via Yahoo The proposed “Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act,” introduced by Democratic lawmakers, would be the most ambitious regulation the US plastics industry has ever seen.
It would require producers to collect and recycle their own waste, create a nationwide drink container refund scheme and phase out certain single-use plastic items.
Read the full story here: https://au.news.yahoo.com/draft-us-law-seeks-plastic-industry-responsible-waste-011137658–spt.html
Via ABC News
E-cigarettes and vapes have made the headlines amid national concerns about nicotine addiction among young people and health problems linked to black-market products. But among environmental advocates the increasingly popular products pose another challenge — how to get rid of them after they’re used.
E-cigarettes and pods for e-cigarettes or vapes can be both hazardous and electronic waste — depending on the product — and the plastic poses the same concerns as other plastic products that can add to overall waste and break down into microplastics that harm ocean ecosystems.
Read the full story here: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cigarettes-highlight-challenges-dealing-plastic-waste/story?id=68890487
via Toronto Sun
It was just a little more than a year ago that IKEA Canada announced it would phase out all single-use plastic straws in Canada, nine months ahead of its global commitment to eliminate all single-use
plastics from its product range and restaurants by January 1, 2020.
It should not be surprising that this announcement got a lot of play — people really do care about this topic — but at the same time, only a smaller part of the retailer’s sustainability plans.
Read the full story here: https://torontosun.com/life/homes/ikeas-plan-to-give-plastic-and-polyester-a-second-life
via New York Post
The recycling temple of Wat Chak Daeng is one bright example of recycling for Thailand, one of five countries that account for more than half of plastic in the world’s oceans.
The monks have crushed 40 tonnes (88,185 lb) of plastic over two years since starting the program, aiming to curb plastic waste entering the Chao Phraya River, which flows south to the Gulf of Thailand in the western Pacific Ocean.
Read the full story here: https://nypost.com/2020/02/06/thai-buddhist-temple-has-recycled-over-88000-pounds-of-plastic-into-robes/
via Newsweek
Taking place inside a custom-designed reactor, the environmentally-friendly new process produces one of the strongest materials known to humankind from materials such as coal, plastics and food waste, according to a team of researchers from Rice University in Texas.On-Demand Hydrogen Cells Could Start Era of ‘Green and Sustainable Energy’READ MORE
Experts said the key is temperature and timing, and the results could potentially revolutionize how the world manages several wasteful materials.
Read the full story here: https://www.newsweek.com/rice-university-scientists-produce-graphene-coal-plastic-food-waste-1484576
Via Bloomberg.com
Philippine companies like San Miguel Corp. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. are using discarded shopping bags, sachet wrappers and plastic packaging to fire cement plants and build roads as the country embarks on an 8 trillion-peso ($157 billion) infrastructure push through 2022.
San Miguel has laid down its first road combining plastic scraps with asphalt, it said in November. The surface material, developed with Dow Chemical Co., used 900 kilograms (1,984 pounds) of plastic to pave a 1,500-square meter (16,145-square foot) test site near the capital.
Read the full story here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-23/the-philippines-is-making-roads-and-cement-with-plastic-garbage
via Forbes.com
On May 14 Adidas will roll out fresh consumer product filled with Primeblue material, a polyester made from recycled plastic intercepted from beaches and coastal communities, preventing it from polluting oceans. Ahead of the Super Bowl in Miami, though, the Primeblue material takes on a different use, offering a sustainable choice for a new synthetic football field installation at Miami Edison High School.
The Adidas partnership with Parley for the Oceans expanded to include a field maker to use 20 tons of the recycled plastic taken from beaches and coastal communities as the infill on the new field, replacing the reground rubber with the plastic-based substance.
read the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timnewcomb/2020/01/28/adidas-primeblue-recycled-ocean-plastic-waste-filling-new-miami-football-field-clothing-line/#1c1660796acc
TEN THOUSAND HOT dogs, 20,000 pounds of shrimp, 8,000 pounds of short ribs—and that’s only a portion of the food that will be made by the 2,500-strong culinary staff flying into Miami this weekend to prepare snacks for one of the nation’s biggest game days.
Super Bowl 54, this year played in Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, will see the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the San Francisco 49ers. Nearly 100 million people watch the Super Bowl every year, in bars, at house parties, and for a lucky few, in the stadium, where tickets start at $4,000.
Read the full story here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/01/super-bowl-54-zero-waste-miami/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/01/super-bowl-54-zero-waste-miami/
via CNNMoney
Two ZHdK graduates are designing lower-limb prosthetic systems from plastic waste that they are planning to produce in developing countries, made there for people there. Their start-up, Project Circleg, launched in 2018 with CHF 500,000 from foundations and is continuing to expand and look for new funding.
Read the full story here: https://www.cnnmoney.ch/shows/tech-talk/videos/turning-plastic-waste-prosthetics-start-ups
via Fox47news.com
LANSING, Mich. — A University of Michigan student is doing what he can to protect the coastlines and Great Lakes of Michigan.
Jackson Riegler, 19, started his company Oshki when he was just 17-years-old. Riegler had a mission to reduce plastic by re-purposing it to make clothes.
He uses plastic waste found on the shores of the Great Lakes to create these unique sustainable clothing items. Riegler has collected 120 pounds of plastic so far.
Read the full story here: https://www.fox47news.com/news/local-news/mi-fashion-company-reduces-plastic-waste-to-protect-great-lakes