Plastic Podcast | Pollution, Policy, and People

How does a global plastics treaty get negotiated? Researcher Tara Olsen joins host Clark Marchese to explain the process, actors, and competing interests behind the United Nations effort to regulate plastic pollution. Using the road to the Busan negotiations as context, they discuss international environmental law, national sovereignty, industry and civil-society influence, and the difference between signing and ratifying a treaty....

Anti-plastic norms spread when health enters the story. Global health policy researcher Leah Shipton explains how local plastic bag bans developed into an international movement, with examples from early policy adopters including Bangladesh and Kenya. She and host Clark Marchese discuss norm entrepreneurs, industry opposition, media attention, policy learning, and the power of framing plastic pollution as a health issue. The episod...

Cancer Alley links plastic production to public health. Dr. Kimberly Terrell and Gianna St. Julien of the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic explain research on toxic air pollution, cancer risk, and racial disparities along Louisiana’s petrochemical corridor. Host Clark Marchese examines environmental racism, the burden of proof placed on fenceline communities, and the grassroots groups seeking stronger protection and accountabi...

Ocean garbage patches are also living habitats. Marine ecologist Dr. Mark Gibbons introduces neuston, the diverse organisms that live on or just below the ocean surface, from bluebottles and sea snails to fish eggs and larvae. He joins Plastic Podcast to explain research in the South Indian Ocean subtropical gyre, where floating life and plastic debris can occupy the same waters. The episode examines what scientists know, and still...

Tourism creates more plastic waste than travelers see. Green marketing and sustainable development researcher Dr. Farzana Quoquab explains why plastic consumption often rises in popular destinations and why responsibility cannot rest on tourists alone. The episode explores the roles of hotels, businesses, governments, infrastructure, and consumer behavior, with examples from Malaysia, the Maldives, and other tourism economies. The ...

Ocean plastic hotspots are not where maps expect. Dr. Annika Jahnke and researcher Robby Rynek bring Plastic Podcast aboard a Pacific research expedition from Vancouver to Singapore. They explain how scientists sample macroplastics and microplastics, why currents create shifting concentrations, and what surprising measurements reveal about Pacific Ocean plastic pollution. Rather than declaring one particle size the greater threat, ...

Digital tools are reshaping plastic recovery in Africa. Dr. Seun Kolade and Wunmi Ogunde discuss research on digitally enabled business models for a circular plastic economy in Africa. They explain s how mobile platforms, data, and new business models can connect households with waste services, reorganize plastic value chains, and expand economic participation. The conversation also addresses informal waste workers, gender equity, ...

Plastic governance changes when Indigenous voices lead. Researcher Riley Cotter joins Plastic Podcast to discuss microplastics research, Indigenous participation, and the colonial assumptions built into many environmental institutions. Rather than presenting Indigenous peoples as a single group or treating knowledge as an add-on, the conversation centers sovereignty, diversity, relationships, and the right to shape research and pol...

Can plastics ever become carbon negative? Dr. Vassilis Daioglou of the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency explains how integrated assessment models test possible futures for carbon-negative plastics and climate change. He and host Clark Marchese examine scenarios involving emissions pricing, higher recycling rates, and bio-based materials within a circular bioeconomy. Some modeled pathways can produce net-negative emis...

Plastic pollution has reached deep-sea coral reefs. Marine scientist Dr. Lucy Woodall joins Plastic Podcast to explain the ecological roles of deep-sea corals and how discarded fishing gear, larger debris, and microplastics interact with them. Drawing on field research and expeditions, she discusses possible disease transmission, physical damage, and the difficulty of separating plastic from other pressures such as climate change a...

Microplastics have reached Antarctica’s ecosystems. In this crossover from South Pole, British Antarctic Survey researcher Dr. Clara Manno explains how plastic travels to polar regions and how Antarctic wildlife and Southern Ocean processes encounter it. This epsiode explores plastic pollution in Antarctica, Southern Ocean microplastics, marine organisms, and questions about whether pollution can interfere with the ocean&rsqu...

Plastic behavior depends on culture, systems and trust. Environmental psychologist Dr. Anastasia Voronkova discusses the PISCES project and its research into how people in Indonesia buy, use, and discard plastic. This episode explores environmental psychology, waste banks, religious practice, community context, and the limits of campaigns that treat behavior as an individual choice. This case study of plastic behavior change and pl...

Plastic’s lifecycle reveals hidden costs and benefits. Researcher Rachel Karasik guides us through a plastic lifecycle assessment, from raw material extraction and production to use, disposal, leakage, and pollution. They examine the health, environmental, and economic consequences that appear at different stages, as well as the benefits that keep plastic embedded in modern systems. The conversation shows why better plastic p...

Microplastics are accumulating in agricultural soil. Dr. Xuejun Liu and Dr. Kai Wang of China Agricultural University explain how plastic mulch, atmospheric deposition, and other sources introduce microplastics and nanoplastics into farmland. Host Clark Marchese asks what current research can tell us about soil health, crops, earthworms, bacteria, nutrient cycling, and agricultural yields. Because many effects remain uncertain, the...

Bottled water exposes plastic’s deepest tensions. In this crossover from Something in the Water, host Dr. Elena Berg speaks with anti-plastic activist Malia Elder and plastics researcher Dr. Sherri Mason about bottled water, packaging, environmental racism, and microplastics in drinking water. They examine how plastic particles reach bottled and tap water, why filters or bottled alternatives do not solve the larger problem, a...

Chemical recycling is useful, but not a cure-all. Chemical engineer Dr. Julia Vogel of Germany’s Federal Environment Agency breaks down solvolysis, pyrolysis, liquefaction, and gasification, including what each process does and what it produces. She compares chemical recycling with mechanical recycling while explaining why the two are designed for different inputs and outcomes. The episode examines energy use, greenhouse gas ...

Plastic production carries a hidden climate cost. Sustainability researcher Dr. Livia Cabernard explains how greenhouse gas emissions accumulate across the plastic lifecycle, with particular attention to coal-powered manufacturing and the movement of production into carbon-intensive economies. Revealing how consumption in wealthier countries can outsource plastic production emissions elsewhere shows why downstream waste statistics ...

Plastic poetry makes an invisible crisis personal. Poet and author Allison Cobb discusses Plastic: An Autobiography, a work that connects plastic with war, wildlife, industry, waste, and the intimate details of everyday life. Their conversation explores how environmental literature can hold scientific, historical, political, and emotional truths at once. This episode offers a creative route into plastic pollution, showing how poetr...

Plastic waste crosses borders, but its burdens do not. Environmental policy researcher Dr. Danny Marks and sustainability expert Dr. Chen Hui Ling speak about the multibillion-dollar global plastic waste trade. Using Thailand and Malaysia as case studies, they examine why wealthy countries export plastic waste, how financial incentives sustain the system, and why receiving communities bear unequal environmental and social costs. Th...