From production to disposal, plastic pollutes along its entire life cycle.
Join the communities on the frontlines from petrochemical build outs upstream to landfills and incinerators downstream. See firsthand how plastic devastates natural ecosystems, and destroys people’s health, livelihoods, and peace of mind.
We need to STOP plastic production at the source and STOP all extractive activities.
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Click on a marker point to see locations inside a region
Upstream Video Stories
Stories on how points of extraction, production plants, refineries and more impact the communities around them.
19
Apr
Canada, Chemical Valley, Aamjiwnaang First Nation, Ontario
The Aamjiwnaang First Nation encompasses more than 3000 acres with one side to the St. Clair River and the other three sides with petroleum refineries. There ...
19
Apr
Canada, Alberta Oil Sands
The Alberta oil sands in western Canada, a large oil mining region, are in the homeland of the Dene, Cree, and Metis People in Treaty 8 territory.
Visible...
21
Aug
United States, Pennsylvania
Southwestern Pennsylvania is home to both the largest producing underground coal mine in North America and over three thousand fracked gas drilling and midstre...
21
Aug
United States, Ohio
In Eastern Ohio, residents are organizing to try to stop the petrochemical buildout along the Ohio River. An ethane cracker has been proposed by PTT Global Che...
21
Aug
United States, Louisiana
“Cancer Alley” (or “Death Alley”) refers to a stretch of River Parishes between the cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana, which contains more than ...
18
Aug
United States, Texas Port Arthur
Port Arthur is home to the United States’ largest refinery, to numerous other Petrochemical facilities, as well as tank farms, railroad lines, and shipping fac...
18
Aug
United States, Texas Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi is in danger of heavy oil industry take over. It is home to the biggest petrochemical cracker plant in the world.
Industry needs lots of wate...
18
Aug
United States, California
In Southern California, in Wilmington, Carson, and West Long Beach, which are situated on the ancestral homelands of the Tongva people, communities are forced ...
18
Aug
South Africa, Durban
The communities of South Durban live in some of the most heavily air polluted areas in Southern Africa.
Home to two large petrochemical refineries, local co...
18
Aug
Kenya, Turkana County
The Turkana are found in Northern Kenya, and are a nomadic people. They are largely pastoralists and their traditional way of life is crucial to the sustainabi...
18
Aug
Uganda, Kabal Subcounty
Uganda is one of the sub-saharan countries to recently start oil extraction. To set up the petrochemical industrial park, the government of Uganda acquired 2,9...
18
Aug
Nigeria, Odimodi
The delta in Nigeria is one of the most polluted regions in the world; it is estimated that more oil is spilled across this region each year than what was spil...
17
Aug
Argentina, Ingeniero White
Ingeniero White is a town located less than 5 kilometers from Bahía Blanca in the southern part of the province of Buenos Aires, in Argentina. For many years, ...
17
Aug
Spain, Tarragona
Tarragona is home to massive pellet pollution, contaminating several beaches including the nearby dunes and the Natura 2000 protected area of El Prats of Vila-...
17
Aug
Belgium, Ecaussinnes
For more than 10 years, the City of Ecaussinnes, in Wallonia, has suffered from recurring and massive pellet pollution due to petrochemical build outs in the t...
17
Aug
Belgium, Antwerpen
The Flemish authorities’ fresh approval of petrochemicals giant Ineos’s plastics plant project in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium is being challenged by 13 NGOs.
...
17
Aug
Scotland, Grangemouth
Surrounded by the oil and gas industry on three sides, the town of Grangemouth is almost invisible on the horizon. The Ineos Oil Refinery and associated plant ...
11
Aug
Taiwan, Kaohsiung City
The Dashe Petrochemical Industrial Park, operates very closely to the local community. The major pollutants are Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which cause ...
11
Aug
Taiwan, Taixi Mailiao
In the Taixi and Mailiao Townships, near the Sixth Naphtha Cracker of Formosa Plastics, many members of the community fish.
The native fishermen have seen c...
11
Aug
Taiwan, Taixi Village Dacheng Township
The Sixth Naphtha Cracker Complex of Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) is about 5 kilometers away from Taixi Village. In the slow summer, the wind blows from the sou...
11
Aug
Bangladesh, Dhaka
The Buriganga River was once used as the main source of water supply for Dhaka's residents. Due to devastating pollution it now can no longer be used as a sour...
11
Aug
India, Tamot
A plastic park is an industrial zone devoted to plastic enterprises and its allied industries. It includes a whole range of companies required by the plastics ...
11
Aug
India, Dahej
Dahej has multiple petrochemical installations, including a port with an Liquified Natural Gas terminal, a Special Economic Zone and a PCPIR (Petroleum, Chemic...
11
Aug
India, Manali
Manali is a hub of petrochemical industrial units where the Manali Refinery supplies feedstocks to the neighbouring industries.
Manali has been categorised as...
11
Aug
India, Jamnagar
Jamnagar has two refinery complexes, and is the world's largest oil-refining hub.
The second refinery is the sixth largest in the world and is located in th...
11
Aug
India, Eloor
Clean air and clean drinking water are a thing of the past, in Eloor, a suburb of Kochi, India.
Around 285 polluting industries are operating in Eloor and nei...
14
Jul
India, Mundra
Mundra has three large coal based thermal power plants and a port for handling imported coal installed in the area.
Over the last decade, the industrial act...
Downstream Video Stories
Stories on how landfills, incinerators, dumpsites and more impact the communities around them.
04
Sep
Ecuador, Piñas, Canton of El Oro Province
In the province of El Oro, a commonwealth was formed between the cantons Piñas, Atahualpa, Portovelo and Zaruma, to manage garbage. They created a public compa...
04
Sep
Chile, Puerto Natales
Situated in Chilean Patagonia, Puerto Natales serves as the gateway to Torres del Paine National Park. The area welcomes 200,000 visitors annually.
Tourists...
04
Sep
United States, Ohio, East Palestine
A train carrying vinyl chloride, known as a human carcinogen, derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, in February 2023, on the border of Beaver County, Pennsylvania....
04
Sep
United States, Detroit, Michigan
The community near the closed incinerator still grapples with the environmental and health consequences that it has left behind.
When the incinerator in Det...
04
Sep
United States, Stanislaus County, California
Communities in the rural west side of Stanislaus County have been historically overburdened by social and environmental injustices. Despite the overburdening o...
30
Aug
India, Okhla, Delhi
Okhla waste-to-energy was the first large-scale plant opened in Delhi in 2012. The land for setting up this plant was strictly earmarked for setting up a compo...
30
Aug
India, A. Mukkulam, Virudhunagar
Mukkulam is an agrarian village situated in Virudhunagar district, Tamil Nadu, India. Ramky Energy and Environment Limited, a biomedical waste management comp...
30
Aug
India, Palampur
A large forest, adjacent to the river, has been ruined by the dumping of toxic garbage that includes 90% of mixed waste. Frequent open burning of the garbage h...
30
Aug
India, Naitwar
Naitwar is the entry point to Govind Ballabh Panth Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park. It is at the intersection of different ranges, close to a tourist hots...
30
Aug
Sri Lanka, Negombo
On 20 May 2021, the X-Press Pearl caught fire off the coast of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Carrying 297 tonnes of heavy fuel and 51 tonnes of marine fuel, the vessel a...
30
Aug
Malaysia, Kuala Langat
The existence of a chain of big waste-processing companies near people’s houses and a school in Jenjarom, Kuala Langat confers significant discomfort. Resident...
25
Aug
Indonesia, Karawang
The limestone factory in Karawang collects international imported waste, which is mostly used plastic, to use it as fuel for the incineration process. Local vi...
25
Aug
Indonesia, Lakardowo Village
Black smoke rises from the chimney of the active incinerator of Lakardowo Village in Indonesia. The smell is so bad, that the local community suffers from dizz...
23
Aug
Uganda, Kiteezi Landfill, Kampala City
There is too much waste generated daily in Uganda. Most of the waste collected in Uganda’s capital city finds its way to the Kiteezi landfill site.
Despite...
23
Aug
Ghana, Kpone, Accra
Whereas landfills are conventionally engineered and managed for the disposal of solid waste, a series of upstream activities producing e-waste and plastic wast...
22
Aug
Turkey, Adana
Adana is located in Çukurova, which possesses the most fertile lands in Turkey. However, these fertile lands are being contaminated with plastic waste imported...
22
Aug
Italy, Livorno
For decades, there have been a number of highly-polluting industrial activities in Livorno, in particular the incinerator which treats 80,000 tons of waste a y...
22
Aug
France, Ivry
The Ivry/Paris XIIIeme incinerator processes up to 700,000 tonnes of household waste per year in one of the most densely populated and polluted places in Ile-d...