Plastic Pollution

Tell Congress to Pass the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act!
- By: Thomas Hynes
- Clean Water Defense | News
The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, which was first introduced in 2020 and updated in 2021, will soon be reintroduced in both the U.S. House of...

Tell Congress to Keep Plastic Out of Our National Parks!
- By: Thomas Hynes
- News
Representative Mike Quigley of Illinois recently introduced House Resolution 4561, also known as the Reducing Waste in National Parks Act, for the reduction...

The 2023 Goldman Prize Winners Symbolize Hope for Our Future
- By: Lori Harrison
- News
In many cultures across the world a rainbow symbolizes hope. For The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where I was headed for the second...

San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper Diane Wilson is a 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner
- By: Waterkeeper Alliance
- News
Congratulations to the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize winners San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper Diane Wilson from the North America/United States,...

Guayllabamba Waterkeeper and the Ancestral Community Practice of Mingas
- By: Guayllabamba Waterkeeper
- News
Did you know that for many generations in the indigenous communities of the Ecuadorian highlands, when irrigation water is lacking, everyone is summoned...

Bahia de Banderas Waterkeeper Takes an Innovative Approach to Litter and Poverty
- By: Waterkeeper Alliance
- News
Bahia de Banderas Waterkeeper, an affiliate of Waterkeeper Alliance based in Mexico, has introduced a Trash4Tokens program, which is a Preventative campaign,...

Dive Into Democracy: 2022 Year In Review
- By: Thomas Hynes
- Clean Water Defense | News
Through our Dive Into Democracy blog and email series, we informed and engaged our U.S. audience on the most pressing clean water issues of the day. In...

Congress Must Pass the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act!
- By: Thomas Hynes
- News
The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act was introduced last year in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. This bill represents...

Beating Back the Tide of Nurdle Pollution with Charleston Waterkeeper
- By: Thomas Hynes
- Clean Water Defense | News
A pernicious and increasingly common form of plastic pollution comes by way of the innocuously named nurdles, the lentil-sized “pre-production pellets”...

Who Is Waterkeeper: Daru Setyorini, Brantas River Waterkeeper
- By: Thomas Hynes
- News
Daru Setyorini is the Brantas River Waterkeeper in Indonesia. She grew up near the river and has many happy childhood memories of swimming and playing...

Plastic Free July: Thinking beyond litter, landfills, and recycling rates
- By: Thomas Hynes
- Clean Water Defense | News
Plastic Free July is a global movement for cleaner streets, oceans, and communities. Waterkeeper Alliance salutes our partners and all those fighting back...

Support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act
- By: Thomas Hynes
- Clean Water Defense | News
The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act was introduced on March 26 by Senator Jeff Merkley (OR) and Representative Alan Lowenthal (CA) into both the...

Accenture Announces U.S. Innovation Challenge Winner
- By: Waterkeeper Alliance
- Clean Water Defense | Press Releases
University of Virginia team wins with an innovative project to fight plastic pollution in waterways A team of undergraduate students from the University...

Three Simple Things You Can Do to #KickOutPlastic
- By: Waterkeeper Alliance
- Clean Water Defense | News
As an environmental organization, we must continue being vocal in the fight against racism, for environmentalism and social justice go hand in hand. Race...

Tell Congress – It’s High Time to Break Free from Plastic
- By: Chris Wilke
- Clean Water Defense | News
The world is choking on plastic. We have seen the horrifying images of whales and seabirds dying of starvation with bellies full of plastic. Of sea turtles...

Plastic Pollution is a Global Problem for Waterways
- By: Pete Nichols
- Clean Water Defense | News
A new Waterkeeper Alliance project will unite plastic pollution measurement, categorization, and localized prevention strategies at an unprecedented global...

Hope for the Nairobi River
- By: Ellen Simon
- News
Waterkeepers from 16 countries and four continents gathered in Nairobi in November to learn from each other and presenters including the acting director...

Worried About Microplastics? Stormwater Is A Solution
- By: California Coastkeeper Alliance
- News
By Sean Bothwell, California Coastkeeper Alliance executive director. Reposted with permission from California Coastkeeper Alliance. New research shows...

Cleanups: Opportunities for Policy Solutions
- By: Ellen Simon
- News
Waterkeepers have made cleanups into an opportunity for face-to-face advocacy on issues such as plastic bag bans and alternative bag fees. The message:...

Cleanup Month: Uncommon Finds
- By: Ellen Simon
- News
Clean up a river and you may well find messages in bottles, a mannequin head or “almost enough parts to make a whole Honda Civic.” Sometimes, the finds...

River Cleanups: “Gateway Drug to Stewardship”
- By: Ellen Simon
- News
Arranging a cleanup can be the human equivalent of planting saplings, or seeding an oyster bed, helping Waterkeepers grow a base of dedicated activists....

From Plastic to People
- By: ajcarapella
- News
By Alexa Ruscitto, Waterkeeper Alliance intern Most people know that plastics can take thousands of years to break down in the environment. But did you...

Legal Petition Seeks Ban on Plastic Pollution From Petrochemical Plants
- By: Waterkeeper Alliance
- Climate And Safe Energy | Press Releases
Decades-old EPA Limits Require Update As Plastic Production Booms More than 270 community and conservation organizations filed a legal petition today that...

Local Efforts to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle in Vietnam
- By: ajcarapella
- News
By the Centre for Social Research and Development, parent organization to Huong River Waterkeeper Plastic pollution in our oceans is a major global problem...

In Lavaca Bay, a Massive Clean Water Win Against Big Plastic
- By: Julia Widmann
- News
At the end of June, a Texas federal judge found Formosa Plastic Corporation a “serial polluter” in a strongly worded decision in favor of Diane Wilson...

Musician Josie Dunne Joins Zappos and Sperry to Support Waterkeeper Alliance and Combat the Ocean Plastics Epidemic
- By: Waterkeeper Alliance
- Clean Water Defense | Press Releases
Sperry, the iconic footwear brand with a heritage of innovation and love for the sea, and Atlantic recording artist Josie Dunne, known for her personal...

On the Frontlines of the Plastics Fight on the Texas Gulf Coast
- By: Julia Widmann
- News
Diane Wilson, San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper and fourth generation Mid-Texas gulf coast shrimper, is keeping busy fighting Formosa Plastic Corporation’s...

Help Ban the Plastic Bag in New York
- By: ajcarapella
- News
By Jeremy Cherson, Legislative Advocacy Manager at Riverkeeper. Reposted with permission from Riverkeeper. Let’s do this right; ask your reps to...

Sperry and Waterkeeper Alliance Partner on New Sustainability Initiative
- By: Waterkeeper Alliance
- Clean Water Defense | News
To combat the world’s growing ocean plastic epidemic Sperry, the iconic footwear brand with a heritage of innovation and a love for the sea, and...

Plastic is Poisoning Our Planet | Dive Into Democracy
- By: Larissa Liebmann
- Clean Water Defense | News
Plastic is poisoning our planet, but there are actions you can take to reduce your impact Earth Day is on April 22 and this year’s theme is “End Plastic...