The potential to endlessly recycle PET plastic recently became a step closer to reality, as a consortium of companies announced the successful production of the world’s first food-grade PET plastic bottles produced entirely from enzymatically recycled plastic.
Researchers have shown how disposable face masks could be recycled to make roads. Their study shows that using the recycled face mask material to make just one kilometre of a two-lane road would use up about 3 million masks.
Researchers in Britain and the United States have found ways to reuse old electric vehicle batteries. The methods can cut costs and carbon emissions while providing supplies for an expected increase in demand.
Cow stomachs could hold the secret to recycling plastic bottles, clothing and food containers made using polymers with titles such as PET, PBAT and PEF.
Engineering researchers are developing a unique method to increase the recycling of soft plastics by creating a smart robot that can identify, sort and separate different types of recyclable waste.
Unilever is set to launch its first paper-based bottles for laundry detergent in Brazil next year, with an ambition in place to introduce the packaging across Europe thereafter.
Mars UK, Mondelez International, Nestle, PepsiCo and Unilever have jointly launched a $1.5 million fund that aims to invest in efforts to make plastic bags, wrappers, firms, pouches, packets and sachets easier for consumers to recycle.
Get the recycling right – teach them when they are young – and we will start seeing a change for future generations. That’s the message behind a new education room at Hamilton’s recycling plant.
A significant part of carpet waste consists of petroleum-based polypropylene. As a non-recyclable product, disposing of it has previously meant incineration or landfill. However, a new solvent is now making it possible to recover virgin-standard polypropylene from carpet waste.
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.
The European Union has said it will toughen its rules on ship recycling and decommissioning offshore oil and gas sites, and set new targets to restore damaged marine ecosystems.
After five years of research and development Colgate says it has developed a first-of-its-kind plastic recyclable toothpaste tube in a bid to reduce the 50 million tubes that end up in landfill every year.