Our neighbor to the north will eliminate the manufacture and import of single-use and other plastics by year’s end. Why can’t the US legislate a similar, sweeping effort to fight pollution and climate change?
Avantium, a company based in the Netherlands, is experimenting with biodegradable plant-based plastics that could replace the single-use plastic bottles used by soda and beer manufacturers.
More companies are turning away from single-use plastics as public consciousness about plastic pollution increases.
Coca-Cola’s head of sustainability told the World Economic Forum this week her company has no intention of reducing the number of single use plastic bottles it churns out every year. Instead, it will increase recycling efforts worldwide. Is that a plan?
China is taking a big step forward in the war on single-use plastic. It is banning most plastic bags this year and cuts in plastic utensils and carry-out containers over the next 5 years.
A small Himalayan village had a creative solution to the Indian Prime Minister’s urge for people to stop using single-use plastics across the country.
Customers can order products from a variety of companies that are shipped to them in returnable and reusable containers packed inside a reusable blue Loop container.
When the products are consumed, the containers are placed inside a similar Loop container, picked up by UPS or other package delivery service, and returned to the point of origin for re-use. Customers pay a modest service fee of the use of the Loop container
186 nations have signed an agreement that prevents shipping plastic waste to developing countries without their permission. The US, of course, is opposed to the initiative.
Researchers at NREL have devised a way of using discarded single use plastic to make new products. It could keep much of the world’s plastic trash out of landfills and the world’s oceans.
Researchers in Singapore say they have found a way to convert plastic waste into aerogels that can protect firefighters, reduce the energy needed for heating and cooling buildings, and maybe remove some of the excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
