They listen for garbage trucks and find much of their food in trash. PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN LEHMANN On Okinawa, Japan, a hermit crab resorts to a plastic bottle cap to protect its soft abdomen.

Around 100 billion plastic beverage containers are sold in the United States each year — much of which ends up in landfills and waterways, polluting the environment and endangering wildlife. Studies ...

Recycle Plaza JB, an intermediate processing facility in Saitama that separates plastic bottles from other garbage, said non-bottle trash accounts ... which can break down plastic into molecules ...