A fourth and penultimate round of UN-led negotiations to solve global plastic pollution wrapped up in Ottawa early on Tuesday with a world-first pact said to be within reach by year's end but without a cap on the production of polymers.
The ocean floor harbors up to 11 million tons of plastic debris, according to new findings from CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, in collaboration with the University of Toronto in Canada.
In recent years, there has been rising concern that tiny particles known as microplastics are showing up basically everywhere on Earth, from polar ice to soil, drinking water and food.