Is it Time to Ban the Plastic Bottle?

Gold has been prized throughout history for its value and its beauty, which has also made it attractive to those prepared to exploit this precious metal for their own ends. The European Union recently banned the purchase, import and transfer of gold from Sudan, one of Africa’s la ...  Show more

Gene therapy has changed what is possible for people living with sickle cell disease. New treatments have shown that the condition can be successfully treated. But the therapy is costly and available to only a small number of patients. Millions of people around the world still re ...  Show more

Just ahead of Zero Waste Day, this episode of The Weekly Tradecast talks trash with UNCTAD economist Henrique Silva Pacini Costa. From plastic packaging to fast fashion to car batteries, we have been creating mountains of waste for decades. It’s everywhere – in landfills, in the ...  Show more

These days plastics contribute to 300 million metric tons of waste in the world. In the early 2000s, our plastic waste rose more in a single decade than it had in 40 years. But what if there was a way to intercept that plastic before it enters our oceans? Talib talked with Lonely ...  Show more

Since the advent of single-use plastics, we’ve become awash in waste. Barrels of petroleum are extracted, turned into plastics that contain products, which are then opened and the containers thrown away. It’s a bonehead process start to finish.See omnystudio.com/listener for priv ...  Show more

Guardian Seascapes reporter Karen McVeigh tells Madeleine Finlay about a recent trip to the Galápagos Islands, where mounds of plastic waste are washing up and causing problems for endemic species. Tackling this kind of waste and the overproduction of plastic were the topics on t ...  Show more