Designers disagreed about whether we can live without plastic at the inaugural Dezeen Day conference, with architect Arthur Mamou-Mani saying "we still need" the material and designer Nienke Hoogvliet arguing that "we shouldn't produce any more". More
Most ocean plastic starts off in rivers. From bubble curtains to googly-eyed trash wheels, here are four technologies designed to intercept river plastic before it gets to the sea. More
Kazakhstani designer Enis Akiev has developed a method for turning single-use plastic packaging into tiles, by emulating the organic process of rock formation. More
An easily biodegradable material that could be "part of a global answer" to single-use plastic pollution has won its inventor, British designer Lucy Hughes, the international James Dyson Award. More
New York designer Charlotte McCurdy has fashioned a water-resistant jacket from a plastic made of algae, which captures existing CO2 from the atmosphere. More
Dutch designer Richard Hutten clashed with the CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation at the Dezeen Day conference last week, with the two speakers disagreeing over the role of plastic in the circular economy. More
Dutch non-profit The Ocean Cleanup has launched the Interceptor, an autonomous system for collecting plastic pollution from rivers before it reaches the sea. More
French designer Dorian Renard has applied traditional glassblowing techniques to a series of plastic furniture and sculptural pieces, in a bid to present the maligned material in a new light. More
Amsterdam-based Studio Drift has created an installation of 3,000 blue blocks, which each represent the plastic used to make an individual supermarket bag, at the Van Abbemuseum for Dutch Design Week. More
The UK government has called for experts to help it develop standards for bioplastics and biodegradable plastics, amid rising concern over greenwashing. More
University of Sussex graduate Lucy Hughes used fish waste to create MarinaTex, a compostable alternative to single-use plastic that has won her this year's UK James Dyson Award. More
Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs talked to design gallerist Rossana Orlandi about her Guiltless Plastic initiative in a discussion hosted by Istituto Marangoni London. More
Industrial design studio PriestmanGoode swaps single-use plastic for ground coffee beans and rice husk in its overhaul of throwaway cabin service goods from meal trays to toiletries. More
Sam Jacob has reimagined a famous Eames textile for his London Design Festival installation Sea Things, to highlight the threat ocean plastic poses to marine life. More
Corn husks, wool and yoghurt pots are some of the materials used in a series of experimental spectacles by British eyewear brand Cubitts. More
Dutch non-profit The Ocean Cleanup plans to burn some of the plastic it collects from the Pacific Ocean, Dezeen has learned. Designers and environmentalists say the move "makes no sense". More
Eliminating plastic from the seas is not possible and instead new materials need to be developed to replace plastic, according to the founder of Parley for the Oceans. More
Rome is trialling a scheme where people can recycle plastic bottles in return for free rides on the city's public transport system. More
Gina Périer and Alexander Egebjerg have designed an industrial-standard female toilet for festivals and outdoor events that allows people to pee sitting down quickly and safely. More
Italian fashion brand Prada has launched six bags made from regenerated nylon, as the first stage in its plan to phase out virgin nylon in the next two years called the ReNylon project. More
