PLASTICS INDUSTRY “ESSENTIAL” AS FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE WITH PRODUCTS TO FIGHT CORONAVIRUS

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via Plastics Industry Association

The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) President and CEO Tony Radoszewski issued a statement today requesting all local, state and federal governments to include plastic resin and plastic product manufacturers as ‘essential’ in order to stay open when Shelter in Place orders are issued.

“With more and more businesses being ordered to close during the pandemic crisis, it is critical that healthcare workers have access to plastic products. Single-use plastics can literally be the difference between life and death. Items such as IV bags and ventilator machines, which are of the utmost importance right now, have components made of single-use plastics. The single-use hospital gowns, gloves, and masks that protect our healthcare workers every day are also made of plastic. I would venture to say that every machine, piece of medical care equipment, hospital bed, examination scope and tool has a component made of plastic, most of which are molded to exacting tolerances, which is possible due to the resin and the machinery being used.”

Read the full story here: https://www.plasticsindustry.org/article/plastics-industry-essential-first-line-defense-products-fight-coronavirus    

‘A worldwide hackathon’: Hospitals turn to crowdsourcing and 3D printing amid equipment shortages

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via NBC News

3D printing, a relatively new and niche technology that can create everything from houses to tiny and complex structures from raw materials, has remained mostly on the fringes of the manufacturing and health care sectors.

But the coronavirus has suddenly made it a crucial resource. On Thursday, Slavin called on people with 3D printers to help make protective masks for hospital staff.

Read the full story here: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/worldwide-hackathon-hospitals-turn-crowdsourcing-3d-printing-amid-equipment-shortages-n1165026

Financial fallout from coronavirus could devastate the fracking and plastics industries

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“The likelihood of them being able to meet financial targets after this is quite small,” says one financial analyst.

by Kristina Marusic via Environmental Health News

The process of extracting oil and natural gas from the Earth by drilling deep wells and injecting liquid at high pressure is expensive; many fracking companies go into a tremendous amount of debt. Due to oversupply and consistently low prices for natural gas over the last 10 years, many have yet to pay those debts back and become profitable.

“The industry had already been seeing negative cash flows and a huge debt overhang for quite a while, and we certainly don’t see that changing after this current downturn in the market,” Tom Sanzillo, director of finance for the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) told EHN.

Read the full story here: https://www.ehn.org/coronavirus-oil-and-gas-2645520057.html

Engineering Plastics Sale

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Draft US law seeks to make plastic industry responsible for waste

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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

E-cigarettes highlight the challenges of dealing with plastic waste

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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

IKEA’s plan to give plastic and polyester a second life

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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

Thai Buddhist temple has recycled over 88,000 pounds of plastic into robes

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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/

SCIENTISTS TURN ‘TRASH TO TREASURE’ BY MAKING ULTRA-STRONG GRAPHENE FROM COAL, PLASTIC AND FOOD WASTE

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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