Several new and exciting projects have taken root worldwide in the recycling industry that involves robots and artificial intelligence (AI). From large-scale to individual machines, these improvements to the sector will dramatically increase the recycling rate of municipal waste.
Recent tests on Dutch entrepreneur Boyan Slat’s ocean cleanup rig called System 002 were a success, leading Slat to predict that most of the oceanic garbage patches could be removed by 2040.
A new study demonstrates the proof-of-concept of an entirely new approach to plastic recycling, inspired by the way nature naturally ‘recycles’ the components of organic polymers present in our environment.
With COVID-19 bringing forward the retirement of hundreds of airliners, there’s now massive money to be made from recycling them. There are dozens of companies around the world which dismantle airliners and salvage what they can for resale.
Australian start-up BlockTexx has begun work on what it claims will the the first textile recycling plant capable of separating and recycling blends of cotton and polyester fibres at scale.
The New South Wales south coast is powering ahead when it comes to alternative energy projects, with dairies soon to be powered by poo and new solar farms being built, and plans for a state-of-the-art recycling machine.
Plastic recycling is still in its infancy – only a small part of the waste is recyclable. Natural enzymes could get the circular economy going.
An Auckland packaging company is working to remove the confusion around recycling plastic, one meat tray at a time. Pact Packaging’s Kiwi-designed meat trays – made from Polyethylene Terephthalate, or PET – can be recycled.
The Gore Pakeke Lions are back in the paper recycling business as the price for recycled paper stabilises. In February last year, the recycling factory the club runs in the town stopped collecting paper.
Before the pandemic arrived and safety became such a high priority, the Olympic Commission announced it was to be the ‘most sustainable one’ since the Games started in 1896. But what does that mean exactly?
As smartphone sales have skyrocketed, so has the device’s contribution to waste streams and carbon emissions. Manufacturers will need to conserve resources as 6 of the key elements for mobile phones will run out in the next 100 years.
Five Ōtūmoetai College students are taking part in the Young Enterprise Scheme and have started a business that turns the plastic bottle tops into earrings. ‘Dune’ has launched on Instagram and will be appearing at local markets next month.