Waste Stat Archives | The Cool Down

A brightly colored fish with a silver body and orange-black striped tail swimming in water.

Tech

In Brazil's Amazon, a fish eaten for everyday meals is turning up with plastic in its gut

Fish swimming in brown water.

Tech

Half the fish sampled in Brazil's Amazon contained microplastics, and sewage may be to blame

A trash bin with discarded food.

Food

UK parents say kids refuse meals weekly, and families in Scotland's largest city waste £369 a year

Workers sorting recyclable materials on a conveyor belt in a recycling facility.

Business

US recycling isn't just about trash — it already supports 603,000 jobs nationwide

An aerial view of a landfill surrounded by trees.

Tech

Audit finds hundreds of old North Carolina landfill sites still unchecked near homes and wells

A pile of clothes at the landfill.

Business

Australia sends 6 metric tons of clothing to landfill every 10 minutes, and the US, EU dump more

A person scraping food into a trash can.

Tech

Farm waste surges by 41% in South Carolina, driven by natural disasters

A large landfill emitting smoke with piles of garbage scattered and some greenery nearby.

Tech

When China banned plastic waste imports, rich nations rerouted trash to Indonesia and its air got deadlier

A person washes a dish with a kitchen sponge.

Tech

Your kitchen sponge could be releasing microplastics with every load of dishes, study finds