News

Can the Super Bowl go zero waste?

by

via National Geographic

TEN THOUSAND HOT dogs, 20,000 pounds of shrimp, 8,000 pounds of short ribs—and that’s only a portion of the food that will be made by the 2,500-strong culinary staff flying into Miami this weekend to prepare snacks for one of the nation’s biggest game days.

Super Bowl 54, this year played in Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, will see the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the San Francisco 49ers. Nearly 100 million people watch the Super Bowl every year, in bars, at house parties, and for a lucky few, in the stadium, where tickets start at $4,000.

Read the full story here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/01/super-bowl-54-zero-waste-miami/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/01/super-bowl-54-zero-waste-miami/

TURNING PLASTIC WASTE INTO PROSTHETICS

by

via CNNMoney

Two ZHdK graduates are designing lower-limb prosthetic systems from plastic waste that they are planning to produce in developing countries, made there for people there. Their start-up, Project Circleg, launched in 2018 with CHF 500,000 from foundations and is continuing to expand and look for new funding.

Read the full story here: https://www.cnnmoney.ch/shows/tech-talk/videos/turning-plastic-waste-prosthetics-start-ups

Michigan Fashion Company Reduces Plastic Waste to Protect Great Lakes

by

via Fox47news.com

LANSING, Mich. — A University of Michigan student is doing what he can to protect the coastlines and Great Lakes of Michigan.

Jackson Riegler, 19, started his company Oshki when he was just 17-years-old. Riegler had a mission to reduce plastic by re-purposing it to make clothes.

He uses plastic waste found on the shores of the Great Lakes to create these unique sustainable clothing items. Riegler has collected 120 pounds of plastic so far.

Read the full story here: https://www.fox47news.com/news/local-news/mi-fashion-company-reduces-plastic-waste-to-protect-great-lakes

Hard Rock Stadium To Eliminate 99.4% Of Single-Use Plastics By 2020

by

via Forbes

Tom Garfinkel remembers sitting in awe and disbelief as he watched the 60 Minutes special on plastic pollution. The vice chairman, president and CEO of the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium was taken aback by the seemingly endless amount of plastic floating in the oceans, congregating at the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Each year approximately 8 million tons of plastic waste ends up in the world’s oceans, according to the United Nations. If trends continue, oceans could contain more plastic than fish by 2050.

Read the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaellore/2019/11/18/hard-rock-stadium-to-eliminate-994-of-single-use-plastics-by-2020/#a60cb46e0e9e

Plastics industry unveils $500 million federal recycling legislation

by

via Plastics News

Washington — Two members of Congress and a coalition of businesses and trade groups in plastics, waste management and other materials unveiled a $500 million legislative plan Nov. 15 that would allocate federal funding to beef up recycling and waste management.

The Realizing the Economic Opportunities and Values of Expanding Recycling Act, or Recover Act, would set aside $500 million in federal matching funds for states, local governments and tribes to invest in improving recycling infrastructure. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Tony Cárdenas, D-Calif., and Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind.

Read the full story here: https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/plastics-industry-unveils-500-million-federal-recycling-legislation

Dumped fishing gear is biggest plastic polluter in ocean, finds report

by

via The Guardian

Lost and abandoned fishing gear which is deadly to marine life makes up the majority of large plastic pollution in the oceans, according to a report by Greenpeace.

More than 640,000 tonnes of nets, lines, pots and traps used in commercial fishing are dumped and discarded in the sea every year, the same weight as 55,000 double-decker buses.

Read the full story here: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/06/dumped-fishing-gear-is-biggest-plastic-polluter-in-ocean-finds-report

Supersonic aircraft will employ 3D-printed components

by

via Plastics Today

Stratasys has deepened its partnership with Boom Supersonic – the Colorado-based company building the world’s fastest ever supersonic airliner. In signing a seven-year agreement extension, the companies are further accelerating the adoption of additive manufacturing for 3D-printed flight hardware.

Expanding 3D printing beyond rapid prototyping, Boom Supersonic is utilizing the Stratasys F900 3D Printer with the Aircraft Interiors Solution (AIS) package to create hundreds of 3D printed parts for XB-1, the company’s supersonic demonstrator aircraft. The AIS package is aimed at helping improve mechanical properties and enables repeatable development of aircraft production parts.

Read the full story here: https://www.plasticstoday.com/3d-printing/supersonic-aircraft-will-employ-3d-printed-components/103878795661808

A floating device created to clean up plastic from the ocean is finally doing its job, organizers say

by

via (CNN) A huge trash-collecting system designed to clean up plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean is finally picking up plastic, its inventor announced Wednesday.The Netherlands-based nonprofit the Ocean Cleanup says its latest prototype was able to capture and hold debris ranging in size from huge, abandoned fishing gear, known as “ghost nets,” to tiny microplastics as small as 1 millimeter. Read the full story here: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/02/tech/ocean-cleanup-catching-plastic-scn-trnd/index.html

Single-use plastic bottles find second life in prosthetic devices

by

via Plastics Today

How do you slash the cost of a prosthetic limb socket from approximately $6,000 to around $12? Simple: You fabricate it from plastic water bottles, and strike a blow against plastic waste in the process. The idea originated with Dr. Karthikeyan Kandan, a senior lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at De Montfort University (DMU) Leicester in the United Kingdom.

Read the full story here: https://www.plasticstoday.com/medical/single-use-plastic-bottles-find-second-life-prosthetic-devices/192122339061468