September 2021 - Plastic Waste Solutions
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New Landfill gas (generation) method available – Australia
Posted on September 22, 2021 by DrRossH in Landfills and DisposalSource article The new Landfill gas (generation) method came into effect on 10 September 2021. Landfill gas projects capture and combust gas from waste to prevent the release of methane into the atmosphere. Combusting landfill gas converts...
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Woolworths Group backs Australian plastic recycling start-up
Posted on September 21, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsSource Article Created in partnership with researchers at Australian National University (ANU) and CSIRO-founded Main Sequence, Samsara aims to revolutionise how packaging on everyday groceries is made and recycled to deliver big benefits for the environment. Samsara’s enzyme technology has been...
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Design for Disposability
Posted on September 18, 2021 by DrRossH in Landfills and DisposalSource Article Much of what is designed is done so with the sole intent of creating manipulative, misleading, or misdirected outcomes, in order to get people to consume things they don’t need or see the world in a particular way...
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Waste to energy: Lessons from Japan
Posted on September 16, 2021 by DrRossH in Landfills and DisposalThere is one major exception, however: Japan. In the early 2000s, gasification and the less commonly used pyrolysis processes together had a market share of over 50% in the waste-to-energy sector. While this has now fallen to an estimated 25-...
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Australia’s support for global plastics treaty a breakthrough
Posted on September 14, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsSource Article Australia’s support for a binding global treaty to address marine plastic pollution is a breakthrough, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia. Support for a plastic pollution treaty has grown exponentially from fewer than 70 countries in March...
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Shotspresso incorporates sustainable packaging via Biogone – Australia
Posted on September 14, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsSource Article Shotspresso, a local coffee beverage manufacturer and distributor in Melbourne, is now using more sustainable packaging solutions in their supply chain through a partnership with Biogone, an Australian eco-conscious company. Biogone is offering a suite of packaging options that drive businesses to...
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Let’s Get Circular; It Is the Only Way We Won’t End Up Buried in Garbage
Posted on September 14, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Recycling, Plastic Waste NewsSource Article 75 years ago, if you wanted a cup of coffee or a bite to eat, you went to a restaurant or diner, sat down and got served your coffee in a porcelain mug and ate off a china...
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Chile Boldly Bans Single-Use Plastics
Posted on September 14, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsThe law cracks down on disposable food packaging, mandates refillable bottles. Source Article Chile is getting serious in the fight against single-use plastics. After banning plastic bags from grocery stores in 2018, it Continue reading this entry →
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Nestlé develops reduced plastic packaging for Vittel
Posted on September 13, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Recycling, Plastic Waste NewsSource Article The Vittel GO system consists of a reusable hard protective case designed to hold 50cl refills of Vittel natural mineral water that are made with 40 per cent less plastic than a traditional 50cl Vittel bottle. As the...
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Unilever R&D lead on plastics circularity – Australia
Posted on September 13, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic RecyclingOriginal Article In Australia, we consume 3.5 million tonnes of plastic annually and five kilograms of plastic enter the ocean per person each year. That’s more than three times the global average. But in our everyday lives it can be easy to...
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How many people today grab a takeaway coffee cup from the local cafe to drink on the go? We don’t know, but the number must be enormous.. Most every one of the above have a plastic top that will last 100s of years. Some cafes still use plastic cups that last a similar time. Is 10 minutes of coffee worth 100s of years of trash?
These items can be seen littering our gutters and on our streets all over the place. If they were all cardboard, they would still be littered, but they would, at least, be gone in a short time.
They do not need to be made of plastic.
On the way home from the gym last week, a distance of about 1 km (1/2 mile), I counted the items of plastic litter on the curb as I walked. In that short distance I counted 63 pieces of plastic litter. Plastic drink bottles, bottle tops, candy wrappers, plastic film, polystyrene fragments etc. That seemed to be a lot to me. I guess it is a generational thing. Our parents would have been horrified to see that amount, whereas it seems to go unnoticed by our youth of today. In another 20 years how many pieces will there be on this stretch, -- 200? What will today’s youth think of that new amount then when they are older? Will their children be so readily accepting of a higher amount of litter?