In South Korea, cooking a delicious risotto and making plastics are actually very similar processes. In both, ingredients come together and are heated to create a product, but current recipes for synthesizing bioplastics often fall flat, producing flimsy materials. So, taking a hint from chefs, researchers now report in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering a […]
In the Netherlands, the bacterium Rhodococcus ruber eats and actually digests plastic. This has been shown in laboratory experiments by researchers at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ). Based on a model study with plastic in artificial seawater in the lab, researchers calculated that bacteria can break down about one percent of the […]
It was a big week of news for Licella and their Cat-HTR platform in Australia with two soft plastic project announcements. First, Licella joined forces with a group of high-profile companies like Nestlé and LyondellBasell, who have collaborated to produce Australia’s first soft plastic food wrapper made with food-grade recycled content. Second, Licella launched a […]
In Germany, a new type of plastic made of reclaimed waste readily degrades in less than a year. The substance that will soon serve to manufacture and break down mainly disposable products in an ecofriendly way goes by the name of polyhydroxybutyrate. This innovative material can be produced on an industrial scale in a new […]
In Ireland, new research from NUI Galway and the University of Limerick has for the first time quantified the volume of plastic from European countries (EU, UK, Switzerland and Norway) that contributes to ocean littering from exported recycling. While European countries have developed world-leading waste management infrastructure, 46% of European separated plastic waste is exported […]
In Washington state, a Washington State University research team for the first time has developed a promising way to recycle the popular carbon fiber plastics that are used in everything from modern airplanes and sporting goods to the wind energy industry. The works, reported in Polymer Degradation and Stability and Green Chemistry, exemplify two efficient […]
In Finland, Stora Enso is investing EUR5 million to build a new production line and related infrastructure to manufacture formed fiber products at Hylte Mill in Sweden. The formed fiber technology enables manufacturing of products that are designed for circularity, meaning that they are renewable, recyclable and biodegradable and do not contain any plastic. The […]
In the UK, household food scraps could be transformed into environmentally-friendly plastic bags and cups, thanks to up to GBP60 million ($76.4 million) of new government funding. Innovators are being challenged to make the UK a world-leader in creating sustainable packaging and reduce the impact of harmful plastics on the environment, as the UK seizes […]
In India, the Economic Times reports that a pilot plant producing biodiesel from plastic waste is set to for commissioning in January in Dehradun by the Indian Institute of Petroleum. The pilot can produce 800 liters of biodiesel from 1 metric ton of plastic waste and is meant to be the first of many plants […]
In New Zealand, Humble Bee is collecting material produced by Banksia bees in southwest Queensland in an attempt to reverse engineer a biodegradable plastic that is also water-repellent and flame-resistant. The bees line their nests with a cellophane-like plastic, so the company is working with researchers to see if they can produce the plastic en […]
