Month: November 2020

Brewers are addressing the beer industry’s plastic dilemma

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via Marin Independent Journal

Early this year, a brewery in East Aurora, New York, began offering customers a free pint of beer for each plastic four-pack or six-pack can carrier that they returned, a reuse program aimed at reducing the volume of plastic that flows into our economy’s waste stream, the terrestrial environment and the ocean.

It was a good move for the beer industry. 42 North Brewing’s effort is focused specifically on the almost ubiquitous beverage carriers made by the company PakTech, and it will hopefully inspire other breweries to follow suit. After all, the United States and the European Union are huge contributors to the world’s plastic crisis, which poses an existential threat to marine wildlife.

Read the full story here: https://www.marinij.com/2020/11/24/brewers-are-addressing-the-beer-industrys-plastic-dilemma/

MRF Summit: Despite pandemic setbacks, 2020 shows bright spots for recycling

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via WasteDive

Contamination, automation, globalization and federal engagement were all hot topics at last week’s 2020 MRF Summit, a joint virtual conference hosted by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) and Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA).

Despite the many pandemic- and economy-related challenges the industry has faced this year, SWANA CEO David Biderman highlighted numerous reasons for optimism and embracing opportunities. “The value of the recovered materials coming out of the back of a MRF is about double what it was at the start of year,” he said.

Read the full story here: https://www.wastedive.com/news/mrf-summit-2020-recycling-robotics-pandemic-basel/589533/

This Norwegian start-up wants to build houses out of 100% recycled plastic

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via WeForum.org

Using one of the world’s problems to solve another is the philosophy behind a Norwegian start-up’s mission to develop affordable housing from 100% recycled plastic.

Since 1950, more than nine billion tonnes of plastic have been produced globally, of which only 9% is recycled, according to building tech company Othalo, while almost a billion people live in slums.

Read the full story here: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/un-africa-recycled-plastic-housing/

The Uneasy Afterlife of Our Dazzling Trash

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via The New York Times

Every day, for the past 14 years, Bruce Bennett has received packages filled with CDs. Sometimes a few at a time and sometimes in packs of hundreds, shiny old discs arrive at his CD Recycling Center of America in Salem, N.H., a 300-foot blue trailer tucked behind a commercial strip, to ascend to the CD afterlife.

The CD recycling process requires Mr. Bennett, 55, to store a truckload, or approximately 44,000 pounds, of CDs in a warehouse before the discs can be granulated into raw polycarbonate plastic, resulting in a white and clear powdery material that glints and resembles large snowflake crystals stuck together.

Read the full story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/07/style/the-uneasy-afterlife-of-our-dazzling-trash.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Style