About 225 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally each year. New Zealand imported nearly 210,00 tonnes of nurdles last year and 61 per cent of plastics made in New Zealand are used for packaging.

Godwits fly here every year from Alaska, but new developments in China threaten their route. How many will be back? A new book reveals the threat to their continued globe-spanning migration.

Wanganui residents are fed up with the "disgusting" foul stench coming from the city's water treatment plant, but know it will be a while before the problem is fixed.

Hu Li's heart sank when she realised that she could gauge how close she was to home by the colour of the air.

Lime will be spread over Wanganui's wastewater treatment ponds from today to try and stifle the foul odour coming from the plant and drifting across most of the city.

International wastewater experts Cardno BTO are in Wanganui to look at ways of reducing the smell from the city's water plant.

People feel uncomfortable seeing discarded plastic bags out of place, such as in the landscape, writes Al Gillespie. Plastic bags are virtually without substance.

International wastewater experts will be in Wanganui today to begin looking into whether the city's wastewater treatment plant can be saved.

People are being warned to protect themselves and their dogs against toxic algae in Masterton's Waipoua River after levels increased.

Some of Wanganui's largest businesses could be temporarily shut down if the Wanganui District Council receives an expected abatement notice from Horizons Regional Council.

A mining sector group says New Zealand should be doing more to capitalise on the use of pollution-soaking clay to clean up dairy land.

Discharging untreated wastewater into the sea is "not an option" for the Wanganui District Council, says Mayor Annette Main.

Thirteen days before the world's top male triathletes dived into the chilly, salty Waitemata Harbour for the grand final of their championship series, the water was sampled for signs of bacterial contamination.

Auckland Council scientists are developing a computer model that will predict, for beach swimmers, the amount of sewage pollution on any given day.

The green waste dumped and leaching into Dunedin's urban streams is "offensive" and endangering the brown trout, Fish & Game says.

According to the latest update, the salvage crew lost two work days last week because of poor weather, but on the remaining days good progress was made.

Daina Shipping representative Konstantinos Zacharatos again apologised on behalf of the company to the Bay of Plenty community and people of New Zealand.

It is appalling that so many of our rivers are not clean enough for swimming.The reason is obvious. This is a farming country.

More than half of monitored recreational sites on our rivers are unsafe for swimming, a report has revealed.

Scientists are ramping up surveying over concerns for dangerous substances that were stowed onboard the MV Rena in shipping containers and lost at sea.