Garbage

A plastic fork lies on a beach along the Spree River in the city center on May 29th, 2018, in Berlin, Germany. Europe is struggling to combat plastics pollution in its waterways and seas. It recently announced it will seek to ban the use of certain common plastic items, including plastic cutlery, straws, plates, swabs, and fishing gear.

Europe announced it will seek to ban the use of certain common plastic items, including plastic cutlery, straws, plates, swabs, and fishing gear.

By Pacific Standard Staff

The Lede

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Some of the Laysan albatrosses on Midway die from stomach punctures. Others slowly starve, weak and weighted down, their bellies full but empty of anything to nourish them. Their bodies litter the ground. Some wash broken in the waves, their great wings trailing behind them.

Since We Last Spoke

Updates to stories from the Pacific Standard archive.

News in Brief

Re-assessing how much food we throw out.

By James McWilliams

Environment

Alaska's capital city is surrounded by ocean and glaciers, with no roads in or out. Waste management? It's complicated.

By Eva Holland

Environment

Last year, Simi Valley Landfill entered what is becoming a fast-growing business of transforming fetid odors from decaying trash into fuel, a feat made possible by the miracles of modern chemistry and government subsidies.

By Olga Grigoryants

Social Justice

You’re never going to reduce food waste with “solutions” that are inaccessible to most of us.

By James McWilliams

Environment

Nail polish, batteries, hand sanitizer: You may not think of these regular household items as toxic, but they are, and they’re poisoning our water and food supplies.