Published jointly by Break Free From Plastic, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the German Association for the Environment and Nature (BUND), the new report portrays a startling window into the toxic deluge fouling our planet. In just 60 years over 8.3 billion tons of petroleum-based plastics have been produced worldwide – more than one ton per person living on earth today. But only 10% has been recycled. As new production rates are accelerated by cheap fracked gas, the only solution is to drastically reduce our dependency. Buchsbaum reviews the Atlas’ findings.
All posts tagged: waste disposal
The nuclear legacy nobody wants
Czech nuclear reactors have so far produced at least 4000 tons of highly radioactive waste. If the number of reactors grows, so will the amount of waste produced. The government has long declared itself in favor of developing nuclear energy even as it still does not know how to solve the nuclear waste problem. Martin Sedlák takes a look.
Radioactive waste disposal in four words: “We do not know”
Nuclear waste will remain dangerous for more than 100,000 years – so what are countries and producers doing to deal with this problem? Passing the buck, apparently: so far, not a single facility to safely store spent nuclear fuel has been created in Europe, or the world for that matter. Silvia Weko takes a look.