyrolysis perpetuates fossil fuel extraction and pollution. Her conclusion: The most effective way to reduce plastic waste is to limit its production in the first place.
By James Bruggers
Facing an Imminent Deadline, Nations Struggle to Agree on a Global Plastics Treaty
By James Bruggers
Voters Head to the Polls in a World Full of Plastic Pollution. What’s at Stake This Year?
By James Bruggers
Alleging Decades of Lies, California Sues ExxonMobil Over Plastic Pollution Crisis
By James Bruggers
Biden Administration Backs Plastic as Coal Replacement to Make Steel. One Critic Asks: ‘Have They Lost Their Minds?’
By James Bruggers
Houston’s Plastic Waste, Waiting More Than a Year for ‘Advanced’ Recycling, Piles up at a Business Failed Three Times by Fire Marshal
By James Bruggers
Minnesota Settles ‘Deceptive Environmental Marketing’ Lawsuit Over ‘Recycling’ Plastic Bags
By James Bruggers
Lawsuits Targeting Plastic Pollution Pile Up as Frustrated Citizens and States Seek Accountability
By James Bruggers
A Giant Plastics Chemical Recycling Plant Planned for Pennsylvania Died After Two Years. What Happened?
By James Bruggers
As Plastic Treaty Delegates Head to Canada, A Plea From the Arctic: Don’t Forget Vulnerable Indigenous Peoples
By James Bruggers
Kraft Heinz Faces Shareholder Vote On Its ‘Deceptive’ Recycling Labels
By James Bruggers
Environmental Groups Eye a Potential Win with New York Packaging Bill
By James Bruggers
A Battle Over Plastic Recycling Claims Heats Up in California Over ‘Truth in Labeling’ Law
By James Bruggers
‘A Dream Deferred:’ 30 Years of U.S. Environmental Justice in Port Arthur, Texas
By James Bruggers
Diet for a Sick Planet: Studies Find More Plastic in Our Food and Bottled Water
By James Bruggers
A Plant Proposed in Youngstown, Ohio, Would Have Turned Tons of Tires Into Synthetic Gas. Local Officials Said Not So Fast
By James Bruggers
Fossil Fuel Lobbyists Flock to Plastics Treaty Talks as Scientists, Environmentalists Seek Conflict of Interest Policies
By James Bruggers
This Week in Nairobi, Nations Gather for a Third Round of Talks on an International Plastics Treaty, Focusing on Its Scope and Ambition
By James Bruggers
The Missing Equations at ExxonMobil’s Advanced Recycling Operation
By James Bruggers
Dumped, Not Recycled? Electronic Tracking Raises Questions About Houston’s Drive to Repurpose a Full Range of Plastics
By James Bruggers
In Youngstown, a Downtown Tire Pyrolysis Plant Is Called a ‘Recipe for Disaster’
By James Bruggers
Inside Indiana’s ‘Advanced’ Plastics Recycling Plant: Dangerous Vapors, Oil Spills and Life-Threatening Fires
By James Bruggers
EPA Spurns Trump-Era Effort to Drop Clean-Air Protections For Plastic Waste Recycling
By James Bruggers
Who Said Recycling Was Green? It Makes Microplastics By the Ton
By James Bruggers
Environmentalists Want the FTC Green Guides to Slam the Door on the ‘Chemical’ Recycling of Plastic Waste
By James Bruggers
From Gas Wells to Rubber Ducks to Incineration, the Plastics Lifecycle Causes ‘Horrific Harm’ to the Planet and People, Report Shows
By James Bruggers
Once Hailed as a Solution to the Global Plastics Scourge, PureCycle May Be Teetering
By James Bruggers
On the Frontlines in a ‘Cancer Alley,’ Black Women Inspired by Faith Are Powering the Environmental Justice Movement
By James Bruggers
‘Advanced’ Recycling of Plastic Using High Heat and Chemicals Is Costly and Environmentally Problematic, A New Government Study Finds
By James Bruggers
Is ‘Chemical Recycling’ a Solution to the Global Scourge of Plastic Waste or an Environmentally Dirty Ruse to Keep Production High?
By James Bruggers
A Gary, Indiana Plant Would Make Jet Fuel From Trash and Plastic. Residents Are Pushing Back
By James Bruggers
California Passed a Landmark Law About Plastic Pollution. Why Are Some Environmentalists Still Concerned?
By James Bruggers
A New Plant in Indiana Uses a Process Called ‘Pyrolysis’ to Recycle Plastic Waste. Critics Say It’s Really Just Incineration
By James Bruggers
