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Keeping a diary of plastic use can be "a little horrifying"

Aug 22, 2023
What a reporter learned by cataloging all the plastic products around her.
Once plastic products are created, they don't ever decompose — and we keep producing more. "More is getting into our environment, but more doesn't necessarily need to be there," said Susanne Rust, an environment reporter for the LA Times.
Yasin Akgul/AFP via Getty Images

"Refilleries" give consumers a way to reuse plastic bottles and cut waste

Jun 13, 2022
Businesses are reviving an old model to reduce single-use plastic in an effort to curb plastic pollution and fight climate change.
Samantha Keough browses the plastic-free products at Lite Foot, a mobile refillery that helps customers reuse containers instead of throwing out plastic.
Emily Jones/WABE

The highs and lows of making in-demand pandemic products

Apr 1, 2021
Clear plastic barriers to protect workers are everywhere now. What does that mean for companies that make them?
In 2020, California Acrylic Design made custom plastic barriers for schools, government agencies and a wide range of businesses.
Courtesy of California Acrylic Design

Would you miss tiny bottles of shampoo in hotel bathrooms?

Nov 25, 2019
Major hotel brands are promising to get rid of one of the most recognizable elements of the hotel experience: tiny bottles of shampoo.
Small plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body lotion sit in a bathroom at a SpringHill Suites, a hotel operated by Marriott, in August in New Orleans.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The single-use plastic pollution problem

Apr 22, 2019
This Earth Day, let’s do the numbers on single-plastic use.
This photo taken on May 12, 2018 shows a dog on a garbage-filled creek in Manila.
NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images