More climate-warming methane leaks into the atmosphere than ever gets reported – here’s how satellites can find the leaks and avoid wasting a valuable resource

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that can leak from oil and gas wells, pipelines and landfills. Satellites can spot the releases fast enough to get them fixed and help protect the climate.

Riley Duren, Research Scientist, University of Arizona • conversation
April 16, 2024 • ~9 min

Decades of public messages about recycling in the US have crowded out more sustainable ways to manage waste

New research shows that Americans may have absorbed public messaging about the importance of recycling too well.

Shahzeen Attari, Associate Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University • conversation
July 24, 2023 • ~10 min

Will we eventually have to send our trash into space if we run out of room on Earth?

Humans generate a lot of trash, but there are cheaper and safer ways to handle it than loading it on rockets.

Kate O'Neill, Professor of Global Environmental Politics, University of California, Berkeley • conversation
March 6, 2023 • ~6 min

Why the UK needs to stop exporting plastic waste

Many countries export their plastic waste abroad – but the mismanagement of this plastic waste is one of the leading causes of plastic pollution in nature.

Steve Fletcher, Professor of Ocean Policy and Economy, University of Portsmouth • conversation
Nov. 25, 2022 • ~7 min

Plastic pollution is a global problem – here's how to design an effective treaty to curb it

Public, government and corporate support for a world treaty to curb plastic waste is growing. Treaties addressing mercury pollution, long-range air pollution and ozone depletion offer some lessons.

Sarah J. Morath, Associate Professor of Legal Writing, Wake Forest University • conversation
Feb. 24, 2022 • ~10 min

What is wishcycling? Two waste experts explain

Tossing something into your recycling bin that can’t be processed does more harm than good.

Kate O'Neill, Professor of Global Environmental Politics, University of California, Berkeley • conversation
Jan. 12, 2022 • ~5 min

Packaging generates a lot of waste – now Maine and Oregon want manufacturers to foot the bill for getting rid of it

Maine and Oregon have enacted laws that require makers of consumer product packaging to pay for recycling or disposing of it. Will other states follow?

Kate O'Neill, Professor of Global Environmental Politics, University of California, Berkeley • conversation
Sept. 8, 2021 • ~9 min

Health crisis: up to a billion tonnes of waste potentially burned in the open every year

Two billion people worldwide lack a dedicated system of waste collection and management.

Ed Cook, Research Fellow in Circular Economy Systems, University of Leeds • conversation
Jan. 7, 2021 • ~6 min

What happens to the plastic you recycle? Researchers lift the lid

We investigated plastic recycling in the UK and uncovered startling inconsistencies.

Diego Vazquez-Brust, Professor of Global Business Sustainability and Strategy, University of Portsmouth • conversation
Sept. 2, 2020 • ~8 min

Britain's first major recycling drive fell apart 80 years ago – it's a warning to UK government today

The 'pots to planes' appeal in the summer of 1940 helped inspire a mass recycling effort, but problems soon emerged.

Henry Irving, Senior Lecturer in Public History, Leeds Beckett University • conversation
June 26, 2020 • ~7 min

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