December 2022 - Page 2 of 2 - Plastic Waste Solutions
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Roadmap to phase out EPS packaging – Australia
Posted on December 6, 2022 by DrRossH in Plastic RecyclingSource The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) has published a new resource – the Roadmap to implement the national phase-out of business-to-consumer expanded polystyrene (EPS) packaging. Developed by industry in consultation with the Commonwealth and state and territory governments, the roadmap sets...
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Kerbside trial for soft plastics starts in SA – Australia
Posted on December 6, 2022 by DrRossH in Plastic RecyclingSource A new SA kerbside recycling trial aims to close the loop on soft plastic packaging. The trial, led by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) in partnership with CAWRA (the Central Adelaide Waste and Recycling Authority), and the...
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Challenges and priorities for success on plastics in Australia
Posted on December 2, 2022 by DrRossH in Plastic RecyclingAttendees at a conference in Nov 22 Australia have boldly called for a set of improvements to prevent the loss of a vital industry in Australia and to ensure plastic pollution and recycling targets are reached. The first conference in Australia...
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As plastics treaty talks open, a diplomatic push to ‘restrain’ virgin resins
Posted on December 2, 2022 by DrRossH in Plastic RecyclingSource As talks on a global plastics treaty open Nov. 28 in Uruguay, a key proposal on the table from about 50 countries and dozens of multinational firms is having the agreement "restrain" plastic production and consumption. Whether the treaty ultimately...
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EU unveils plans to cut Europe’s plastic and packaging waste
Posted on December 2, 2022 by DrRossH in Plastic Recycling, Plastic Waste NewsSource The EU executive wants to ban mini-shampoo bottles in hotels and the use of throwaway cups in cafes and restaurants, as part of sweeping legal proposals to curb Europe’s mountains of waste. A draft EU regulation published on Wednesday also...
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Magnetic material mops up microplastics – Australia
Posted on December 1, 2022 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsSource Lead researcher Professor Nicky Eshtiaghi said existing methods could take days to remove microplastics from water, while their cheap and sustainable invention achieves better results in just one hour. The team says they have developed adsorbents, in the form of...
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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?