Skip to content
  • Science
  • Politics & Policy
  • Justice
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Clean Energy
  • Today’s Climate
  • Projects
  • About Us
Inside Climate News
Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet.
Donate

Search

  • Science
  • Politics & Policy
  • Justice
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Clean Energy
  • Today’s Climate
  • Projects
  • About Us
  • Newsletters

Topics

  • Activism
  • Arctic
  • Business & Finance
  • Climate Law & Liability
  • Climate Treaties
  • Denial & Misinformation
  • Environment & Health
  • Extreme Weather
  • Food & Agriculture
  • Fracking
  • Nuclear
  • Pipelines
  • Regulation
  • Super-Pollutants
  • Water/Drought
  • Wildfires

Information

  • About
  • Jobs & Freelance
  • Reporting Network
  • Impact Statement
  • Contact
  • Whistleblowers
  • Memberships
  • Ways to Give
  • Fellows & Fellowships

Publications

  • E-Books
  • Documents

Bag It: The Plastics Crisis

Is ‘Chemical Recycling’ a Solution to the Global Scourge of Plastic Waste or an Environmentally Dirty Ruse to Keep Production High?

Diplomats, industry reps and environmentalists wrestled with this question during talks in Switzerland on guidelines related to the Basel Convention on hazardous wastes.

By James Bruggers

A Turkish diver dives amid plastic waste in Ortakoy coastline to observe the life and pollution of Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey on June 27, 2020. Credit: Sebnem Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Kimmie Gordon and Dorreen Carey stand in front of a former cement plant site in Gary, Indiana, where a California company, Fulcrum BioEnergy, wants to turn trash and plastic into jet fuel. They are founding members of Gary Advocates for Responsible Development, which opposes the jet fuel plant. Credit: James Bruggers

A Gary, Indiana Plant Would Make Jet Fuel From Trash and Plastic. Residents Are Pushing Back

By James Bruggers

A tractor moves a pile of recyclables at the San Francisco Recycling Center April 22, 2008 in San Francisco, California. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

California Passed a Landmark Law About Plastic Pollution. Why Are Some Environmentalists Still Concerned?

By James Bruggers

Jay Schabel, president of the plastics division at Brightmark, stands amid what he described as 900 tons of waste plastic at the company's new plant in northeast Indiana at the end of July. The plant is designed to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel, naphtha and wax. Credit: 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

Refuse bags full of materials for recycling in different colored plastic bags. Credit: In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images

A Houston Firm Says It’s Opening a Billion-Dollar Chemical Recycling Plant in a Small Pennsylvania Town. How Does It Work?

By James Bruggers

Newsletters

We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. Every day or once a week, our original stories and digest of the web's top headlines deliver the full story, for free.

Keep Environmental Journalism Alive

ICN provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. We rely on donations from readers like you to keep going.

Donate Now
Inside Climate News
  • Science
  • Politics & Policy
  • Justice
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Clean Energy
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Whistleblowers
  • Privacy Policy
Inside Climate News uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept this policy. Learn More