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Plastic pollution and recycling

Plastic waste, microplastics, recycling, degradation, and alternatives.

2,833 stories · 20 in 30 days · Updated Sep 28, 2026

The pace of conversation

Posts per month

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2020-012026-09

Posts per month · first and latest months may be partial.

01 / EXPLORE THROUGH TIME

Timeline

Start with the latest. Scroll back through time, or zoom in for more.

Year by yearUp to 5 stories per year
2026222 stories
What Do We Know About the Microplastics Inside Us?↗ e360.yale.edu · HN · 116 comments · 194 points · Jul 08, 2026
Tracking Starbucks' 'widely recyclable' cups: none ended up at recycling↗ beyondplastics.org · HN · 154 comments · 213 points · May 20, 2026
Nitrile and latex gloves may cause overestimation of microplastics↗ news.umich.edu · HN · 265 comments · 583 points · Mar 29, 2026
Picking Up a Zillion Pieces of Litter↗ sixstepstobetterhealth.com · HN · 75 comments · 208 points · Mar 02, 2026
Magical Mushroom – Europe's first industrial-scale mycelium packaging producer↗ magicalmushroom.com · HN · 129 comments · 398 points · Feb 23, 2026
2025401 stories
Toys with the highest play-time and lowest clean-up-time↗ joannabregan.substack.com · HN · 274 comments · 477 points · Dec 26, 2025
Grapevine canes can be converted into plastic-like material that will decompose↗ sdstate.edu · HN · 344 comments · 384 points · Sep 14, 2025
PlasticList – Plastic Levels in Foods↗ plasticlist.org · HN · 193 comments · 465 points · Jun 24, 2025
Researchers develop ‘transparent paper’ as alternative to plastics↗ japannews.yomiuri.co.jp · HN · 284 comments · 440 points · Jun 06, 2025
Precious Plastic is in trouble↗ preciousplastic.com · HN · 223 comments · 309 points · Jun 03, 2025
2024548 stories
Plasticlist Report – Data on plastic chemicals in Bay Area foods↗ plasticlist.org · HN · 193 comments · 635 points · Dec 27, 2024
Commercial tea bags release microplastics, entering human cells↗ medicalxpress.com · HN · 317 comments · 421 points · Dec 23, 2024
Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid↗ theatlantic.com · HN · 842 comments · 475 points · Oct 30, 2024
The Engineering of Landfills↗ practical.engineering · HN · 324 comments · 521 points · Sep 03, 2024
Plastic industry knew recycling was a farce for decades↗ euronews.com · HN · 2 comments · 331 points · Feb 16, 2024
2023455 stories
Polymers capable of killing bacteria without inducing antibiotic resistance↗ today.tamu.edu · HN · 85 comments · 137 points · Dec 22, 2023
Plastic is now a geological phenomenon↗ zmescience.com · HN · 37 comments · 80 points · Dec 21, 2023
Breaking free of plastic pollution↗ worldsensorium.com · HN · 67 comments · 74 points · Dec 21, 2023
New study finds microplastics infiltrate all systems of body, alter behaviour↗ sustainableplastics.com · HN · 14 comments · 63 points · Aug 29, 2023
Microwaved plastic containers release microplastics into food↗ pubs.acs.org · HN · 18 comments · 54 points · Jun 30, 2023
2022422 stories
Plastic recycling remains a 'myth': Greenpeace study↗ phys.org · HN · 279 comments · 366 points · Oct 24, 2022
Bugs are evolving to eat plastic, study finds↗ e360.yale.edu · HN · 288 comments · 414 points · May 24, 2022
What is our hidden consumption of microplastics doing to our health?↗ nautil.us · HN · 324 comments · 313 points · May 19, 2022
Plastic-eating enzyme could eliminate billions of tons of landfill waste↗ news.utexas.edu · HN · 274 comments · 369 points · May 18, 2022
An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)↗ hwfo.substack.com · HN · 250 comments · 397 points · May 02, 2022
2021381 stories
My parents collect cans for a living↗ thenation.com · HN · 392 comments · 452 points · Dec 19, 2021
Podswap: Keep airpods alive and out of the landfill↗ thepodswap.com · HN · 186 comments · 422 points · Jul 11, 2021
Canada declares plastics toxic, paving the way for restrictions↗ motherjones.com · HN · 162 comments · 362 points · May 21, 2021
New plant-based plastics can be chemically recycled with near-perfect efficiency↗ academictimes.com · HN · 265 comments · 428 points · Feb 20, 2021
Kenyan recycles plastic waste into bricks stronger than concrete↗ reuters.com · HN · 281 comments · 492 points · Feb 10, 2021
2020404 stories
Mushrooms Can Eat Plastic, Petroleum and CO2 (2018)↗ returntonow.net · HN · 355 comments · 431 points · Dec 03, 2020
Recycling was a lie to sell more plastic, recycling industry veteran says↗ cbc.ca · HN · 415 comments · 1008 points · Oct 08, 2020
91% of plastic isn't recycled (2018)↗ nationalgeographic.com · HN · 245 comments · 433 points · Sep 15, 2020
How Big Oil Misled the Public into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled↗ npr.org · HN · 313 comments · 687 points · Sep 11, 2020
Ocean cleaning device succeeds in removing plastic for the first time↗ cnn.com · HN · 273 comments · 401 points · Jan 12, 2020
Scroll through time ↕

02 / CATCH UP

The conversation now

Popular stories, with attention fading over roughly two weeks.

Common cleaning sponge found to release trillions of microplastic fibers↗ sciencedaily.com · HN · 9 comments · 17 points · Sep 26, 2026
Engineered yeast for converting plastic and biomass compounds to food additives↗ acs.digitellinc.com · HN · 96 comments · 119 points · Aug 27, 2026
What if everything we know about recycling is wrong?↗ worksinprogress.co · HN · 72 comments · 55 points · Sep 02, 2026
Why the Ocean Cleanup hasn't solved the plastic pollution crisis↗ therevelator.org · HN · 87 comments · 97 points · Aug 20, 2026
Scientists Are Making Concrete with Human Poop – and It Gets 42% Stronger↗ sciencealert.com · HN · 0 comments · 5 points · Sep 08, 2026

03 / GO DEEPER

Follow your curiosity

Find a particular story, revisit a year, or see what resonated.

Highest rated · the last 30 days

What if everything we know about recycling is wrong?↗ worksinprogress.co · HN · 72 comments · 55 points · Sep 02, 2026
Common cleaning sponge found to release trillions of microplastic fibers↗ sciencedaily.com · HN · 9 comments · 17 points · Sep 26, 2026
Scientists Are Making Concrete with Human Poop – and It Gets 42% Stronger↗ sciencealert.com · HN · 0 comments · 5 points · Sep 08, 2026
Making Gasoline from Plastic Waste↗ sciencedaily.com · HN · 3 comments · 4 points · Sep 22, 2026
Ending procurement and forced use of paper straws (2025)↗ whitehouse.gov · HN · 0 comments · 3 points · Sep 25, 2026
NASA-backed scientists turn plastic waste into edible cookies↗ sciencedaily.com · HN · 1 comments · 3 points · Sep 16, 2026
Takeaway cups release microplastics into your coffee↗ news.uq.edu.au · HN · 0 comments · 3 points · Sep 11, 2026
Throwing rubbish in a landfill is (usually) better for the environment↗ twitter.com · HN · 1 comments · 3 points · Sep 02, 2026
Takeaway cups release microplastics into your coffee↗ news.uq.edu.au · HN · 0 comments · 3 points · Aug 30, 2026
Europe's e‑waste is a valuable resource – let's not throw it away↗ theconversation.com · HN · 0 comments · 2 points · Sep 17, 2026

10 stories shown.

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