The plastics industry loses 1,000 billion pellets in rivers and oceans every year worldwide. Pellets are the building blocks of almost every plastic product. They are white, blue, green and yellow, granular and especially feathery. They are wasted throughout the entire chain. Once in nature, you can barely get them out.

Today Narissara Muangklang may have to go to prison. Her crime? Growing cassava on the land where this has been done for generations, but now it has to be reforested. Farmers against climate generals? Reality is a lot more cynical. Gie Goris reports from Thailand.

A confidential report by the European Commission, which MO* received, found that billionaire Andrej Babiš, during several years, received millions of euros in European subsidies illegally. As a prime minister who distributes the subsidies and as a company manager who receives the most subsidies, he is in a conflict of interest. Babiš ...

It took the nation six week to get voting boots into less than 2 km from every one of the 900 million people who were eligible to vote. In the end about 600 million did vote, and on May 23th, the verdict was released.  Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was able to win 303 seats of 543 in the Lokh Sabha, an increase of 21 seats ove ...

An audit report by the European Commission would show that Czech Prime Minister and businessman Andrej Babiš abused his political power to obtain millions of euros of European subsidies for his company. The Commission is delaying transparency until after the European elections. The Czech Pirate Party is taking the European Commission to court. &lsq ...

In international studies, Belgium scores quite well in terms of gender equality. ‘That said; this is the situation on paper. In reality, we see that gender equality is not the core business of the state, and there are a lot of informal rules making things less rosy, less of a feminist paradise.’

Every industry has its own jargon, and reading stories about shipbreaking without a good glossary can be challenging. Here are the most relevant terms to follow our reporting:

Ship recycling is not a Wild West territory - at least, in principle, the economic activity is regulated by a number of international treaties and rules. A brief overview.

According to the UN Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Switzerland ranks 20th in the world in terms of the number of ships owned, but 15th in terms of the number of ships scrapped on beaches. “The percentage of Swiss ships that ended up on the beach is almost 100%. That puts Switzerland in the top 10 of global dumpers,” said ...

The Science for Environment Policy (European Commission) provided an overview of several studies, one of which clearly showed just how heavily the Alang-Sosiya natural environment has been polluted by copper, cobalt, manganese, lead, cadmium, nickel, zinc and mercury. Warning: reading this can damage your profit margins.

Baskut Tuncak is, UN Special Rapporteur on hazardous substances and wastes: “In shipbreaking yards, workers often are exposed to toxic chemicals including asbestos, dusts and fibres, highly toxic industrial chemicals which have been banned for decades but are still present in ships, as well as lead, mercury, arsenic or cadmium in paints, coat ...

The road to Alang is lined with shops and warehouses selling items that once used to sail across the world’s oceans. Oak desks, faux crystal chandeliers, life vests and boats, ropes, electric cables and switches, leather chairs, paintings and reproductions, giant generators and motors – you name it. It is ship recycling in its most lite ...