Sustainability in the News

Source: New Scientist, 4/30/25

A global survey of microplastics in oceans reveals that tiny particles of plastic are prevalent throughout the water column, which could harm marine ecosystems and affect carbon storage in the deep sea

Source: University of Zurich, 4/28/25

Why do some people do more for the community than others? A new study now shows that personality traits such as extraversion and agreeableness correlate with volunteering and charitable giving.

Source: UCLA, 4/24/25

A new study finds that presenting the same continuous climate data, such as incremental changes in temperature, in binary form -- such as whether a lake did or did not freeze in the winter -- significantly increases people's ability to see the impact of climate change.

Source: Trellis, 4/22/25

New regulations and global pressure are accelerating the shift toward more sustainable medical garments. Most medical textiles are not recycled, contributing to health care’s large climate and plastic waste footprint. Startups FIGS and AmorSui are serving sector professionals seeking to reduce those impacts, with “circular” scrubs and lab coats.

Source: The 19th, 6/9/25

Black women have long relied on braids for beauty and care. Research on toxic chemicals in synthetic hair is prompting a movement toward alternative plant-based hair options.

Source: Chemical & Engineering News, 3/9/26

'Ski waxes that incorporate organic fluorine help winter athletes glide better on snow. Fluorine-containing waxes have been banned from competitions since 2023 because of concerns about PFAS. This year's Winter Olympics was the first to deploy the fluoro wax test, which is based on Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to detect carbon-fluorine signatures.'

Source: Chemical & Engineering News, 4/3/26

"Climate-savvy travelers are likely aware of the global impact of flying. The aviation industry is working hard to decarbonize, but carbon dioxide emissions are only half the story. Contrails—clouds of condensed water that trail behind a jet—may be just as important as carbon dioxide when it comes to global warming. This makes eliminating contrails an attractive target for climate action. New research led by scientists at the German Aerospace Center suggests that it won’t be easy: Removing soot emissions doesn’t prevent contrail formation (Nature 2026, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10286-0)."

Source: The New Lede, 4/1/26

"A new study of pesticide exposure in Peru finds a mechanistic association between exposure and cancer, and shows how “complex pesticide mixtures” can contribute to the development of cancer in people, even at exposure levels currently deemed safe. The authors of the study, published in Nature Health, said the findings call into question classical toxicological approaches that are based on the evaluation of isolated substances and the setting of safety thresholds, and demonstrate the importance of looking at the impacts of multiple pesticide mixtures."

Source: Science Daily, 4/4/26

"Climate change is affecting the United States in very different ways depending on the region, according to a study published in PLOS Climate. Researchers María Dolores Gadea Rivas of the University of Zaragoza, Spain and Jesús Gonzalo of University Carlos III, Spain found that warming patterns vary widely across the country, pointing to the need for location-specific responses."

See http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000808 for the full study.

Source: CBS News Videos via Yahoo News, 4/7/26

"A NASA mission designed to study dust is now helping scientists track plastic pollution, from space. Climatologist Marina Jurica explains how JPL is tackling this problem 250 miles from us."

For more information on the EMIT project's application to global plastics detection, see https://earth.jpl.nasa.gov/emit/applications/application-areas/plastics/.

Source: Trellis, 4/30/25

Years of persistence and experimentation led to a biodegradable coffee pod that improves brewing performance. Keurig Dr Pepper backed the innovation once it proved both sustainable and appealing to consumers. Collaborating with customers and potential competitors were key for development.

Source: Trellis, 6/23/25

From big brands to startups, efforts to create circular diapers are crawling forward — but landfills are full of unrealized promises.

Source: Fast Company, 8/12/25

The brand’s recycled plastic shoes have a distinct look and texture. Now Rothy’s is bringing a new material to its roster.

Source: University at Buffalo, 9/13/25

Scientists have uncovered that “forever chemicals” like PFAS are even more acidic than anyone realized, meaning they dissolve and spread in water with alarming ease. Using a cutting-edge method combining NMR spectroscopy and computer modeling, researchers showed that the acidity of notorious compounds like PFOA and GenX had been vastly underestimated—sometimes by factors of a thousand.

Source: Inside Climate News, 10/23/25

Farmers trying to minimize nitrate running off their fields and contaminating water are partnering with the Wetlands Initiative to build “smart wetlands.”

Source: The New Lede, 10/16/25

Previous studies have found an association between some pesticides and neuroblastoma, but this is the first to examine links between prenatal exposure from specific sprayed pesticides near the home and the disease.

Source: Knowable Magazine, 10/13/25

A new technique for detecting unknown and unlooked-for chemicals is revealing dozens of contaminants in alligators, sea lions and condors 

Source: UIC, 1/13/26

'UIC researchers are scaling up a system for farmers to produce ammonia in their own backyards. The method, which uses renewable electricity and Earth’s natural resources, appears in the journal PNAS.'

Source: Inside EVs, 1/30/26

'Used EVs are now the cheapest cars to own over a 10-year vehicle life period, according to a new study from the University of Michigan published in Environmental Research Letters. In short, a three-year-old electric mid-size SUV can offer an average lifetime savings of $13,000 compared to a new gas-powered mid-size SUV. Meanwhile, a used gas SUV from the same category can deliver a lifetime savings of just $3,000, according to the study’s authors.'

Source: Waste360, 3/16/26

'A new Minnesota study finds high-temperature incineration can destroy 99%-plus of PFAS with minimal air emissions. The report follows similar findings from a Clean Harbors study. Both research projects add to a growing body of research suggesting thermal treatment is effective at eliminating PFAS—though interpreting emerging data requires careful consideration of specific operational nuances.'

Source: Contemporary Pediatrics, 2/18/26

'Babies born between 2003 and 2006 were exposed in utero to a broader range of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) than previously documented, according to a study published in Environmental Science & Technology. Using a data science–based approach and advanced chemical detection methods, investigators identified dozens of PFAS in archived umbilical cord blood samples, including compounds not routinely measured in traditional testing panels.'

Source: Waste360, 4/6/26

"Textile waste continues to be one of the most pressing sustainability challenges in our industry, but new collaborations are constantly emerging to combat the issue and make responsible disposal easier for consumers. As we enter Earth Month, WM, UNIQLO, and Piece of Cake Moving & Storage are expanding the UNTrash It Program beyond New York City into Los Angeles and Dallas. This move will build on a pilot program that has diverted more than 7,000 pounds of clothing from landfills and into reuse and recycling streams. To get more insight into this expansion and initiative, Waste360 caught up with Tom Carpenter, senior director of circulatory solutions at WM, and Jean Shein, global director of sustainability at UNIQLO. The two share how the partnership is working to scale textile recovery efforts and reshape how consumers think about clothing disposal."

Source: Grist, 4/5/26

"Last month, Climate Central, a nonprofit specializing in communicating climate science, published an analysis that found that spring is trending to an earlier arrival from 1981 to 2025 in most of the United States. On average, leaves now emerge six days earlier than they did in 1981 in 88 percent, or 212 out of 242, of major U.S. cities. For example, in Lau's city of St. Joseph, Missouri, the spring leaves tend to arrive two days earlier. An earlier spring could have consequences for the agriculture industry, ecology, and more."

Source: E+E Leader, 4/22/25

Laboratories are hubs of scientific discovery—but they are also resource-intensive spaces, consuming as much as 10 times more electricity and four times more water than typical academic buildings, according to Georgia Tech. With nearly 900,000 square feet of lab space on campus, the university faced a challenge shared by many research institutions: how to reconcile innovation with environmental responsibility.

Source: McGill University, 3/19/25

A new discovery about the slime ejected by velvet worms could revolutionize sustainable material design, according to a study by McGill University researchers. Their findings outline how a naturally occurring protein structure, conserved across species from Australia, Singapore and Barbados over nearly 400 million years of evolution, enables the slime’s transformation from liquid to fibre and back again. It’s a discovery that could inspire next-generation recyclable bioplastics. 

Source: University of Leicester, 5/2/25

A new technique that uses soundwaves to separate materials for recycling could help prevent potentially harmful chemicals leaching into the environment.  Researchers at the University of Leicester have achieved a major milestone in fuel cell recycling, advancing techniques to efficiently separate valuable catalyst materials and fluorinated polymer membranes (PFAS) from catalyst-coated membranes (CCMs). 

Source: Canary Media, 6/9/25

Chicago-area Sun Metalon removes gunk and grime from metal slivers normally thrown away, helping to reduce emissions from aluminum and steel production.

Source: Inside Climate News, 7/5/25

Amid a global plastic-pollution crisis, artist Erik Jon Olson turns his own plastic waste into quilted works of art in which the medium is the message.

Source: Fast Company, 8/11/25

Concert barriers are built to be baked in the hot sun, transported through busy venues, battered by excited concertgoers, and, ultimately, disposed of. A company in Paris is giving them a second life. 

Source: Chemical & Engineering News, 10/17/25

Lithium-ion batteries can catch fire because they use liquid electrolytes made of flammable organic solvents. A new water-based electrolyte with the texture of kids’ play slime promises to make batteries safer. Because it dissolves in water, the quasi-solid electrolyte also allows for easy recycling of valuable metals from batteries, says Shintaro Yasui of the Institute of Science Tokyo, who reported on the work at the Materials Science and Technology conference in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 29. In addition, the material is easy to make from lithium salts and water at ambient conditions using mechanochemistry. “We don’t need any dry rooms or glove boxes,” Yasui says.

Source: Chemical & Engineering News, 10/17/25

Arsenic is a potent carcinogen and one of the world’s most dangerous drinking-water contaminants, particularly in South Asia, where millions are exposed through groundwater. Removing the toxin from groundwater helps protect public health but leaves behind sludge laced with arsenic, which is expensive and hazardous to dispose of properly. Researchers in Denmark have now found a way to turn that toxic waste into something valuable: high-purity elemental arsenic, a material in growing demand for green electronics and batteries (Sci. Adv. 2025, DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adz5816).

Source: Concordia University, 10/6/2025

A chance encounter with plastic waste on a tropical beach sparked a deep investigation into what those fragments mean for human health. The research reveals that bottled water isn’t as pure as it seems—each sip may contain invisible microplastics that can slip through the body’s defenses and lodge in vital organs. These tiny pollutants are linked to inflammation, hormonal disruption, and even neurological damage, yet remain dangerously understudied.

Source: Associated Press, 10/7/25

Every night some 74,000 gallons (280,000 liters) of water are frozen at Norton Audubon Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. The hospital used to get all of its air conditioning from a conventional system found in most U.S. buildings, but now 27 tanks of ice sustain a network of cold-water pipes keeping operating rooms at safe temperatures and patients comfortable. This type of thermal energy storage, also known as ice batteries, is being added to buildings in the U.S. for its ability to provide cool air without releasing planet-warming emissions.

Source: New Food Magazine, 10/6/2025

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have launched an online tool designed to track agricultural byproducts and help industry find new uses for them, potentially turning food waste into valuable resources. The Byproduct Database, developed by the AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems, catalogues leftovers such as fruit skins, nut shells and pulp, highlighting opportunities for reuse across the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors.

Source: Inside Climate News, 11/17/25

Ingesting just six pieces of rubber—each smaller than a pea—can all but seal a seabird’s fate, leaving it with a 90 percent chance of death. A 300-pound adult green sea turtle has about a 50 percent chance of survival after swallowing two golf balls’ worth of plastic bags and food wrappers. Gulping down less than a soccer ball’s volume of fishing line or nets is enough to kill nearly all sea lions, seals, dolphins and porpoises.

These are just some of the fatal thresholds marine wildlife face when plastic ends up inside their bodies, according to a new analysis by scientists from the Ocean Conservancy, an international marine conservation nonprofit. In a study released Monday, researchers outline the amount of swallowed debris it takes to block an animal’s gut, tear its digestive tract or force its intestines to twist. 

Source: BioCycle, 11/18/25

On September 1, 2025, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) began requiring all wastewater treatment facilities (WWTF) intending to apply biosolids to agricultural land or used for reclamation projects to collect at least one representative sample of their biosolids and test it for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) each year using draft EPA Method 1633A. The results from this sample must be received prior to biosolids being applied to land. 

Source: Ars Technica, 10/20/25

Electronic waste is a treasure trove of rare earth elements (REEs), but separating out these materials for recovery and reuse is no easy task. A team of researchers from Rice University says it has developed a better way to separating REEs from waste magnets found in discarded electronics. The process uses less energy and isn’t nearly as emissions and pollution intensive as current methods. The team describes the technique in a paper recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: Washington Post, 10/28/25

Scientists in Alaska are working to develop a sustainable and affordable fungus-based solution for insulation.

Source: Inside Climate News, 12/11/25

With data center developers in Texas and most other states now commonly deploying fossil fuel generators as backup power sources, a nascent industry from the renewable side of power generation—battery storage—has started elbowing its way into the fast-growing sector. A new report by Oxford-based Aurora Energy Research detailed how adding battery storage to a site could improve data centers’ power quality, provide flexibility and reduce transmission congestion, while offering an opportunity to reduce emissions. 

Source: Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), 1/9/26

Acrylic acid is an industrial chemical that gives disposable diapers their absorbency, makes water-based paints and sealants more weather-proof, improves stain resistance in fabric, and enhances fertilizers and soil treatments. It is converted from a precursor called 3-Hydroxypropionic acid, or 3-HP, which is made almost exclusively from petroleum through chemical synthesis in an energy-intensive process. Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Penn State University have developed a cost-effective, bio-based method to produce 3-HP and validated its commercial potential. 'Their new paper in Nature Communications reports on the development of a high-yield strain of Issatchenkia orientalis yeast for 3-HP production, as well as extensive techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment that demonstrated its commercial viability and environmental benefits.'

Source: University of Birmingham, 2/6/25

People's ability to interpret emotions or focus on performing a task is reduced by short-term exposure to particulate matter (PM) air pollution, potentially making everyday activities, such as the weekly supermarket shop, more challenging.

Source: Northeastern Global News, 2/5/26

'New researchout of Northeastern University has discovered a new way to extract rare earth elements out of coal tailings, the cast-off soil and rock left behind by coal mining. Using a chemical treatment and a specially designed microwave reactor to control the temperature, the researchers have doubled the extraction levels previously possible.’

Source: Science, 2/18/26

'Science fiction definitely saw this one coming. Writers for the Superman, Star Trek, and Mission Impossible franchises all dreamed up the idea of storing libraries of data in glass. Now, Microsoft researchers say they are bringing this vision closer to reality by storing nearly 2 terabytes (TB) of data—enough for hundreds of thousands of photos or hundreds of hours of video—in coaster-size plates of glass. The new approach, described today in Nature, could archive data for thousands of years, simply and cheaply.'

Source: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 3/4/26

Olefin epoxidation is a process used to generate epoxide chemicals, which are the backbone of the textile, plastic, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. The current industry-standard process uses harsh peroxides, which are difficult to dispose of safely and emit carbon dioxide, to facilitate oxidation reactions. Water can be used as an oxidant instead of peroxides, but its O-H bonds are difficult to break, requiring high-temperature conditions. That makes using water as an oxidant highly energy-intensive and further contributes to CO2 emissions. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chemistry professor Prashant Jain's research group, with colleagues from the Universidade de São Paulo and Northwestern University, demonstrated a method combining the power of electricity and energy from visible-light photons to break the H-O-H bonds in water, effectively turning water into an oxidant without requiring high-temperature heating.

Read their study, published by the American Chemical Society, at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.5c18709.

Source: Northwestern University, 2/5/25

Northwestern researchers have developed a specialized sponge that slurps up pollutants, offering a reusable and cost-effective solution to water contamination. As more waterways contend with algae blooms and pollution caused by minerals from agricultural runoff and industrial manufacturing processes, new methods to remove pollutants like phosphate, copper and zinc are emerging across fields. While solutions exist, they tend to be costly and can be used just once. The sponge, coated with nanoparticles that have an affinity for pollutants, can collect metals like zinc and copper, as well as phosphate, and in previous iterations has successfully pulled lead from water, and microplastics and oil from lakes and oceans. It then releases these valuable resources when it is exposed to different pHs. 

See https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsestwater.4c01234 for the study describing this research.

Source: Chemical & Engineering News, 3/11/26

‘Cobalt and nickel, bound together in lithium-ion battery cathodes, are difficult to separate during battery recycling. Researchers have now found a way to tease the elements apart electrochemically with the help of tartaric acid, which is found in grapes and is a wine-industry by-product (Sci. Adv. 2026, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aec7956).'

Source: Canary Media, 3/9/26

'When rockets blast off Earth, they rely on tiny metal powders to help propel them into space. Now, an emerging group of startups and scientists is hoping to harness these particles for something more terrestrial: producing carbon-free energy for factories. Powdered iron can be combusted in industrial boilers to supply the hot water and steam needed to produce everything from beer and baby formula to paper and plastic resins — without directly emitting carbon dioxide. The concept is about a decade old, but companies are just starting to make serious inroads to put the technology into practice.' Dutch startup Renewable Iron Fuel Technology, or Rift, recently reported raising almost 114 million euros ($131 million) in private financing and public grants to develop its first commercial project. 'Rift will initially use a small amount of virgin iron powder, sourced from industrial suppliers. But the goal is to continually recycle the ashes — which are pure iron oxide — to make new fuel. When combined with low-carbon hydrogen, iron oxide splits into water and iron powder, the latter of which will be returned to the boiler.'

Source: Interesting Engineering, 4/7/26

"Chinese researchers have just developed a revolutionary sodium battery that can effectively eliminate thermal runaway, one of the most dangerous failure modes, by forming a so-called smart firewall inside the cell. The research was carried out by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It was led by Yong-Sheng Hu, PhD, a professor at the Institute of Physics, who specializes in advanced materials for sodium-ion and lithium-ion batteries. For the project, the team built a self-protecting, non-flammable electrolyte that physically blocks thermal runaway in sodium-ion batteries. This marked the first time such a level of safety has been achieved in high-capacity cells."

Source: The Allegheny Front, 4/6/26

"A team of epidemiologists have been looking into the causes of various cancers, beyond smoking, for years. They recently published their third study in the series, which focuses on lung cancer, in the journal Environmental Health...The researchers looked at 1,078 counties in the 15 states that provided data to the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program, and simulated a scenario where everyone stopped smoking. On average, lung cancer rates were cut by more than half, but the results varied widely. In some counties, lung cancer rates plunged. But in others, there was only a modest drop...Using data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index (AQI) they found that in counties with higher pollution levels, cancer rates remained higher than in places with cleaner air...The researchers were surprised in their latest study to find a link between non-smoking related lung cancer rates and benzene, which is emitted from coke ovens, as well as many other sources."

Source: Interesting Engineering, 4/9/26

"US researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have found a new way to turn the world’s most common plastic waste into gasoline and diesel fuels. Polyethylene is a common polymer used in the manufacturing of grocery bags, kitchen cutting boards, and other consumer goods. Through a specialized molten salt treatment, the long polymer chains in polyethylene are broken down into fuel-grade molecules. Currently, other known methods use high heat to break down plastic, but this new technique accomplishes the same at temperatures around 200°C (392°F). It makes the entire conversion process much cheaper and less energy-intensive." 

See https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c01107 for the full study.