Rebecca Altman, PhD

Future-Proofing Capitalism: The Paradox of the Circular Economy for Plastics Abstract. The marine plastics crisis sparked a wave of corporate interest in the circular economy, a sustainable business model that aims to eliminate waste in industrial systems through recycling, re...

Hi Carl — what comes to mind for me is Alice Mah’s work on circularity, this one in particular — direct.mit.edu/glep/article...

Hey #DiscardStudies folks. The European Commission has a public consultation period open until November 6 for its planned Circular Economy Act. If you have an article or post you want included, register and submit at ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...

Enshittification of reality

To the artists, scholars, advocates, journalists, writers, historians, lawyers, entrepreneurs, policy folks, thank you for your good work. To address plastics is to work for human rights, climate stability, human health, environmental justice, global unity, & the rights of future generations. 🙏🙏🙏

Plastics have woven their way into the fabric of every ecosystem, into everything & everyone, into strata & time, but it has also woven a web of us, & introduced me to people who also work for change, whose presence in the world makes the work all the more meaningful. W/ thx #plasticstreaty #envhist

Toronto's Don River sends 500 billion microplastics into Lake Ontario each year: study | CBC News A new study of one of Canada's most urbanized rivers suggests it dumps the equivalent of about 18 cars worth of microplastics into Lake Ontario every year, a finding that shocked the lead author and u...

“A new study of one of Canada's most urbanized rivers suggests it dumps the equivalent of about 18 cars worth of microplastics into Lake Ontario every year, a finding that shocked the lead author.” — from Chelsea Rochman’s lab #plasticpollution

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Environmental scientists highlight role of paint in microplastic pollution Plastic waste is recognized as a major cause of environmental harm, with products like water bottles, plastic bags and clothing fibers acknowledged as major contributors to plastic pollution—but resea...

Environmental scientists highlight role of paint in microplastic pollution phys.org/news/2025-03...

Paint: a ubiquitous yet disregarded piece of the microplastics puzzle - by Zoie Diana et al. academic.oup.com/etc/article/...

She finished it! 📕

Ohhhhhhh!!!!

I feel like @katieulrich.bsky.social and @cassienewland.bsky.social would have much to talk about (if you don’t already know one another.) #environmentalhistory of bioplastics 🌱

“There was no job announcement, no search committee to identify top candidates, no interviews or reference checks.” Re: new head of the National Institutes of Environmental Health

EU aims to curb plastic pollution with new rules targeting nightmare spills of tiny pellets EU takes aim at tiny plastic pellet pollution with new regulations

Newsflash ⚡️

www.euronews.com/green/2025/1...

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

two-panel hand-drawn cartoon Panel 1: A mole is emerging from a dirt hole, holding a sign featuring a portrait of the chemist Avogadro. The mole is looking up and exclaiming, "HAPPY MOLE DAY!" Panel 2: The mole, still holding the sign, looks surprised or corrected when a mole on it's hand says "THANKS! BUT I PREFER TO THINK OF MYSELF AS A BEAUTY SPOT!" The joke references the fact that the word "mole" in chemistry (the unit) is named after Avogadro, but a small dark spot on skin is also called a mole (or beauty mark). It's a triple whammy folks. A triple whammy!!

A bunch of moles arranged in a hexagon. It's a mole-ecule.

It's MOLE DAY. Happy mole day all. #Chemsky #chemistry #moleday #realtimechem

There are also these delightful parenthetical asides that make you chuckle while reading dense chemical names and chemical explanations of how polymers and elastomers work! Brava @cassienewland.bsky.social!

Built overtop former Union Carbide HQ — dismantled girder by girder before built anew — 60 stories for 10K employees and apparently, per reporting here, no cockroaches.

Friends in plastics-academia-land, this is a great condensed chapter to assign in plastics’ early history — 🌱

I am very much appreciating @cassienewland.bsky.social’s opening chapter on #plastics history — begins with the whole rubber-human rights mess, ace primary sources, and puts the whole celluloid spared the elephant trope in its full context. 👏👏👏👏

cc @brdemuth.bsky.social

On this day, salve — thank you 🎁

This is how you blurb

Picture of the front cover of a hardback book entitled the Routledge handbook of archaeology and plastics

This book. My word, this book! Plastics folks— the archaeologists on plastics are 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 I’m in do not disturb mode over here until I finish it.

Our national parks are increasingly stressed because of the government shutdown. With a large portion of National Park Service staff furloughed, there are fewer personnel available to enforce rules or care for the land. Across parks, reports are emerging of trash accumulating,

How Plastic Goods Took Over the World, Creating a Throwaway Culture Author Saabira Chaudhuri writes about brands’ drive for disposability in her new book, Consumed.

"They built their businesses on disposability": Author Saabira Chaudhuri says brands made single-use plastic inescapable.

BREAKING NEWS: Community, Health, and Environmental Groups Sue to Stop President Trump’s Unlawful Toxic Air Pollution Exemptions

Learn more: environmentalintegrity.org/news/groups-...

NEW REPORT documents dangerous levels of toxic benzene and chromium at fencelines of plants in PA, IN, AL, IL, OH, MI

Read the report: environmentalintegrity.org/news/trump-r...

👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

October is "Great Global Nurdle Hunt" Season! Join #nurdle hunters around the world and help gather evidence to address microplastic pollution!

🔎Do you want to become a nurdle hunter? Head to the Fidra website to find out how to take part.

👉 www.nurdlehunt.org.uk/take-part/th...

it worked!!!! thankyouthankyouthankyou

thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou