When I visited my friend in Scotland, I was amazed to see how little waste from her family of four actually went into the garbage can. Besides their good habits of buying items with minimal packaging, ...

Plastic recycling symbols only tell you what type of plastic an item is made from — not that the item is recyclable. Plastics 1, 2, and 5 are typically recyclable, while 3, 4, 6, and 7 can rarely be ...

As British households prepare to put away the Christmas decorations for another year, many will also be thinking about a clear-out ahead of a fresh start for 2026. As well as Christmas trees and the ...

A handy guide to figuring out what goes into the recycling bin. You’ve seen the little recycling symbols stamped on plastics, glass, paper, metals and other materials. But what do they mean? We’ve ...

The "chasing arrows" logo is universally recognized as a sign to recycle, but the Environmental Protection Agency is now saying it's also universally confusing. It's recommending tossing the symbol ...

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. It’s Earth Day 1990, and Meryl Streep walks into a bar. She’s distraught about the state of the environment.