India, April 27 -- Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a framework for measuring plastic pollution emissions - not unlike the global standard for measuring greenhouse gas emissions.

They say the approach will boost identification of the biggest contributors to plastic pollution from local to national levels and improve strategies in reducing emissions worldwide.

Using Toronto as a model, the first-of-its-kind framework suggests that, in one year alone, Canada's largest city emitted nearly 4,000 tonnes of plastic pollution.

"That's roughly 400 garbage trucks' worth of plastic that leaks into the environment annually from across the city," said Alice (Xia) Zhu, lead author of a study outlining the method published in ...