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Up to 31% of plastic exported from Europe for recycling doesn’t end up being recycled, a new study estimates. Thousands of tonnes could be ending up in the oceans. Technologies that enable traceability could help create a 'circular economy'. Here’s a different perspective on the plastic waste problem. You’ve probably heard how 90% of the ...
Not always, says this report. The world produces more than 400 million tonnes of plastics every year, much of which is mismanaged after use – with only 14-18% being formally recycled and more than half ending up in landfills. Brazilian materials engineer, Guilherme Brammer, was so frustrated by the lack of adequate recycling he saw in his ...
Supermarkets have promised in a “ Plastic Pact ” to eliminate avoidable packaging and ensure all of it can be reused, recycled or composted by 2025. One third of supermarket plastic cannot easily be recycled at present, and while the pact among retailers is only voluntary, its target is welcome. That said, just because a plastic is ...
Only 2% is “effectively recycled”; that is, converted into an equally useful item. Most recycled plastic is “downcycled” into something less useful than before, and is only recycled once before heading to a landfill or the ocean. Instead of devoting resources to waste removal and treatment, we need to focus on eliminating waste.
2. Tennis balls. US company Recycleballs collects millions of tennis balls which are recycled into new products. According to the company, 125 million tennis balls end up in American landfill sites each year, representing 20,000 metric tons of near non-decomposable rubber waste. Some of the balls are ground up and the felt is separated from the ...
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation advocates strategies at the heart of a circular economy – elimination, reuse and material circulation. Here are seven ways packaging is changing. 1. Direct elimination. The simplest way to prevent packaging waste is to consider whether the packaging is needed at all.
Here's how. Up to 85% of an existing wind turbine, including the steel mast and electrical components made of metals like copper, can be recycled, but not the turbine blades, which already account for 10% of Europe's fibre-reinforced composite material waste. Image shows a large wind turbine, of which must be replaced after 20 years of service.
Here are some stats that show how recycling has changed in recent years: 1. Of the 40 million tons of plastic waste generated in the U.S. in 2021, only 5% to 6% — or about two million tons — was recycled. 2. Between 2019 and 2020, there was a 5.7% overall decrease in plastics recovered for recycling in the U.S.
About 8 billion tons of plastic has been produced globally since the 1950s, but only 10% has actually been recycled. Recycling is increasingly seen as an unsuitable solution to the growing volume of food waste produced by the world. In addition to reducing our overall consumption levels, addressing the waste crisis will require more support for ...
An average four-person family pays $6 a month for the bags, a fee that helps encourage home composting. The bag charges also meet 60% of the cost of running the scheme, which has increased the amount of food waste recycled from 2% in 1995 to 95% today. The government has approved the use of recycled food waste as fertilizer, although some ...