Global producer responsibility for plastic pollution.

Brand names can be used to hold plastic companies accountable for their items found polluting the environment. We used data from a 5-year (2018-2022) worldwide (84 countries) program to identify brands found on plastic items in the environment through 1576 audit events. We found that 50% of items were unbranded, calling for mandated producer reporting.

Monitor compartments, mitigate sectors: A framework to deconstruct the complexity of plastic pollution.

The rapid growth in science, media, policymaking, and corporate action aimed at "solving" plastic pollution has revealed an overwhelming complexity, which can lead to paralysis, inaction, or a reliance on downstream mitigations. Plastic use is diverse - varied polymers, product and packaging design, pathways to the environment, and impacts - therefore there is no silver bullet solution. Policies addressing plastic pollution as a single phenomenon respond to this complexity with greater reliance on downstream mitigations, like recycling and cleanup.

Are We Underestimating Anthropogenic Microfiber Pollution? A Critical Review of Occurrence, Methods, and Reporting.

Anthropogenic microfibers, a ubiquitous environmental contaminant, can be categorized as synthetic, semisynthetic, or natural according to material of origin and production process. Although natural fibers, such as cotton and wool, originated from natural sources, they often contain chemical additives, including colorants (e.g.

Capturing microfibers - marketed technologies reduce microfiber emissions from washing machines.

Microfibers are a common type of microplastic. One known source of microfibers to the environment is domestic laundering, which can release thousands of fibers into washing machine effluent with every wash. Here, we adapted existing methods to measure the length, count and weight of microfibers in laundry effluent.