News

MSU Researchers Publish Study On Biomineralization Of Plastic Waste For Cement Mortar

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via JDSupra

On April 13, 2021, Montana State University (MSU) researchers from its Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering published an article entitled “Biomineralization of Plastic Waste to Improve the Strength of Plastic-Reinforced Cement Mortar.” The study evaluates calcium carbonate biomineralization techniques applied to coat plastic waste and improve the compressive strength of plastic-reinforced mortar (PRM), a type of plastic-reinforced cementitious material (PRC).

Read the full sotry here: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/msu-researchers-publish-study-on-8199658/

Plastic waste in the sea mainly drifts near the coast

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via Science Daily

The pollution of the world’s oceans with plastic waste is one of the major environmental problems of our time. However, very little is known about how much plastic is distributed globally in the ocean. Models based on ocean currents have so far suggested that the plastic mainly collects in large ocean gyres. Now, researchers at the University of Bern have calculated the distribution of plastic waste on a global scale while taking into account the fact that plastic can get beached. In their study, which has just been published in the Environmental Research Letters scientific journal, they come to the conclusion that most of the plastic does not end up in the open sea. Far more of it than previously thought remains near the coast or ends up on beaches. “In all the scenarios we’ve calculated,” says Victor Onink, the study’s lead author, “about 80 percent of floating plastic waste drifts no more than 10 kilometers from the coast five years after it entered the ocean.”

Read the full story here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/06/210602130246.htm

Sri Lanka Sues Singapore After Ship Spews Plastic Waste, Causing Huge Environmental Damage

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via Global Citizen

Sri Lanka is currently dealing with “the worst beach pollution in our history,” after a Singapore-owned container ship carrying toxic chemicals caught fire, burnt for 12 consecutive days, and spilled plastic debris and other hazardous waste into the ocean. 

The ship, carrying tens of tons of nitric acid, caustic soda, sodium methoxide and methane, was located nine miles off the coast of the capital of Colombo when it caught fire on May 20.

Read the full story here: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/plastic-pollution-ocean-ship-sri-lanka/

The Coca-Cola Company And The Ocean Cleanup Join Forces To Clean Up 15 Of The World’s Most Polluting Rivers Of Plastic Waste

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via Forbes

The Coca Cola Company and The Ocean Clean-Up project have announced they will be collaborating on a ground-breaking partnership to clean up some of the world’s worst polluting rivers – and collect plastic waste which can be recycled to make new bottles.

The Ocean Clean-Up’s research shows that 1,000 rivers are responsible for nearly 80% of riverine plastic entering the world’s oceans, and their goal is to tackle them with their River Interceptor solution.

Read the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/afdhelaziz/2021/06/02/the-coca-cola-company-and-the-ocean-cleanup-join-forces-to-clean-up-15-of-the-worlds-most-polluting-rivers-of-plastic-waste/

As the Rest of the World Tackles Plastic Disposal, the US Remains Slow to Move

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via Science The Wire

plasic scrap

For the first time ever, international shipments of plastic waste came under global control this year. That’s because disposable plastic – a major pollutant of the world’s waters and atmosphere, fodder for incinerators, occupier of overflowing landfills, and material for costly recycling – was added to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

The convention is a United Nations treaty aimed at managing the adulterating of lands and seas with novel polluting entities, but how effectively this international protocol will work to control plastics disposal remains to be seen.

Read the full story here: https://science.thewire.in/environment/as-the-rest-of-the-world-tackles-plastic-disposal-the-us-remains-slow-to-move/

On Bonfires outside Bucharest, Waste from Western Europe

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via Balkan Insight

plastic scrap

Besides Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria have also become significant destinations for waste from Western Europe since China closed its doors. Much ends up being burned or buried, with dire consequences for the environment and public health.

On May 12, border officials in southern Romania stopped three trucks loaded with 59 tons of waste trying to enter from Bulgaria. The drivers’ paperwork did not entirely match the contents – steel, plastic and scrap metal – so the convoy was turned back.

Read the full story here: https://balkaninsight.com/2021/05/24/on-bonfires-outside-bucharest-waste-from-western-europe/

Pandemic mask mountain sets new recycling challenge

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via Phys.org.

Researchers in Australia want to transform single-use COVID masks into road material. In the United States, the protective gear is recycled into benches. And in France, they are reborn as floor carpets for cars.

plastic scrap

Used to curb the spread of COVID-19, masks are exacerbating another pandemic: plastic pollution.

Read the full story here: https://phys.org/news/2021-05-pandemic-mask-mountain-recycling.html

Plastic waste can now be turned into jet fuel in one hour

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via Academic Times

Scientists have found a new way to convert the world’s most popular plastic, polyethylene, into jet fuel and other liquid hydrocarbon products, introducing a new process that is more energy-efficient than existing methods and takes about an hour to complete.

Read the full story here: https://academictimes.com/plastic-waste-can-now-be-turned-into-jet-fuel-in-one-hour/

River plastic Interceptors are stopping trash from reaching the ocean

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via CNET

Nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup is continuing its mission of ridding the world of ocean plastic by catching garbage before it makes its way to the sea. The organization has introduced a new third-generation Interceptor that it says can remove larger debris more efficiently and at a lower cost.

The Ocean Cleanup Interceptors were first announced by founder and CEO Boyan Slat in 2019. The trash Interceptors are moored to river beds and use river current to snag debris floating on the surface. Then they direct the trash onto a conveyor belt that shuttles it into six large onboard dumpsters. The Interceptors run completely autonomously day and night, getting power from solar panels. 

Read the full sotry here: https://www.cnet.com/news/river-plastic-interceptors-are-stopping-trash-from-reaching-the-ocean/

Doosan outlines plan to produce hydrogen from plastic waste

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via GlobalConstructionReview.com

South Korean equipment maker Doosan Heavy Industries has signed a memorandum of understanding with another Korean company to develop the technology to produce hydrogen from waste plastics and vinyl.

Doosan has teamed up with RevoTech, a plastic pyrolysis specialist, to carry out the work. RevoTech will handle the thermal decomposition of the plastic waste to produce gas, and Doosan Heavy will develop facilities and processes to extract hydrogen from it.

Read the full story here: https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/news/doosan-outlines-plan-produce-hydrogen-plastic-wast/