waste management

Catalyst turns mixed plastic waste into natural gas

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via Chemistry World

Plastic waste can now be efficiently converted into methane using a ruthenium-based catalyst. The patented technology could help mitigate the planet’s growing plastic waste problem while producing methane for use as a fuel or chemical feedstock in a more environmentally friendly way than fracking.

Recovering chemicals and fuel from plastic waste streams is nothing new. Processes including pyrolysis and gasification, which break down plastics using high temperatures and catalytic processes, can recover useful materials. However, these approaches create several products, including waste, and require additional processing and purification.

Read the full story here: https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/catalyst-turns-mixed-plastic-waste-into-natural-gas/4013218.article

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    Oceana report says Amazon has a ‘plastic problem’, pollutes oceans with 22 million pounds of plastics per year

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    via Fox29.com

    Oceana analyzed e-commerce and packaging market data as well as a recent scientific report, published in Science about predicted growth in plastic waste and found that Amazon has a large and rapidly growing plastic pollution footprint.

    “Amazon has a plastic problem,” Oceana wrote in the report released on Dec. 15. “Oceana estimates that in 2019, up to 22.44 million pounds of Amazon’s plastic packaging has ended up in the world’s freshwater and marine ecosystems as pollution. This amount is roughly equivalent to a delivery van’s worth of plastic being dumped into major rivers, lakes, and the oceans every 70 minutes.”

    Read the full story here: https://www.fox29.com/news/oceana-report-says-amazon-has-a-plastic-problem-pollutes-oceans-with-22-million-pounds-of-plastics-per-year

    These solar-powered barges can scoop up 50 tons of plastic from rivers each day

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    via The Optimist Daily

    While removing the plastic waste that currently contaminates the ocean today will be crucial for protecting marine ecosystems, it is arguably more important that we stop any more plastic trash from entering the ocean. Fortunately for humanity, The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit taking on plastic waste in the ocean today, also has a novel solution for stopping plastic from entering it via rivers.

    The solution comes in the form of a solar-powered barge named the “Interceptor”. The 24-meter-long (78 feet) vessel resembles a large houseboat and uses a curved barrier to catch waste floating downstream. The trash, much of it plastic, is directed to the “mouth” of the barge — which operates autonomously and silently — from where it rolls up a conveyor belt and is dropped into dumpsters. Apparently, the Interceptor is capable of collecting up to 50 tons of waste a day.

    Read the full story here: https://www.optimistdaily.com/2021/01/these-solar-powered-barges-can-scoop-up-50-tons-of-plastic-from-rivers-each-day/

    Bali’s beaches buried in tide of plastic rubbish during monsoon season

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    via The Guardian

    Bali’s famous beaches are being strewn by plastic rubbish in what experts say is becoming an annual event thanks to monsoon weather, poor waste management and a global marine pollution crisis.

    Authorities are struggling to keep up with the tide of rubbish washing up on beaches at Kuta, Legian and Seminyak, where about 90 tonnes of rubbish was collected on Friday and Saturday.

    Read the full story here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/04/balis-beaches-buried-in-tide-of-plastic-rubbish-as-monsoon

    Plastic waste forms huge, deadly masses in camel guts

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    via Science News

    Marcus Eriksen was studying plastic pollution in the Arabian Gulf when he met camel expert Ulrich Wernery. “[Ulrich] said, ‘You want to see plastic? Come with me.’ So we went deep into the desert,” Eriksen recalls. Before long, they spotted a camel skeleton and began to dig through sand and bones.

    “We unearthed this mass of plastic, and I was just appalled. I couldn’t believe that — almost did not believe that — a mass as big as a medium-sized suitcase, all plastic bags, could be inside the rib cage of this [camel] carcass,” says Eriksen, an environmental scientist at the 5 Gyres Institute, a plastic pollution research and education organization in Santa Monica, Calif.

    Read the full story here: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/camel-eating-plastic-trash-waste-deadly-masses

    More than 1.56 billion face masks could end up polluting oceans: report

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    via CTV

    TORONTO — More than 1.56 billion face masks used in 2020 will make their way into our planet’s oceans, joining literal tonnes of other plastic pollution, according to an estimate by OceansAsia.

    The Hong-Kong based marine conservation organization released a report on Monday that details one of the devastating side-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: the increase in plastic use and disposal.

    Read the full story here: https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/more-than-1-56-billion-face-masks-could-end-up-polluting-oceans-report-1.5221239

    Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestlé named top plastic polluters for third year in a row

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    via The Guardian

    Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé have been accused of “zero progress” on reducing plastic waste, after being named the world’s top plastic polluters for the third year in a row.

    Coca-Cola was ranked the world’s No 1 plastic polluter by Break Free From Plastic in its annual audit, after its beverage bottles were the most frequently found discarded on beaches, rivers, parks and other litter sites in 51 of 55 nations surveyed. Last year it was the most frequently littered bottle in 37 countries, out of 51 surveyed.

    Read the full story here: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/07/coca-cola-pepsi-and-nestle-named-top-plastic-polluters-for-third-year-in-a-row

    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/

    Coronavirus is causing a flurry of plastic waste. Campaigners fear it may be permanent

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    via CNN

    Surgical masks, gloves, protective equipment, body bags — the Covid-19 crisis has spurred a rapid expansion in the production of desperately-needed plastic products, with governments racing to boost their stockpiles and regular citizens clamoring for their share of supplies.Related stories

    Such production is necessary. But all that plastic ends up somewhere — and environmental campaigners fear it is just the tip of a looming iceberg, with the pandemic causing a number of serious challenges to their efforts to reduce plastic pollution.

    Read the full story here: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/world/coronavirus-plastic-waste-pollution-intl/index.html

    Plastic Fuels: Do They Fix Waste Or Greenwash It?

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    via Forbes

    Marketed as a solution to the environmental and waste problems the plastic industry is currently facing, recycled carbon fuels are problematic. And they will be at odds with Wednesday’s vote from the EU Parliament backing a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

    A briefing published by Zero Waste Europe shows that these fuels are produced by converting plastics back to their original fossil form. As they are burnt and carbon is released to the atmosphere, they are ultimately exacerbating climate change.

    Read the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/emanuelabarbiroglio/2020/10/08/the-pros-and-cons-of-plastic-to-fuels/#4508a3ce48cb