U of T News

Plastics

July 8, 2025 U of T Trash Team partners with grocery chain to reduce single-use plastic produce bags

a variety of plastic children's toys

May 2, 2023 Researchers find high levels of banned toxic chemicals in toys and headphones

view from the inside of a front load washing machine full of clothes

January 30, 2023 Researchers develop coating that prevents synthetic fabrics from shedding harmful microplastics in the wash

April 25, 2022 U of T researchers use machine learning to speed up counting of microplastics

February 18, 2021 U of T Trash Team and PortsToronto battle plastic pollution in Lake Ontario

September 17, 2020 'An unacceptable plastic future': U of T ecologists sound alarm in new study of global waterways

Photo of Kritika Tyagi, Chang Dong and Nuha Siddiqui

March 11, 2020 Plastic that saves the planet? U of T startup's novel resin helps industry go green

Photo of plastic pieces floating in the ocean

January 28, 2020 Microplastic pollution is everywhere, but scientists are still learning how it harms wildlife: U of T experts

photo of researchers holding micoplastics samples collected from Lake Ontario

July 19, 2019 Is there plastic in our drinking water? Probably – and U of T researchers are studying how concerned we should be

Photo of microplastics

April 30, 2019 Sea of troubles: Chelsea Rochman explores how plastic is breaking down – and where it’s ending up

Photo of a pile of plastic waste

April 22, 2019 Cities and countries aim to slash plastic waste within a decade

photo of Rochman on beach collecting debris

October 7, 2016 Plastics: this U of T ecologist is working to save the world's oceans and lakes from garbage