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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Now in <keyword id="19896940" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Walmart" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Walmart" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Walmart">Walmart</keyword> aisles: a <keyword id="23944922" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Skibidi-Toilet-action-figure" source="keywords">Skibidi Toilet action figure</keyword> — a $45 mystery toilet bowl.</li><li>The head of brands for toilet-maker <keyword id="23944923" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bonkers-Toys" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Bonkers Toys" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Bonkers Toys">Bonkers Toys</keyword> says it's selling well.</li></ul>Recently at my local Walmart, I saw a massive display in the main aisle of the toy section: It featured a plastic toilet, about a foot tall, with a ghoulish head sticking out. For $44.95, I could be the proud owner of the <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-link--underline" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/skibidi-toilet-is-good-actually-2023-10">Skibidi Toilet</a> — complete with <keyword id="23944930" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="toilet-themed-toys" source="keywords">toilet-themed toys</keyword> in the bowl. And in case you were wondering: Yes, it makes a flushing noise. If you've spent any time lately around someone who isn't old enough to drive, you've probably heard some utterance of the word "skibidi." I'll spare you the full summary of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/skibidi-toilet-gen-z-alpha-memes-internet-culture-outdated-old-2023-7" target="_blank">Gen Alpha meme</a>, but the short form is: It's a YouTube series about a dystopian battle of good and evil (the toilet guys are the villains). My colleague Lindsay Dodgson <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/skibidi-toilet-is-good-actually-2023-10" target="_blank">describes</a> it as "part 'Terminator,' part 'Bladerunner,' and obviously, part toilets." She says the series is actually good. What's interesting to me is that this absurd toilet meme appears to be doing a robust business in the toy aisle of your local discount store. I spoke with Dan Meyer, head of brands at Bonkers Toys, the company behind the flush. "Right away we noticed that it was exploding," Meyer said of the skibidi phenomenon online. Bonkers made a licensing deal and started pitching vendors on the toilet toy — an easy sell, he said. Bonkers started making prototypes of the toilet toy in early 2024 — and it's hit the shelves in time for the holiday season, a tight timeline. "When we're pitching it to [retailers], we had enough data to see that in middle schools and elementary schools, the term skibidi was already a thing," Meyer said. Bonkers could point to the YouTube views the Skibidi Toilet series had racked up — its channel has more than 40 million followers — or how if they searched Instagram, they'd find "hundreds and hundreds" of people dressed in homemade Skibidi Toilet costumes. Bonkers Toys, founded in 2017 in San Diego, has carved a niche for itself by licensing intellectual property from YouTube creators. Its first big toy was the giant "mystery egg" toy for Ryan's World. At the time, Ryan's World was one of the top channels on YouTube, a pioneer in the genre of "little kid opening toys." <div type="image" title="skibidi toilet toys" height="3000" width="3000" msid="115096128" hostid="261"></div>Bonkers' move into memes is in line with what retailers are trying to achieve, Blake Droesch, a senior retail analyst with BI sister company Emarketer, told me. He said big box stores like Walmart are trying to respond quickly to online trends, especially for toys. They need to move fast to compete with viral shopping on the likes of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-gen-x-boomers-love-temu-2024-1">Temu</a>. "This environment has certainly created demand for manufacturers who can produce fast and cheap products that will serve this growing market," he said. "It's no different than fast fashion, but for toys. They respond quickly to viral moments and get products on the shelves while the trend is still hot." The original Skibidi Toilet was the creation of animator Alexey Gerasimov, who made it for his YouTube channel DaFuq!?Boom!, which has 44.3 million subscribers. Gerasimov has partnered with Invisible Narratives, a companyfounded by Adam Goodman, the former president of DreamWorks SKG and Paramount Pictures who works with YouTube creators to help them make the jump to more traditional media, like movies and TV. It also helps them with licensing their brands for merchandise, like Skibidi's deal with Bonkers. Merchandising, like with the toys from Bonkers Toys, is crucial to success for these new media brands, he said. "We believe that young people don't want to pay for content anymore," Goodman told Business Insider. "Their parents pay for subscriptions, and the don't really go to movies the way that they used to — but they like buying stuff." Skibidi Toilet is certainly not the first YouTube creation to enter into consumer merchandise. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-mrbeast-pitches-brands-sponsorship-deals-jimmy-donaldson-youtube-2024-10">MrBeast</a> sells chocolates and premade lunches along with Logan Paul and KSI, who make the popular drink Prime. <div type="image" title="Skibidit toilet plush toy" height="3000" width="3000" msid="115096131" hostid="261"></div>Meyer wouldn't provide numbers on how many toilets they've sold, but so far, things are looking promising, he said. He said Bonkers' launch of a LankyBox-themed product about three years ago — which was another product centered on a YouTube creator — was one of the "biggest, most successful-selling brands in the boys' action aisle" at discounters, including Walmart. He said the Skibidi Toilet was outselling LankyBox by around double. (Walmart didn't respond to requests for comment on sales numbers.) Right now, there are only a few Skibidi Toilet-theme products from Bonkers: individual action figures, mini-figures, plushes (aw, cute), and the aforementioned "mystery" toilet, which includes stickers, minifigures, and lanyards. But there will be more products for next year, Meyer said — including what every little boy and girl dreams of getting from Santa: a remote-controlled toilet bowl. Correction: November 8, 2024 — In the Skibidi Toilet YouTube series, the toilet guys are the bad guys, not the good guys.

Dear Santa: Please bring me a Skibidi Toilet for Christmas

America has long had a plastic problem. It's an urgent question — what do we do with the 40 million tons of plastic waste we produce annually? One year of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/disposable-face-mask-waste-toxic-poison-water-nanoplastics-pollution-health-2022-2">plastic waste</a> is roughly enough to smother the entirety of Manhattan a meter deep, and it has to go somewhere. For years, the answer was simple: Make a lot of it, dump most of it in the landfill, and make the rest of it someone else's problem — the US regularly exported 7 million tons a year to China alone. Some of it was melted into lesser plastic; the rest was incinerated or buried.But then, in 2018, China cut off plastic imports.Now, America is coming to terms with a hard truth: Plastic was never designed to be recycled and there's no profitable way to recycle 91% of it. The environmental impacts have been disastrous. About 430 million tons of plastic are produced globally every year, accounting for 14% of global oil demand. The refinement of plastic alone emits up to 235 million tons of greenhouse gases a year. Most of that plastic breaks down into <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microplastics-risks-heart-attack-stroke-study-2024-3">microplastics</a> that make their way into the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/expert-how-i-keep-baby-family-safe-toxic-plastic-microplastics-2023-1">air, rain, and our bodies</a>. Almost 95% of America's water supply contains plastic fibers.While the US, the UK, and other European countries responded to China's ban by sending their waste to places like Thailand and Malaysia, those countries then followed China in cutting off waste imports. The message was clear: The Global South would no longer be a dumping ground for the West.<div type="image" title="A scavenger drinks water while collecting plastic waste to sell to a recycling center at a landfill in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia in March 2024" height="3333" width="5000" msid="109561992" hostid="261"></div>America is now scrambling to find alternatives. One approach peddled by oil corporations like Chevron and Exxon has been to turn plastic into crude oil, which they say extends the life of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/north-americas-largest-waste-hauler-investing-in-a-plastic-recycler-2022-9">plastic that would've otherwise ended up in a landfill</a>. As these companies look to replace projected lost revenue from the phasing out of fossil fuels, they're lobbying to blanket the country with 150 plants that specialize in pyrolysis, a form of chemical recycling that melts plastic down into crude oil to be used for fuel and petrochemicals, as well as to make lesser-quality plastics. While advocates champion these facilities for breaking down hard-to-recycle plastics that other <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-recycling-startups-aluminum-plastic-valuable-materials-2024-4">recyclers toss aside</a>, critics condemn them for emitting toxic particles, relying heavily on government subsidies, and acting as a greenwashed alternative to addressing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/plastic-recycled-into-bricks-ivory-coast-conceptos-plasticos-2023-2">the plastic problem</a>.As they're pitched as an innovation set to bring us a "circular economy" of plastic that allows us to stop making new plastic and just reuse what we have, marketing for pyrolysis and recycling overlooks a glaring fact: Plastic production doubles every 15 to 20 years.This isn't sustainable, Tim Miller, a vice president at the Ohio plastic-recycling center Royal Paper Stock, told me, adding: "But I don't know how to stop it." Pyrolysis is another sign of America's plastic paralysis.In the years after World War II, plastic flooded the marketplace as a cheap alternative to otherwise scarce and finite materials. It was hailed as a democratic harbinger of a new, utopian age of capitalism, fueling the subsequent decades of cheap consumerism that became synonymous with the American dream."The continuous flow of oil fueled not just cars but an entire culture based on the consumption of new products made of plastics," Susan Freinkel wrote in her book "Plastic: A Toxic Love Story."Plastic went from being practically nonexistent in 1940 to being consumed at a rate of 30 pounds a person each year by 1960. Just as quickly, it became a target of environmental movements protesting litter, garbage-filled oceans, and landfills brimming with plastic. Oil and chemical companies responded by looking into whether recycling was realistic or, more importantly, profitable. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled">It wasn't</a>. So companies shifted the blame for the pollution onto consumers. The "Crying Indian" commercial, funded by beverage and packaging corporations, aired in 1971, showing a Native American character crying at the sight of litter.The messaging worked. As companies expanded plastic into every facet of life, recycling became the due diligence needed to sustain our hyperconsumption. We didn't worry about plastic bottles because the recycling truck carried them off to a new life. Companies like Coca-Cola and Nestlé slapped "100% recycled" and "100% recyclable" labels on their packaging to appear sustainable. Just last year, the Plastics Industry Association launched a million-dollar ad campaign, "Recycling Is Real," claiming that it's "not only real, but feasible and economical."While recycling is real, the vast majority of plastic isn't recycled, mostly due to how expensive it is to clean and sort it effectively. A 2022 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found only 9% of all plastic ever produced had been recycled; 72% ended up in landfills or the environment. Unlike aluminum or glass, the plastic that can be recycled rarely results in replacing one recycled water bottle with another.<div type="image" title="Recycling sorters at Recologys Recycle Central sort out pieces of flimsy and film plastic destined for landfill in 2019 in San Francisco" height="4480" width="6720" msid="109561996" hostid="261"></div>Instead, it's a process of downcycling — turning plastic into lesser plastics like plant containers or bins before they are relegated to a landfill. By downcycling a tiny portion of plastic waste, companies can genuinely reuse a relatively small share of plastic, while convincing consumers that the industry has created a circular economy of infinitely recycled plastic. Never mind that products advertised as being made from recycled plastic are made almost entirely out of new plastic or that almost all the 300 pounds of plastic every American consumes each year (10 times as much as in 1960) ends up in a landfill, in the ocean, or incinerated.Larry Thomas, a former president of what's now called the Plastics Industry Association, told NPR in 2020: "If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be as concerned about the environment." And if they aren't worried about the impact of plastic on the environment, they won't threaten the plastics industry.Since 2018, the fossil-fuel and plastics industries have faced two harsh realities: Oil is being phased out in favor of clean, renewable energy, and plastic waste can no longer be exported to developing nations in the South. To replace their fuel losses, oil companies are going all in on plastic. The International Energy Agency predicted in 2018 that petrochemical products like plastic would outpace trucks, aviation, and shipping in oil demand by 2050. In a recent report, ExxonMobil predicted that petrochemicals used largely for plastics and fertilizer would account for nearly all of the oil industry's growth by 2050, replacing industrial fuel demand, which is projected to decrease. To keep expanding plastic production, however, it needs to look sustainable.<div type="image" title="A Good Year sign in Akron, Ohio" height="960" width="1200" msid="109562000" hostid="261"></div>Akron, Ohio, which hosts about one-quarter of the country's polymer companies, is ground zero for this push. Designated by the Biden administration as the only "tech hub" in Ohio, the city has received tens of millions of dollars from the CHIPS Act, which it hopes to use to create a circular economy around plastic.In 2012, Alterra Energy opened America's first large-scale plastic-pyrolysis facility. According to its website, Alterra converts "plastics back into their original building blocks to produce new plastics and other valuable products." The crude oil produced by the Akron facility is shipped to petrochemical companies around the globe to be purified and made into new plastics. But it's unclear how effective this process is.A study published in 2023 by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that the economic and environmental impact of turning pyrolysis oil back into plastic was actually far worse than it was to make brand-new plastic. As a result, they said, pyrolysis oil is "typically reintegrated into the petrochemical industry where only a small fraction is used for closed-loop recycling."<div type="image" title="The Alterra Energy facility in Akron, Ohio" height="960" width="1200" msid="109562003" hostid="261"></div>"It has had, let's say, limited success," Miller, the Royal Paper Stock vice president, said about pyrolysis. "No one yet in the United States that I know of is just cranking in plastic and pumping out oil." He pointed to a pyrolysis facility in Oregon that just announced it would shut down after tens of millions of dollars in losses.Residents in Akron are split on the impacts of the Alterra facility. On the one hand, pyrolysis melts plastic to be reused instead of sending it to the landfill or incinerator. On the other, it emits cancerous pollutants such as mercury, benzene, and arsenic, and props up the very fossil-fuel companies that are driving the climate crisis.<div type="image" title="Kelley Sayre in front of her garage in Akron, Ohio" height="1500" width="1200" msid="109562007" hostid="261"></div>"Akron's going for 'the green city on the hill,'" Kelley Sayre, a fourth-generation Akron resident, told me, "but it's really 'the greenwashing city.'"Vicky Abou-Ghalioum, the lead petrochemicals organizer of Buckeye Environmental Network, has been working with Akron residents concerned about the environmental and health impacts of chemical recycling, but it's proved challenging in a city ruled by polymers. "People are afraid to talk about plastic," she told me. Her organization has been pushing the EPA to address the influx of planned pyrolysis facilities in Ohio, arguing that they're bad for the environment and people, and aren't even profitable.In a statement to Business Insider, Alterra Energy said its Akron facility is profitable and diverts over 100,000 pounds of plastic each day from landfills. "We operate in a heavily regulated industry and are in compliance with those requirements," the company said in response to concerns about toxic emissions. It also said one of its customers uses Alterra's oil product exclusively for making new plastic.Despite the problems of pyrolysis, many manufacturers hail it as a sustainable miracle. Companies such as Eastman Chemical Co. see chemical recycling as the solution to recycling or composting 50% of their plastic packaging by 2025, and the American Chemistry Council claims the growing industry is necessary for fostering what it calls "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.americanchemistry.com/chemistry-in-america/news-trends/press-release/2022/america-s-plastic-makers-encourage-congressional-focus-on-advanced-recycling-to-achieve-circularity">plastics circularity</a>." But these companies face an uphill battle. Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York City launched an $85 million campaign in 2022 to stop over 120 proposed petrochemical facilities. "Petrochemical plants poison our air and water — killing Americans and harming the health of entire communities," Bloomberg said in a statement.In the plastic-recycling industry, pyrolysis is seen as a well funded but failing experiment. A 2023 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.beyondplastics.org/publications/chemical-recycling">report</a> by Beyond Plastics and the International Pollutants Elimination Network found that the 11 pyrolysis facilities in operation in the US required massive public subsidies, most couldn't operate at full capacity, and only two of the plants sold the crude oil to be used exclusively for plastic production. Most of it was sold to make fuels and chemicals. Based on their findings, they argued that pyrolysis was ultimately "a public relations distraction to prevent plastic regulation and prop up the profits of the petrochemical/plastics industry."Though the conundrum of plastic grows more dire by the day, there are signs of hope. In early <a target="_blank" href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/historic-day-campaign-beat-plastic-pollution-nations-commit-develop">2022</a>, the UN adopted a resolution that could send shock waves throughout the entire plastic-disposing world. Heads of state, environment ministers, and UN representatives agreed to end all plastic pollution with a legally binding international plastic treaty to be officially adopted later this year. "Plastic pollution has grown into an epidemic," Espen Barth Eide, Norway's then-minister for climate and the environment, said in the announcement. "With today's resolution we are officially on track for a cure."The resolution would establish an agreement addressing plastic at every level, from production to recycling, in an attempt to reduce plastic pollution worldwide. Organizations such as the international coalition Break Free From Plastic have said that cutting the production of plastic has to be on the table. "The oil and gas industry sees plastic as its primary growth market and is investing billions of dollars in new and expanded facilities," the organization wrote in a 2022 statement. The group recommended bans on single-use plastics, a plastic tax, and regulations that prioritize plastics that can be recycled."Reduction in the production of plastic is entirely possible," Abou-Ghalioum of Buckeye Environmental Network told me. She pointed to the more than 500 cities and 12 states that have banned plastic bags, reducing the number of bags used by the billions. "It's talked about how we rely on plastic for so many things, and it just feels like a marketing ploy to make us reluctant to shift away from it," she said. "We had everything we ever needed before plastic."The tough reality is that the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/landfill-plastic-area">9.5 billion tons of plastic</a> with us will be here for hundreds of years. But how many millions of more tons are added will be determined by the types of solutions we arrive at today.<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/taylor-dorrell">Taylor Dorrell</a> is a writer and photographer based in Columbus, Ohio.

China stopped taking our plastic. Now America is drowning in it. 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Amazon said nearly all deliveries in North America no longer have plastic air pillows inside.</li><li>This change avoids 15 billion air pillows a year, Amazon's biggest plastic reduction effort yet.</li></ul>Nearly all Amazon deliveries in North America no longer include plastic air pillows, the e-commerce giant said on Thursday.Amazon said the change would avoid some 15 billion air pillows — the company's largest reduction in plastic packaging to date. Instead, Amazon is using a paper filler made from 100% recycled material that customers can recycle at home as part of a broader effort to eventually eliminate all plastic packaging from North American fulfillment centers. Amazon already met that goal in Europe this year.The switch to recycled paper comes as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-global-plastic-pollution-treaty-under-scrutiny-2024-4">companies and governments are under pressure</a> to phase out single-use plastics that are piling up in landfills and contributing to the climate crisis. The vast majority of plastics are made from oil and gas, can't be recycled, and degrade into tiny particles that leach into the air and environment. Scientists have found those microplastics in human blood along with organs including the liver, heart, lungs, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microplastics-found-in-human-testicles-what-to-do-2024-5">most recently testicles</a>, but the effects on our health are still being studied.For years, Oceana, a nonprofit that advocates for protecting oceans, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-plastic-air-packets-boxes-circle-the-planet-2022-12">has criticized Amazon's ballooning plastic</a> footprint as the company ships billions of packages around the world. Matt Littlejohn, Oceana's senior vice president, told Business Insider that eliminating air pillows indicated Amazon was serious about its plastic-reduction efforts in North America and that it was welcome news for oceans. Plastic air pillows are made with a film <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?amazonTrackingID=bi-auto-70463-20&amp;h=c38415b31a84dfb5aa56a438e162cc317827951d6b626391c4e894a25633a2fd&amp;postID=66736386b38735ca9df50ca4&amp;postSlug=amazon-cutting-single-use-plastic-shipping-packaging-paper-recycling-2024-6&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41893-021-00720-8">that's commonly found littering marine areas</a>.Oceana recently <a target="_blank" href="https://oceana.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2024/04/Amazons-United-States-of-Plastic-Oceana-Report-April-2024_reducedsize-1.pdf">estimated that Amazon generated</a> more than 94,000 metric tons of plastic-packaging waste in the US alone in 2022, a 9.6% increase over the previous year. That's enough to circle the Earth more than 200 times in the form of air pillows, Oceana said.Amazon disputes Oceana's figures and <a target="_blank" href="https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/2022-sustainability-report.pdf">reported a lower amount of plastic packaging across</a> its global operations in 2022: Nearly 86,000 metric tons, an 11.6% decrease from the previous year.Oceana said its estimates were higher than Amazon's because the company hadn't accounted for orders sent by third-party sellers. Those independent sellers account for <a target="_blank" href="https://sell.amazon.com/sell?ld=SEUSSOAGOOG-sitelink-guide-D&amp;tag=googhydr-20&amp;hvadid=664128654868&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvexid=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=11107216929719429337&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=e&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9007526&amp;hvtargid=kwd-297084214751&amp;ref=pd_sl_2vge9q2e84_b&amp;ld=SEUSSOAGOOG-BFBA12122B-CLK-D&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjw4MSzBhC8ARIsAPFOuyXwoFqkDpXAG0SpyouCS4LjcgY7qHDkeWaOK2XItdtbw5ohJv0188UaAtm2EALw_wcB%5C">more than 60% of Amazon's sales</a>. Amazon's plastic-packaging data reflects orders shipped through its own fulfillment centers — which some independent sellers opt for — and through its grocery business. The data also isn't broken down by country."The first thing for us is to really test and learn and then scale what we can control within our own facilities," Pat Linder, Amazon's vice president of mechatronics and sustainable packaging, told BI. "That's been our focus."Linder pointed to an Amazon fulfillment center in Cleveland that last year became the first to eliminate plastic delivery packaging and replace it with paper that's curbside recyclable. The effort involved rebuilding existing machines that were using plastic to package products. Additionally, As well as being more sustainable, the recyclable paper is better at protecting orders from damage, Linder said.He added that Amazon would disclose the impact of these changes on the company's plastic use in a future sustainability report.That report is also set to detail Amazon's broader climate strategy. The company aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 while boosting sales and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-energy-centers-water-energy-land-2023-10">building more data centers</a> that demand vast amounts of electricity.In 2022, Amazon's carbon footprint dropped by 0.4% from the previous year, although it was still higher than in 2019, the first year Amazon reported its emissions.

Amazon is trying to eliminate plastic that doesn't get recycled. It's actually making some progress.       

<ul class="summary-list"><li>BPA is an industrial chemical that scientists have linked to hormone disruption and diabetes risk.</li><li>Plastic water bottles and food containers can leach BPA into what you eat and drink. </li></ul>Scientists have long suspected that industrial chemicals used in plastic water bottles can <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/endocrine-disruptors-dangerous-chemicals-2019-1">disrupt human hormones</a>.But, to date, evidence has been observational, meaning it shows an <a target="_blank" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12902-018-0310-y">association</a> between plastics exposure and certain diseases, but can't prove a causal effect.Now, a groundbreaking new study shows direct evidence that bisphenol A — or, BPA, a chemical used to package food and drink — can reduce sensitivity to insulin, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar.An impaired ability to respond to insulin, known as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/conditions-symptoms/insulin-resistance">insulin resistance</a>, can mean chronically high blood sugar levels and a much higher risk of type 2 diabetes.The researchers, who presented their findings at the <a target="_blank" href="https://diabetesjournals.org/diabetes/article/73/Supplement_1/17-OR/156057/17-OR-ADA-Presidents-Select-Abstract-Oral?searchresult=1">2024 Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association</a>, said this study shows the EPA may need to reconsider the safe limits for exposure to BPA in plastic bottles, food containers, and other containers.<h2 id="7b52d0a0-c0d2-4e4f-8b85-4e61a63bb01a">Even so-called safe levels of BPA may cause health issues</h2>Researchers from California Polytechnic State University studied 40 healthy adults who were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or a small dose of BPA daily.After four days, the participants who were given BPA were less responsive to insulin, while the placebo group did not experience any change.The dose of BPA that participants received, 50 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day, is an amount currently classified as safe by the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-09/documents/bpa_action_plan.pdf">EPA</a>."These results suggest that maybe the US EPA safe dose should be reconsidered and that healthcare providers could suggest these changes to patients," Todd Hagobian, senior author of the new study and professor at California Polytechnic State University, said in a press release.The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/food/food-packaging-other-substances-come-contact-food-information-consumers/bisphenol-bpa-use-food-contact-application">FDA considers BPA to be safe at low levels</a> occurring in food containers, up to 5 mg per kg body weight per day, or 100 times the amount the new study found to be risky. Some researchers argue the FDA <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412023005676#s0015">guidelines are outdated</a>.Other regulatory agencies around the world have taken a tougher stance on the chemical — the <a target="_blank" href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/13832-Food-safety-restrictions-on-bisphenol-A-BPA-and-other-bisphenols-in-food-contact-materials_en">European Commission</a> proposed to ban BPA in products that come into contact with food or beverages by the end of 2024.<h2 id="bd38d5b3-4d97-4d49-9c05-3b18689f3f6c">Environmental contaminants can be a major threat to human health</h2>The concern about BPA is part of a broader alarm being raised about our everyday exposure to substances that may be harmful to our health.Other recent research has found <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microplastics-risks-heart-attack-stroke-study-2024-3">microplastics</a>, particles so tiny they can infiltrate human cells, may potentially wreak havoc with our health. They've been found everywhere, from human lungs to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microplastics-found-in-penis-muscles-for-the-first-time-study-2024-6">reproductive organs</a>.Understanding how the substances we encounter every day may affect our health long-term could help us make better decisions about how to reduce the risk of chronic illnesses like type 2 diabetes."Given that diabetes is a leading cause of death in the US, it is crucial to understand even the smallest factors that contribute to the disease," Hagobian said in the press release. "We were surprised to see that reducing BPA exposure, such as using stainless steel or glass bottles and BPA-free cans, may lower diabetes risk."June 24, 2024 — An earlier version of this article misstated the difference between what the EPA considers safe BPA exposure and what the study found to be safe. It is 100 times higher, not 1000.

Groundbreaking study shows why drinking from plastic bottles may increase your risk of type 2 diabetes

<ul class="summary-list"><li>World leaders are in Ottawa negotiating a treaty to end plastic pollution.</li><li>The US, a major plastic exporter, says its a dealmaker but is under pressure to be more ambitious.</li></ul>World leaders are gathering in Ottawa, Ontario, this week to hash out a global treaty to end plastic pollution.It's a pivotal point in the talks, with countries aiming to strike a deal by the end of the year. The US has positioned itself as a broker between other big oil, gas, and petrochemical exporters — including Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia — and countries that want steep cuts to plastic production.But critics say the US isn't being ambitious enough."We'd like to see clear recognition from the US that the treaty has to confront the production of plastic polymers and resins if it's to be successful," Carroll Muffett, the president and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law, told Business Insider. "We cannot recycle our way out of the plastics crisis."Muffett is among a handful of scientists and business and community advocacy groups who told BI they wanted to see a stronger position from the US. The country has a lot of sway as the world's largest exporter of oil and gas, the main ingredients in plastics. The US has also been at the forefront of a massive build-out of new plastics and petrochemical plants over the past decade. The Environmental Integrity Project, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit, <a target="_blank" href="https://environmentalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Feeding-the-Plastics-Industrial-Complex-3.14.24.pdf">identified 50 plastic plants built after 2012</a> and found that at least 20 more would be built or expanded over the next five years.The trend is global. Plastic production is expected to nearly triple by 2060 unless countries reach a deal to rein it in, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.oecd.org/environment/global-plastic-waste-set-to-almost-triple-by-2060.htm">according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development</a>. A treaty could be the most impactful climate action since the Paris agreement because the plastic industry accounts for 5% of global carbon emissions. That could grow to 20% by 2050 if current trends continue, <a target="_blank" href="https://energyanalysis.lbl.gov/publications/climate-impact-primary-plastic">the US Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory</a> said.A State Department spokesperson in an email said the US is concerned that "overly prescriptive approaches" to ending plastic pollution put the treaty at risk because the largest producers and consumers of plastics might not support it. The US position is focused on policies that drive down the demand for new plastic, such as through government incentives and reuse models. However, the spokesperson said that countries "would not be precluded" from adopting their own policies.The Biden administration wants to finish a deal this year, given that the presidential election is in November, several observers of the negotiations told BI. But it will be difficult to persuade the Senate to ratify a treaty, they said.In Ottawa, major disagreements remain over how to tackle the more than 350 million metric tons of plastic waste produced globally each year, much of which ends up in landfills and the environment. Only 9% of plastics are recycled.Hundreds of businesses and countries support cutting plastic production. This could involve phasing out "problematic" plastics that can't be recycled or are harmful to public health and mandating that products be made with more recycled material. Taxing plastic polymers is also being discussed, which could help finance improvements to waste infrastructure in developing countries."Shared financial responsibility is something we really want to see," Allison Lin, the global vice president of packaging sustainability at Mars Inc., said. Lin represents the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, which includes more than 200 companies. Among them are Walmart, PepsiCo, and L'Oréal.Lin said the coalition supported a policy called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recycling-rate-us-extended-producer-responsibility-cans-bottles-plastic-paper-2023-2">extended producer responsibility</a>, which slaps a fee on companies' packaging to help fund recycling and collection and has been successful in countries such as Belgium. Plastic makers similarly should bear some of the financial burden, she said.Stewart Harris, a spokesperson for the International Council of Chemical Association, agreed that plastic makers needed to make greater investments, and the group supports EPR and recycled-content mandates. But the industry is opposed to taxes because they would be difficult to implement and it would be hard to ensure money flows into programs tackling plastic pollution, he said.Plastic makers also oppose setting caps on production, as do countries including Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Harris cited <a target="_blank" href="https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/resource/mapping-the-plastics-value-chain/">an industry-commissioned report</a> by Oxford Economics that found a cap could increase costs for consumers as well as greenhouse-gas emissions. Plastics require less energy to manufacture and transport compared with some other materials, the report found.Cutting plastic production would also hit the bottom line of oil majors such as Exxon. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.iea.org/news/petrochemicals-set-to-be-the-largest-driver-of-world-oil-demand-latest-iea-analysis-finds">International Energy Agency forecast</a> that by 2050, petrochemical products like plastic would outpace trucks, aviation, and shipping in oil demand.Neil Nathan, a project scientist at UC Santa Barbara, and his team built an artificial-intelligence model of how 11 policies could curb plastic pollution. While many can make a big dent in the problem in the near term, pollution will eventually go up again without production caps, he said.The model has been shared with US negotiators, Nathan added. He's disappointed the US hasn't included some of the most impactful policies into its position, he said."If the US takes a position or is supportive of something, we typically see a snowball effect," he said.Editor's note: April 25, 2024 — This story has been updated to include a statement from the State Department and clarified to reflect that Neil Nathan said UC Santa Barbara's recommended policies can initially curb pollution, but without production caps, pollution will go up in the long term.

The US is under pressure to lead the way in reducing plastic pollution &mdash; but it keeps making more of it 

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/leland-melvin-black-nasa-astronaut-police-attempted-arrest-bill-nye-2020-6">Bill Nye</a> teamed up with The <keyword id="12109002" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="coca-cola" source="Orion">Coca-Cola</keyword> Company to make an animated video promoting <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recycling-doesnt-keep-plastic-out-of-stomachs-lungs-or-blood-2022-4">recycling</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coca-cola-spikes-law-firm-diversity-policy-black-lawyers-2022-3">Coca-Cola</a> is one of the world's biggest <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microplastics-discovered-in-human-blood-for-the-first-time-2022-3">plastic</a> polluters, and <keyword id="12063226" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="recycling" source="Orion">recycling</keyword> isn't solving that problem.</li></ul>Famous <keyword id="11896083" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="science" source="Orion">science</keyword> educator <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-nye-angrily-tells-everyone-to-fight-climate-change-2019-5">Bill Nye</a> has teamed up with The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coca-cola-fresca-mixed-canned-cocktail-corona-constellation-brands-2022-1">Coca-Cola</a> Company for some not-very-scientific education.Nye, best known for his TV show, "<keyword id="13583133" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bill-nye" source="Orion">Bill Nye</keyword> the Science Guy," appears in a Coca-Cola stop-motion <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HRadzzvQNY">video</a> posted to YouTube Tuesday and originally reported in <a href="https://gizmodo.com/bill-nye-sells-out-shills-for-coca-cola-on-plastic-bot-1848763404">Gizmodo</a>. Nye narrates as an animated doll of himself with an upside-down <keyword id="12367240" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="plastic" source="Orion">plastic</keyword> bottle for a head and a Coca-Cola label for a bowtie.<div type="image" title="bill nye headshot" height="2488" width="1658" msid="90748801" hostid="261"></div>"If we can recover and recycle plastic, we can not only keep it from becoming trash, we can use that plastic again and again. It's an amazing material," Nye says, popping off his plastic-bottle head in one hand, and presenting a Coca-Cola bottle in the other."What's more is that, when we use recycled material, we also reduce our carbon footprint. What's not to love? So the good people at The Coca-Cola Company are dedicating themselves to addressing our global plastic waste problem. They know they have a responsibility to help solve this issue, and their goal: create a world without waste," he continues.Then he explains how recycling a bottle works, as Coca-Cola runs a cutesy animation of the process.In reality, recycling doesn't create a world without waste. Plastic bottles can only be recycled a few times before going to the landfill or getting lost in the ocean. Turning them into new products only delays their disposal or incineration.Recycling can reduce the amount of new plastic produced, and therefore reduce the amount of carbon emitted during that process, but it doesn't do so on a very large scale. Because recycled plastic is more expensive and lower quality than new plastic, experts say that it's unlikely to ever overtake plastic production.Plastic pollution abounds — from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the top of Mount Everest — and Coca-Cola is one of the worst offenders. The company produces about 3 million metric tons of plastic packaging each year, according to the company's reports to the <a href="https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/global-commitment/overview">Ellen MacArthur Foundation</a>. That's the equivalent of 200,000 bottles a minute, making it the top plastic producer out of the 130 businesses that report their numbers to the foundation. An <a href="https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/2021/10/25/the-coca-cola-company-and-pepsico-named-top-plastic-polluters-for-the-fourth-year-in-a-row/">audit</a> by the NGO coalition Break Free from Plastic has ranked Coca-Cola as the world's top plastic polluter for four years in a row.The company has pledged to use at least 50% recycled material in its packaging by 2030.Coca-Cola did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Nye did not immediately respond either.<h2>Recycling has only made a small dent in plastic production</h2><div type="image" title="coca cola bottles in plastic packaging" height="1684" width="2246" msid="90748804" hostid="261"></div>Less than 10% of the 7 billion metric tons of plastic waste worldwide has ever been recycled, according to a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128178805000025?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">2020 study</a> cited by the <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/36963/POLSOL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">UN Environment Programme</a>.Even when recycling happens, it doesn't prevent that plastic from becoming garbage or pollution. Bottles like Coca-Cola's are made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which means they can be recycled more times than other plastics. Some companies claim PET can be recycled infinitely. In reality, just <a href="https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/plastics-material-specific-data#:~:text=The%20recycling%20rate%20of%20PET,was%2029.3%20percent%20in%202018.">29%</a> of PET bottles and jars were recycled in 2018.Each round of recycling degrades the quality of most plastics, so bottles are often "<a href="https://oceana.org/blog/recycling-myth-month-plastic-bottle-you-thought-you-recycled-may-have-been-downcycled-instead/">downcycled</a>" into fibers or wood replacements.The market for this recycled plastic is limited, since it's often cheaper to make new plastic from oil or gas, according to an <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">investigation by NPR and PBS</a>.That investigation also probed the origins of recycling, and found that plastic-producing companies spent millions of dollars to make the practice popular. The companies' own scientists, however, told them that recycling wouldn't work on a large scale."Making recycling work was a way to keep their products in the marketplace," Ron Liesemer, a former DuPont manager who led the industry's recycling campaigns in the 1980s and 90s, told <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/plastic-wars/transcript/">PBS and NPR</a>. "It improves the image of the material."By 2015, the quantity of plastic produced each year had <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution">increased tenfold</a> from 1971. Plastic production is expected to double by 2040 and triple by 2050, according to <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_New_Plastics_Economy.pdf">the World Economic Forum</a>.<h2>Recycling doesn't stop microplastic pollution or protect human health</h2><div type="image" title="toddler child drinks bottled water" height="1600" width="2133" msid="90748806" hostid="261"></div>Even if every plastic product was recycled, it wouldn't prevent plastics from polluting our environment and bodies. Years of research show that plastic products we use every day are shedding microscopic bits and leaching invisible chemicals.Studies have found microplastics in humans' <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/health-wellness/how-to-eat-less-plastic-microplastics-in-food-water-a8899165110/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">food</a>, drinking <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241516198" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">water</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microplastics-in-baby-poop-study-2021-9" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">poop</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020322297" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">placentas</a>, and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389421010888" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">lungs</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/opinion/plastic-air-pollution.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">drifting</a> through the <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/thousands-of-tons-of-microplastics-are-falling-from-the-sky/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">air</a> we breathe, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microplastics-discovered-in-human-blood-for-the-first-time-2022-3">flowing through some people's veins</a>.In fact, recycled bottles may leach even more chemicals into their beverages than fresh plastic bottles do, a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304389422001984c">study</a> in the Journal of Hazardous Materials found last month.A 2019 <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.9b01517" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">analysis</a> estimated that the average American ingested about 50,000 microplastic particles each year and inhaled about the same amount. Another study from 2021 <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33130380/#:~:text=Subsequently%2C%20we%20estimated%20that%20globally,value%20relevant%20to%20human%20toxicology." target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">estimated</a> that the average person ingested a credit card's worth of plastic each week.The health consequences of that exposure aren't fully clear. Research has linked common chemicals in plastics — such as bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (<a href="https://www.epa.gov/pfas/our-current-understanding-human-health-and-environmental-risks-pfas" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">PFAS</a>) — to increased risk of cancer, issues with fertility and development, and hormone disruption. One <a href="https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/web/en/ueber-uns/news/default-0f889c8985-1/gesundheitsrisiko-durch-mikro-und-nanoplastik-in-lebensmitteln/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">study</a> suggested that microplastics in the human gut could trigger harmful inflammation and start processes associated with cancer. <a href="https://news.fsu.edu/news/science-technology/2021/04/19/microplastics-and-human-health-fsu-researchers-find-exposure-to-microplastics-may-alter-cellular-function/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">Another</a> found that the particles altered cell function in human lung cells.No matter how much plastic Coca-Cola recycles, as long as it keeps using PET bottles, it will be part of the problem.

Bill Nye says Coca-Cola is recycling its way to 'a world without waste.' He's wrong.

<ul><li>Scientists say marine setting, freshwater, food, air, and <keyword id="6355063" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="drinking-water">drinking water</keyword> consists microplastics. </li><li>There's very little information available on how the microplastic can affect human health. </li></ul>We are drinking, eating, and breathing tiny <keyword id="555972" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="plastics">plastics</keyword> every day. UN s<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/08/1044661">cientists say </a>marine settings, freshwater, food, water and even air consists microplastics, Yet, we are unaware of it affects us, as there is little information available on the effect of microplastics on human health. As of now, experts believe that microplastic in drinking water poses a 'low risk' to humans. They can pass through the body without getting absorbed<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/08/1044661">, said the report.</a> "Tiny plastic particles known as microplastics are everywhere – including in our drinking-water but they are not necessarily a risk to human health," <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/microplastic-who-study/">said UN experts said on July 22.</a> UN has <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/08/1044661">urged further investigation</a> into the matter. Water contamination As many as two billion people are affected due to drinking water contamination and a million die, said Bruce Gordon from Department of Public Health, WHO. Humans produced as much as 400 million tons of plastic in 2015. And, the amounts are only rising annually. <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/microplastic-who-study/">Experts </a>estimate that <keyword id="528158" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="plastic-production">plastic production</keyword> will double by 2025, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/microplastic-who-study/">reported Wired</a>. Globally, people dump 8 million tons of plastic into the oceans and researchers aren't able to trace the 99% of it. As the researchers <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/08/1044661">dig deeper into the matte</a>r of microplastics, we continue to eat, drink and breathe it. See also: 
 
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You Searched For "plastic production in world" and got 7 results

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Groundbreaking study shows why drinking from plastic bottles may increase your risk of type 2 diabetes

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The US is under pressure to lead the way in reducing plastic pollution but it keeps making more of it

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Bill Nye says Coca-Cola is recycling its way to 'a world without waste.' He's wrong.

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