If there is no market for material recovery - what could be done? >>>

Together for Europe: Citizens increasingly feel compelled to get involved in campaigns

The news reports a meeting between the Minister of Cities, Jader Filho, federal deputy Augusto Pupio, and the president of the Brazilian Association for Waste to Energy Recovery (ABREN), Yuri Schmitke, to discuss the possibility of implementing the Waste to Energy technology (waste to energy recovery) in cities like Macapá and Belém, aiming to solve problems related to the accumulation of urban waste.

Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund is investing in Genecis, an Ontario-based bioplastics company founded by scientist Luna Yu. Genecis uses organic waste, like table food scraps, to create a biodegradable bioplastic that is an alternative to conventional plastic packaging.

Plastic Waste Trade Watch - January 2023

"Sustainable Waste Management: The Forefront of Innovation" was the topic under which Prof. Marco Castaldi's organising team gathered a wide range of presentations from around the world:

Since joined in the Basel Convention in 1994, South Korea has established policies and strategies to minimize risks to human health and the environment caused by hazardous wastes and other wastes

Recently, urbanization in Vietnam has been increasing, thus the dramatic increase in consumption and demand for plastics in consumer packaging, construction, household goods, and automotive industries.

This work developed combined PVC swelling by organic solvent and ball or rod milling approaches for the recovery of high purity Cu and PVC from thin and ununiform cables in waste wire harnesses.

Few other materials produced by man and used for daily applications raise a heated discussion as does plastic.

On the past 4th of February, the Centre for Management Technology offered the “Countdown to UK Plastic Packaging Tax” event. Experts and policy leaders had the opportunity to present their views and knowledge about the upcoming tax for plastic packaging in the UK.

Plastic packaging is one of the biggest concerns of our society. Plastic represents a valuable ally in multiple applications, such as food packaging, cosmetics, beverage, retail, and many others. However, it has also become a curse. Plastic packaging material flows are mostly linear, meaning that more than 50% of the plastic produced is designed to be used only once [1], ending up in landfills, or even worse, in the forests or the ocean.

Scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) investigated on the amount of microplastic emissions shed by domestic laundry throughout the last decades. The microfibres shed by synthetic clothing is not negligible!

Podcast Episode with Professor Marco J. Castaldi from WtERT US - Listening Recommended!

This report presents the findings of the EIP-AGRI Focus Group 'Reducing the plastic footprint of agriculture'. Plastics can be found in each step of crop production, from containers to fertilisers to mulch covering the soil, the pipes irrigating the fields, and the packaging around the final products. The Focus Group experts discussed how the plastic footprint in agriculture could be reduced. They discussed existing solutions to reduce the use of plastic, avoid debris with biodegradable plastics, limit contamination from microplastics, collect waste in an efficient way, and recycle the plastics.

This study reveals the influence of thermal aging on the pyrolysis oil fuel components of typical waste plastics, including polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

State of Vanuatu, a small archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, with a population of 300,000 spread across 65 islands, is one of the first in the world to put into effect the single-use plastic ban since January 2018. This includes non-biodegradable plastic such as bags and polystyrene containers. Furthermore, they also proposed a ban on disposable nappies. In 2019, the state of Vanuatu went further with banning other single-use plastic items such as plates, cups, stirrers, food containers and egg cartons.

First Indonesia and China, now Ankara is closing its borders. But this is upsetting a lot of things in the global waste and recycling industry.

As of January 01, 2021, stricter regulations apply to plastic waste exports from the EU. Unsorted or contaminated plastic mixtures may no longer be traded inter-nationally. The reason for this is that this waste is difficult to recycle and thus often ends up illegally in the environment. Therefore, only clean and well-sorted plastic waste may be traded.

Personal protective equipment (PPE), e.g. the face covering to avoid the COVID-19, is spread in public and private spaces. Since the pandemics, the amount of PPE production has increased, likewise the amount disposed in the environment, especially in the ocean and the communities around.

The Circular Plastic Alliance Declaration of the European Commission targets the us-age of 10 million tons of recycled plastic per year into new plastic products in Europe by 2025 (European Commission 9/20/2019). To assist this objective this work focuses on the improvement of mechanical sorting of polyethylene (PE).