“Our government has a duty to set, and enforce, ground rules that protect public health and safety. We are the referees, we are here to prevent big corporations and the powerful industries from harming our communities or running over the rights of citizens. When it comes to fracking, Pennsylvania failed.”

Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro made that statement in 2020 as attorney general in response to the findings of the 43rd statewide grand jury commissioned by his office. The two-year investigation exposed systemic failures by state agencies to protect Pennsylvanians living in close proximity to fracking operations and an absence of effective regulation and oversight of the industry.

Now, Shapiro prepares to take office as governor in the wake of one of the largest methane leaks in U.S. history in Cambria County, as Shell’s cracker plant begins producing plastics from fracked ethane and while residents in rural Greene County are still without safe drinking water after a ‘frack-out’ impacted the local aquifer. 

On the campaign trail, Shapiro pledged support for a set of more stringent regulations recommended by the grand jury for Pennsylvania’s hydraulic fracturing industry. And in one of his closing acts as attorney general, he announced a plea agreement with the fracking corporation Coterra, addressing fracking’s impact on the water in the Susquehanna County town of Dimock.

The midterm election pitted the Democrat Shapiro against Doug Mastriano, a Republican state senator who pushed for deregulation of the state fossil fuel industry and called for more lands to be opened for fracking and drilling.

With the election in the past, it remains to be seen how Shapiro will govern, what obstacles he will face and to what extent his vision for natural gas regulation will be seriously pursued or successfully implemented.

A record to run on

As the commonwealth’s chief prosecutor, Shapiro took actions that he said would hold fracking companies accountable.

The 43rd statewide grand jury’s investigation exposed failures on the part of the Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] and the Department of Health [DOH], the two agencies responsible for fracking oversight, and produced eight policy recommendations that would better protect Pennsylvanians.

Shapiro has since said he would implement the recommendations of the grand jury if elected governor. Those recommendations include:

• Expanding no-drill zones from 500 to 2,500 feet from a home
• Requiring fracking companies to publicly disclose all chemicals used in drilling and hydraulic fracturing before they are used 
• Regulating gathering lines, the smaller pipelines used to transport unconventional gas
• Assessing aggregate air pollution in a given area to gauge air quality impact
• Requiring the safe transport of contaminated fracking waste
• Conducting a “comprehensive health response” to the effects of living near fracking sites
• Limiting ex-DEP employees from private sector employment immediately after leaving the department
• Granting the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General original criminal jurisdiction over unconventional oil and gas companies.

“This report is about preventing the failures of our past from continuing into our future,” said Shapiro at the time. “There remains a profound gap between our constitutional mandate for clean air and pure water, and the realities facing Pennsylvanians who live in the shadow of fracking giants and their investors.”

In February 2022, his office charged an energy transfer subsidiary with nine counts of environmental crimes related to the company’s conduct during the construction of the Revolution Pipeline. “I want to be clear,” Shapiro then said, “no matter the project, no matter the company, my office will hold those who break the law accountable for cutting corners, hurting people’s livelihoods and risking people’s safety.”

While campaigning for governor, Shapiro acknowledged past lapses in state oversight.  

“We’ll make sure that we have a Department of Environmental Protection that’s actually on the side of the people, and actually meeting the obligation under our state constitution to provide for clean air and pure water,” Shapiro said after receiving the endorsement of a number of environmental advocacy groups in early April, ahead of the primary. “We’re going to make sure that we put these issues front and center.”

Yesterday, Shapiro announced that Coterra Energy Inc., formerly known as Cabot Oil and Gas, pleaded no contest to 15 environmental charges brought by the 2020 grand jury, which found that the company polluted well water in the Susquehanna town of Dimock with metals and high levels of methane.

As part of the plea, Coterra will pay $16.29 million to construct a new public water line and cover 75 years worth of water bills for homeowners that were impacted.

Shapiro called it an “historic settlement.”

“Companies will take notice that we won’t allow communities like this to be taken advantage of or forgotten,” he said in a press release.

A slap on the wrist?

Some health and environment advocates aren’t convinced that Shapiro’s actions will meaningfully extend beyond election season record-touting.

“Publicly, in the papers and in the interviews, he looked phenomenal. He looked like he did a beautiful job,” said Tammy Murphy, medical advocacy director at Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania, in an interview prior to the Coterra plea announcement. “But if you actually think about what it did to the companies, it was merely a slap on the wrist.”

As a result of the 2020 grand jury investigation, for instance, the fracking company Range Resources pleaded no contest to negligent oversight of well sites in Washington County. The terms included payments totaling $150,000 to various environmental organizations in that county.

“My fear is that too much of it was for show,” said Murphy. “And what he’s going to do when he gets in there is not going to be very different than Gov. [Tom] Wolf or Gov. [Tom] Corbett or [Ed] Rendell.”

A campaign spokesperson for Shapiro did not respond to requests to comment for this story.

Murphy, who worked closely with people who testified to the 43rd grand jury, pointed to a lack of communication and coordination between DEP and DOH as an issue she hopes Shapiro will address as governor. 

Shapiro has said he supports “responsible fracking.” Murphy said there’s no such thing. 

“From the perspective of healthcare providers,” she said, “there really is no safe or healthy way to frack. It cannot be done safely. It cannot be done in a way that is healthy.”

Support for a (blue) hydrogen future

Shapiro has come out in support of developing a regional hydrogen hub, and advocated for an approach to reducing Pennsylvania’s carbon footprint that includes developing renewables like solar and wind, investing in energy efficiency and nascent technologies like hydrogen and carbon capture. A proposed hydrogen hub in Pennsylvania, though, would almost certainly rely on fracked natural gas as feedstock. 

Hydrogen, which can be used as a mode of energy storage, must be isolated from other compounds like water before it can be stored, transported and ultimately cleanly combusted. But that process requires energy. Hydrogen created using natural gas is known as blue hydrogen, as opposed to green hydrogen created using renewable energy sources.

The Wolf administration, along with regional and state agencies, officials and business associations, have thrown their collective weight behind an effort to develop a hydrogen hub in Western Pennsylvania. Most recently, Wolf signed House Bill 1059, which provides $1 billion in tax cuts over 20 years for companies that purchase hydrogen produced in Pennsylvania. A further tax break extends to those that buy natural gas to produce hydrogen, effectively subsidizing the cost of natural gas if it’s used to make hydrogen.

“Natural gas is directly connected to [these] opportunities,” said Matt Smith, president of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, an affiliate of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. “We’re going to need natural gas if we want to achieve our vision for a low carbon future.” 

The conference has advocated for blue hydrogen as part of a low-carbon transition, with natural gas an important pillar of their plan, which was created with input from the oil and gas industry. Smith said he expects a commitment to developing a hydrogen hub in Western Pennsylvania will continue under Shapiro.

Some experts argue that the pursuit of blue hydrogen is effectively another avenue to prop up the natural gas industry.

“The addition of a further tax credit if natural gas is involved is even more of an incentive for the companies that are looking at the hydrogen infrastructure in Pennsylvania to prioritize blue hydrogen,” said Joanne Kilgour, an environmental lawyer and executive director of the Ohio River Valley Institute [ORVI], a think tank focused on regional energy and economy issues.

“The latest bill is reflective of a public policy choice that anticipates job creation as a result of putting the public’s resources into subsidizing the fossil fuel industry.”

Research conducted by ORVI shows declining population, jobs and income in Pennsylvania’s most heavily fracked counties. “We’re not seeing the kinds of job creation, growth in personal income or population that’s often promised by these industries,” Kilgour continued. “And yet we do see that when there are investments made in clean energy jobs and energy efficiency.” 

Shapiro also supports investments in renewable energy and efficiency, according to his campaign website.

The fracking industry is hoping to continue to work with Harrisburg’s new leadership.

“Across America, voters want the affordable, reliable, clean energy natural gas delivers, and they support more natural gas production and infrastructure to create jobs, provide new manufacturing opportunities and secure greater environmental progress,” said David Callahan, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition in a statement to PublicSource. “Energy and natural gas are unifying areas of common ground, and we look forward to working with all the newly elected state and federal officials to further unlock the commonwealth’s energy resources and ensure Pennsylvania’s policies are attractive for energy investment and jobs.” 

Legislative realities

It’s unprecedented to have a leader in the state’s highest executive office pushing for fracking regulation, said Khari Mosley, political director of the advocacy group 1Hood Power and a former state director of the Blue Green Alliance, a labor and environmental advocacy organization. “That is a stark difference from the current administration,” he said, pointing to a Wolf administration that has not made a priority of holding the fracking industry accountable.

One of the most important things that Shapiro can do, Mosley said, is to use the office of the governor as a bully pulpit to push the importance of holding the fracking industry accountable in an effort to put public pressure on the legislature.

“That’s a very powerful message that we haven’t heard from the chief executive of the state, really ever,” said Mosley, who also said Shapiro will need to find a “sweet spot” between the interests of jobs and organized labor against industry accountability and protecting communities.

An expected Democratic majority in the state House is a “net win” for Shapiro’s agenda, said Mosley: It gives Shapiro “at a minimum the opportunity to propose things that haven’t really been able to be proposed in some time with any sense of a realistic path to passage.” 

A Democratic majority would likely support regulation of fossil fuel extraction, and an expected Democratic chair of the house Environmental Resources and Energy Committee would be crucial in moving regulatory policy proposals forward. 

Republicans maintained control in the state Senate, however, and have historically balked at oil and gas regulation, clouding the prospects for passage under Shapiro. Senate Republicans did not respond to PublicSource’s requests for interviews.

All the same, advocates like Veronica Coptis, executive director of the Center for Coalfield Justice, hope Shapiro will “be creative” with executive actions, including his appointees.

“I’m very curious to see who Gov. Shapiro decides to appoint at the Department of Environmental Protection,” Coptis said. “Even though our regulations don’t go as far as we think they need to go to protect our communities, there are still roles in which the Department of Environmental Protection could take action to do more enforcement, and I think that’s what we hope to see given his record as the attorney general.” 

Without public pressure, Coptis said she would expect Shapiro to maintain an approach that says, “We can still have safe fracking and protect our environment.

“Those of us living next to these operations know that without significant enforcement by the DEP and regulatory improvements, that’s actually not possible. It’s not happening. And it’s going to require a lot of policy to improve and change.”

Quinn Glabicki is the environment and climate reporter at PublicSource and a Report for America corps member. He can be reached at quinn@publicsource.org and on Twitter and Instagram @quinnglabicki.

This story was fact-checked by Aavin Mangalmurti.

The world now has eight billion people, according to the United Nations. The milestone, reached late this year, comes at a time when climate change is increasingly disrupting life on Earth as we know it. 

Wildfires and droughts continue to rage in the American West. Floods are destroying towns. Heatwaves are making summers deadly. And the greenhouse gas emissions that worsen these disasters are increasing. 

Hope, however, is not lost for all eight billion of us.

Scientists are creating new ways for us to coexist with nature, from hacking the genome of plants to creating marine reserves that protect people and the planet. Politically, the environment also won some major victories this year. 

Here are six environmental wins from 2022. 

1. Global climate deal addresses a longtime injustice

Some of the countries most affected by climate change have done the least to cause it. That’s why world leaders at a global climate conference—COP27—this past November agreed to a financing system that would help developing nations access financial assistance to adapt to and recover from climate change. 

The deal is being hailed as historic recognition of a growing global climate injustice. Countries seeking restitution have seen their claims bolstered by what’s called “attribution science”—the science of linking individual storms, heatwaves, and other weather disasters to global climatic changes. 

For example, when Pakistan was hit by deadly, catastrophic floods this summer, research showed the floods were worsened by climate change. Even though Pakistan contributed less than one percent of the world’s carbon emissions that propelled the disaster, the country was on the hook for billions in damages.

2. Protecting nature has surprising benefits for us  

Marine protected areas are stretches of ocean that limit human activity to protect animal and plant species. Scientists say these reserves are important for limiting the rapid rate of extinction happening as a result of climate change and human activities like drilling, mining, and shipping.

The world’s largest marine reserve, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawai’i, has shown it not only protects marine life in the park’s boundaries, but also helps the marine life living outside its borders flourish. And, as an added bonus, it helps us, too.

A study on the reserve published this October found that boats fishing for lucrative tuna species outside of the park’s boundaries have been catching more tuna since the park was created. Scientists think these catch rates are a result of the “spillover effect” of marine reserves—meaning when fish populations in the park flourish, they “spill over” into nearby areas. 

Evidence that protected areas like these can benefit both people and nature shows that more sustainable ways of doing business are possible. 

3. U.S. makes historic investment in fighting climate change 

In the U.S., the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was a political win for the planet. Signed into law in August, the IRA invested $369 billion in clean energy projects and incentives for energy-efficient technology such as electric vehicles. 

“This is the most consequential piece of U.S. legislation for the climate ever,” Richard Newell, chief executive of Resources for the Future, a nonprofit energy research organization, told National Geographic writer Craig Welch at the time.

Scientific analysis of the bill showed it could help the U.S. more quickly transition to renewable energy. By the end of the decade, 81 percent of the country’s energy could come from sources such as wind and solar power. The bill also quietly introduced the nation’s first-ever fee on a greenhouse gas—methane, a more potent source of planet-warming pollution than carbon dioxide. 

4. Hacking into the technological power of plants 

As humans pump more carbon dioxide pollution into the atmosphere, plants—from prairie grasses to rainforest trees—play an essential role in removing that carbon from the air and storing it underground. Using CRISPR gene editing technology, scientists are embarking on an $11 million research project to try to hack photosynthesis to suck carbon out of the air more efficiently. 

In addition to carbon storage, scientists are also changing how plants are grown for food. Living on an increasingly populous planet means we’ll need new ways to feed more people nutritious food grown on even less space. To do so, scientists are making strides in food innovation that rival science fiction. 

Research published in June showed it was possible to grow some edible plants—including algae, edible yeast, and mushrooms—without photosynthesis. This promising first step to growing food in the dark could be useful for astronauts traveling through space or as an insight into how to make crops grow more efficiently on Earth. 

Scientists are also constructing experimental greenhouses at the bottom of the sea to conserve water and energy. Photographer Luca Locatelli’s recently published photographs show an underwater farm in Italy. 

5. Cracking down on plastic  

Plastic is everywhere—in our water, air, and even our blood. That’s why governments, internationally and at the local level, are trying to curb the amount of plastic flowing into the environment. 

In March, 175 United Nations delegates agreed to negotiate a global treaty by 2024 that would curb the flow of plastics. The treaty would legally require countries to clean up their plastic pollution, a framework that is stricter than the voluntary emissions reductions countries make under the Paris Climate Agreement. 

And in June, California passed a game-changing plastics law that aims to reduce the amount of plastic in single-use products by a quarter over the next 10 years. Restricting production, instead of improving recyclability, is a significant shift in how governments tackle plastic pollution.

6. Finding ways to protect—and restore—nature 

In the tropical coral reefs of Hawai’i, nature is finding a way to adapt to climate change. Two commonly found species of coral may be able to successfully live in warmer ocean temperatures, according to research published in March. This adaptation offers some hope that reefs, which experience massive die-offs during heatwaves, may survive rising temperatures.  

Meanwhile, humans are giving nature a large helping hand through the rewilding movement. Rewilding is loosely defined as the process of bringing back lost plant and animal species. Scotland, which is committed to becoming the world’s first “rewilded nation,” is bringing back to life forests that have been lost for centuries. 

In California and Louisiana, nature is being allowed to correct its own course. A federal energy agency recently approved a plan to demolish four dams along California’s lower Klamath River to restore critical salmon habitats. Along the Gulf Coast, Louisiana took a major step toward its plan to alter the flow of the Mississippi River delta and divert river sediment downstream—a last-ditch effort to restore the state’s disappearing shoreline.

On our radar for 2023—new regulations for drinking water.

The Environmental Protection Agency has until the end of the year to propose a new drinking water rule to address chemicals called PFAS. Short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS is technically a class of chemicals that includes as many as 9,000 different iterations of the substance. They are in everyday household items: raincoats, carpet, curtains, non-stick pans. But studies show most of us have it in our blood, too—and we’re only just starting to learn about the long-term health consequences. The EPA rule would regulate two types of PFAS called PFOS and PFOA.

A drinking water standard would be a major step toward regulating PFAS in our tap water and an environmental win for next year.

This week in Uruguay, scientists, environmentalists, and government representatives—and, of course, lobbyists—are gathering to begin negotiations on a United Nations treaty on plastics. It’s only the start of talks, so we don’t know how they will shape up, but some of the bargaining chips on the table include production limits and phasing out particularly troublesome chemical components. A draft resolution released in March set the tone, acknowledging that “high and rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution represent a serious environmental problem at a global scale, negatively impacting the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development.” 

Which is a bureaucratic way of saying that plastic pollution—both macroplastics like bags and bottles, and microplastics like fibers from synthetic clothing—is a planetary catastrophe of the highest order, and one that’s getting exponentially worse. Humanity is now churning out a trillion pounds of plastic a year, and that’ll double by 2045. Only 9 percent of all the plastic ever produced has been recycled—and currently the United States is recycling just 5 percent of its plastic waste. The rest of it is either chucked into landfills or burned, or escapes into the environment. Wealthy nations also have a nasty habit of exporting their plastic waste to economically developing nations, where the stuff is often burned in open pits, poisoning surrounding communities. Plastics are also a major contributor of carbon emissions—they’re made of fossil fuels, after all.

Environmentalists and scientists who study pollution agree that the way to fix the plastic problem isn’t with more recycling, or with giant tubes that collect trash floating in the ocean, but by massively cutting its production. But while we don’t know what will eventually make it into the treaty—negotiations are expected to extend into 2024—don’t expect it to end the manufacturing of plastic the way a peace treaty would end a war. Instead, it could nudge humanity toward treating its debilitating addiction to polymers, by for instance targeting single-use plastics. “We’re not going to have a world without plastic—that’s not in the very foreseeable future,” says Deonie Allen, a plastics scientist at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. “However, the way we currently use it, that is a choice we can make today.” 

Think of the unmitigated flow of plastic into the environment as a stream. If you want to treat the problem downstream, you remove the waste that’s already in the environment, the way a beach cleanup does. Farther upstream—literally so—you might deploy river barges to intercept plastic before it reaches the ocean. But the farthest upstream you can go is just not producing the plastic in the first place. 

That’s why the treaty needs to include a limit on plastics production, an international team of scientists argued in the journal Science after the draft resolution was published. “What we’re really going to be pushing for is for mandatory and obligatory caps on production,” says Jane Patton, campaign manager of plastics and petrochemicals at the Center for International Environmental Law, who’s attending the talks. “We’re going to be pushing for changes in the way the plastics are produced, to eliminate toxic chemicals from the production and the supply chain.”

The draft resolution does indeed call for addressing the “full lifecycle” of plastic, meaning from production to disposal. But time will tell how successful negotiators will actually be in getting agreement on a cap. Ideally they’d agree to an internationally binding limit, but it’s also possible that individual countries will end up making their own commitments. 

Globally, waste pickers are responsible for collecting and recovering – from homes, businesses and landfills – up to 60% of all plastics which are then recycled. These workers do more than any other people to prevent plastic contaminating the environment, yet their work is rarely valued and they struggle to earn a decent living.

Despite recycling the waste of others, waste pickers often lack waste collection services themselves. They suffer the consequences of pollution more than most by inhaling fumes from burning plastic and breathing air and drinking water that is heavily contaminated with microplastics. Waste pickers are also vulnerable to abuse and exploitation as a result of being women, immigrants, indigenous or belonging to ethnic minorities and oppressed castes.

Punta del Este, an affluent resort town in Uruguay, is hosting the first intergovernmental negotiations to create a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution on land and sea. Punta normally hosts high-end tourists from Argentina and Brazil. Now, it is welcoming more than 1,000 delegates and observers from 160 nations and a range of environmental campaign groups, plastic industry representatives and waste pickers.

Waste pickers are known in Uruguay as clasificadores and can be found working in Punta’s nearest municipal landfill, a 20 minute-drive from the convention centre where the negotiations will take place. There, and in Uruguay’s capital of Montevideo, clasificadores have long carried out the lion’s share of plastics recycling. They scour landfills and bins and organise collections from homes and businesses before sorting recyclable from non-recyclable waste.

Clasificadores risk their lives doing this. In August 2022, a waste picker was found dead at Punta’s landfill – crushed by a reversing dump truck. While such deaths are thankfully rare, accidents, chronic illnesses and low life expectancy are common among waste pickers. Nevertheless, a new book by one of the authors, Patrick O’Hare, Rubbish Belongs to the Poor, shows how recyclable waste also offers a readily accessible source of income and provides a refuge for the poor and marginalised.

Historic recognition

Waste pickers are increasingly included in municipal waste management plans and services in various countries. Beyond collecting and sorting waste, waste pickers have also taken roles teaching people how to recycle waste properly. Multinational companies which generate a lot of plastic packaging, including Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Unilever and Nestlé, recently signed up to an initiative which would commit them to improving the rights of people in the informal waste sector who recover plastic to make recycled packaging with. It’s hoped this process might eventually lead to manufacturers buying recycled material directly from waste pickers, fairer prices and improved health and safety standards.

Now, waste pickers are also partners in devising the global treaty to curb plastic pollution. A ten-strong delegation from the International Alliance of Waste pickers (IAW) is attending the negotiations in Uruguay to influence the treaty as it takes shape. The IAW demands to be represented in all future treaty discussions – and, for this reason, has called for ring-fenced UN funding for six waste pickers from different regions to attend subsequent meetings.

Efforts to clean up pollution will fail if new plastics continue to be produced at an increasing rate as forecasts suggest is likely. The treaty is expected to introduce new rules forcing plastic manufacturers to change the design of their products and restricting their production of non-recyclable plastic. It will also seek to increase recycling rates, since only around 9% of the plastic that has ever been produced has been recycled. The IAW are keen to ensure that waste pickers benefit from these changes.

Plastics are more likely to find their way into and pollute the environment if there is no market for recycling them. Unrecyclable or difficult to recycle materials, which are likely to face production limits in the treaty (such as expanded polystyrene and sachets), offer little value to waste pickers. Where plastic bans and caps would affect livelihoods, the IAW has called for waste pickers to be given opportunities to transition into other forms of work.

At the negotiations for a global plastics treaty, waste pickers are asking to be involved in how plastic waste and recycling policies are designed and implemented within countries and internationally. It may be too late for reforms to benefit the Uruguayan clasificador who died in August. Yet if negotiations in Punta del Este end with overdue recognition of the role of waste pickers in tackling plastic pollution, this will be a small step towards honouring his memory.

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Ross Kemp has voiced his disgust at plastic pollution as he recalls seeing the impact first-hand while filming for a new documentary.

The former Emmerdale star has become renowned for his documentaries since leaving the soap, with Ross Kemp on Gangs winning a Bafta for best factual series.

Kemp has also faced the Taliban, Somali pirates and been in actual war zones for his Extreme World series.

However he recently came across something which disgusted him to the core while filming a new documentary much closer to home.

The star is working on the second season of Shipwreck Treasure Hunter, which sees him dive deep off the coast in search of items of significance.

When recently diving in the UK, Kemp saw animals covered in plastic due to the ‘atrocious’ pollution in our seas.

‘The amount of plastic pollution in our oceans is absolutely atrocious,’ he tells Metro.co.uk.

‘You might see it washed up on the beach but that is a fraction of what is in our oceans. Only recently, diving off Lundy, I saw a seal with plastic wrapped around one of its fins.

Elsewhere in the UK, ‘I saw a cormorant moving past me when I was 25 metres deep, and it had plastic around its neck. The amount of times I’ve been out on small boats and we’ve had to stop because there’s plastic around the propellor.’

The actor and environmental activist has teamed up with company Lyfecycle, which has developed a biodegradable or ‘self-destructing’ plastic.

Together, they are calling for sport stadiums around the world to bring in the biodegradable plastic cups, which have already been in use at Twickenham for some time.

He was at the stadium over the weekend ahead of England’s match against South Africa where he showcased a ‘self-destructing’ cup which biodegrades within two years, leaving no microplastics or toxins behind.

He said: ‘If you can come up with a plastic that biodegrades…you are lifting a heavy heavy weight off the planet.

‘A weight that I’m sadly responsible for and generations before me have been responsible for.

‘I was born in the 60s, and in the 70s everything was made of plastic. And now as I travel the world making documentaries, everywhere I go I see plastic.

‘In Libya, where the sands blow by the side of the road you see sand, plastic, sand, plastic. Eight years of sand under layers of plastic.

‘My generation are more guilty probably than any other generation before us. Particularly in the last 60 or 70 years, in human beings’ ability to pollute the world, we’ve done an outstanding job.’

Mainstream use of Lyfecycle’s technology, which can be used in everything from plastic bottles to baby wipes and face masks, could be ‘globe-changing,’ he said.

‘If people start adopting this in venues around the world using the Lyfecycle cup and the technology it brings, it will change plastics forever.’

As well as seeing the damage of plastic pollution first-hand, Kemp says he got involved in the campaign as it’s making a difference without ‘ramming it down people’s throats.’

‘It’s having a positive effect on the environment without being lecture-y, without those issues… it’s an excellent way of doing something about it, being part of something, without necessarily having to get a big flag out to do so.’

The products work by being ‘self-destructing’ or biodegradable, with Kemp explaining: ‘If this cup doesn’t end up in a recycling bin and it ends up somewhere on street, in a field, in the ocean, over two years it will degrade itself.

‘There’s so much plastic out there. If the technology exists to make it self-destruct and no longer harm this planet then we should embrace it.’

Liepa Olsauskaite, Lyfecycle spokesperson, said: ‘Plastic pollution is still out of control, and change is not happening fast enough – which is where Lyfecycle’s self-destructing technology and visionary partners like Twickenham come in.

‘We are delighted that rugby fans at Twickenham have engaged so strongly with this campaign. We have to act now: if we continue down our current path, 450 million further tonnes of plastic will reach the oceans by 2040.’

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MORE : Ross Kemp would ‘never say never’ to returning to EastEnders: ‘It’s either that or pantomime forever’

MORE : Ross Kemp recalls terrifying moment he was almost ‘dragged away fighting currents’ while filming new documentary

Eating a Sunday roast can result in swallowing 230,000 particles of microplastics, a study has warned.

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic less than 5mm in size, which scientists believe can harm wildlife – and may pose health risks to humans.

Researchers said that eating a Sunday roast every day is the equivalent to eating two plastic bags every year.

The study, conducted by University of Portsmouth scientists in partnership with Good Morning Britain, found that a chicken roast dinner made with plastic packaging contained seven times more microplastics than it would without.

The research suggests that plastic packaging is a major route for microplastics to get into human bodies.

Read more: A 1988 warning about climate change was mostly right

Dr Fay Couceiro, reader in environmental pollution at the University of Portsmouth, said: “From the results it would appear that the majority of microplastics in our food come from the plastic packaging it is wrapped in. However, there are other ways that plastic can enter the food chain.

“It could be getting into the vegetables through the soil or into our meat through grazing. Air has lots of microplastics in it too, so they could be falling on top of the food and finally it could be from the cooking utensils used when preparing a meal.

“Usually food samples are analysed for microplastics in their raw state under laboratory conditions. This allows us to understand how much plastic is inside a particular type of food.

“This study differs because we chose to look at what was actually on your plate after the food had been cooked.

“Instead of a sterile laboratory, the food was cooked in a normal kitchen, so it is likely the microplastics will come from a combination of the food, the packaging, cooking utensils and the air.”

Read more: Melting snow in Himalayas drives growth of green sea slime visible from space

Alberto Costa MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on microplastics, said: “Plastic can enter our bodies through the air we breathe and through our food as highlighted in this investigation.

Story continues

“We don’t yet know the effect this has on our health, but I would very much welcome more research and investigation into this so we can understand if there are any impacts.”

Earlier this year, a study suggested that tiny particles of microplastic are already polluting every lake and river in Britain, posing as-yet-unknown risks to wildlife.

Even remote bodies of water such as Loch Lomond are polluted with plastic particles.

Researchers from Bangor University and Friends of the Earth collected water samples from rivers, reservoirs and lochs in England, Scotland and Wales.

Every sample contained plastic, with the River Tame in Greater Manchester having more than 1,000 particles per litre, and Loch Lomond having 2.4 particles per litre.

Ullswater in the Lake District had 29.5 shards of microplastic per litre.

Watch: Study suggests whales ingest 10 million pieces of plastic per day

An emaciated sperm whale that washed up in Canada had 330 pounds of fishing gear in its stomach when it died, scientists have found.

The sperm whale was alive when it washed ashore on Cape Breton Island on November 9. Teams from the Marine Animal Response Society (MARS), the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative-Atlantic Veterinary College and the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables arrived on the scene to find the whale extremely underweight. It died during the night, MARS said in a statement posted to Facebook.

A necropsy of the animal has now found that there were 330 pounds of fishing gear in its stomach, which led to it slowly starving to death.

Sperm whales can be found worldwide. They are a vulnerable species and face a number of threats, including fishing gear entanglement or injury and noise pollution.

Marine mammals strand ashore for a number of reasons. More often than not they are found severely unwell or injured, meaning they do not have the strength to swim away from the shore.

Tonya Wimmer, Executive Director of MARS told Newsweek: “Ingestion of debris in the oceans—including fishing gear and plastics—is a serious issue for marine life around the world. The deaths of sperm whales and many other species have been investigated and attributed to ingestion of debris. In the Canadian Maritime Provinces, we have previously had animals with plastics and other debris found in their stomach, but never anything to this degree before.”

Sperm whales usually weigh around 90,000 pounds but is not clear how much the sperm whale in Canada weighed when it washed up. The species’ stomach is about 4 feet long and 3 foot wide.

Teams do not yet know whether the fishing gear came from Canada or another country. It is also not clear where or when the gear was ingested.

“Fishing gear is known to be a threat to many species, both from ingestion and also when the animal is entangled in gear externally. For some critically endangered [species], entanglements in fishing gear pose a serious issue for their recovery. That said, entanglement in fishing gear is not the only threat to species in the oceans, Wimmer said.

These include ingestion of marine debris, strikes by vessels, pollution and the impact from noise in the oceans.

Nonetheless, fishing gear poses a huge threat to marine species, whether it be from ingestion or injury. It can sometimes entangle around whales bodies, meaning they are unable to eat or swim effectively. An estimated 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die every year globally after being injured by fishing gear, a 2021 study the University of St Andrews, Fife reported.

A critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale named Snow Cone became well-known after being entangled in huge amounts of fishing line. Scientists last spotted her in September and determined her death was all but certain.

“There are two key things which can be done. [We can] clean up the debris that is currently in our environment, both in the ocean and on land,” Wimmer said. “There are many ‘ghost gear’ and shoreline clean up programs around the world which have been aiming to tackle this issue because it is a major conservation concern for marine life, as well as humans given we eat animals in the ocean.”

“Going forward, [we can] ensure debris does not end up in the oceans. This involves the overall reduction in use of plastics…proper disposal and recycling of any materials being used, including fishing gear, and the collection of lost gear when fishers note it has been lost at sea,” she said. “And these measures are things that everyone should be doing, including those who don’t live near the coasts as debris in the oceans can get there in many ways via air and water.”

MARS recently worked to remove several great white sharks that were found washed up off the coast of Nova Scotia. While strandings for marine mammals are common, it is rare for sharks.