Plastic Pollution Solutions
Published on 29 May 2014
For too long, topics about trash have been on the back burner. Litter is an eyesore, and when countries can “sweep it away,” they do. having traveled to many countries, it is apparent that not everyone has good waste management infrastructure, much less enough recycling capacity. The world has yet to scale some of the ground-breaking plastic innovations currently available, harnessing the resource value that plastic has. We believe the discussion at Plasticity can help change our ways of thinking of plastic, and waste. Plastic pollution is a global issue, but needs to be resolved at the local level.
Plastic - If You Can Measure It, You Can Manage It
Published on 29 May 2014
Plastic has many great uses, due to its light weight, flexibility in molding, and durability – yet these are also its downfalls, particularly because it is difficult to create economies of scale for the many varieties of plastic that exist. In the US alone, estimates are that over US$8bn per year is ‘left on the table’ in the form of packaging waste alone, which does not get recycled.
Roughly 85% of the plastic used in products and packaging is not recycled, and this is a large, global opportunity – an opportunity for cleaning our country sides and waterways, while creating jobs and innovation.
VinylPlus raises the bar by registering over 440,000 tonnes of recycled PVC in Europe in 2013
Summary by Billy Chan
Published on 26 May 2014
VinyPlus successfully met its PVC recycling target in Europe in 2013
IBM Discovers New Materials to ‘Transform Manufacturing’
Summary by Robert Rath
Published on 20 May 2014
IBM scientists have discovered the first new class of polymer in decades – it’s strong, lightweight, self-healing, can be recycled down to its base materials and may change manufacturing.
June forum addresses environmental impacts of plastic
Summary by Robert Rath
Published on 18 May 2014
Recycling Today looks at the upcoming Plasticity Forum, which draws in representatives from business, education, government and investment in an effort to reduce plastics’ environmental impact while increasing profits.
Washing-up Liquid Bottle Made from Ocean Plastic Aims to Clean up Seas
Rebecca Smithers, The Guardian
Published on 17 May 2014
Ecover, a Belgian company, has been working with manufacturer Logoplaste to combine plastic trawled from the sea with a plastic made from sugarcane (which it calls Plant-astic) and recycled plastic, in what it is hailing as a world-first for packaging.
Press Release - Plasticity NYC
Published on 06 May 2014
On the 24th of June, 2014, the 3rd annual Plasticity Forum will be hosted in New York City. Following on from the success of the previous forums in Rio 2012 and Hong Kong 2013, this year’s forum will concentrate on “Innovation and Collaboration in a Material World”. A showcase of ideas in motion, Plasticity will include the latest developments in waste as a resource, scalable innovations in plastic that save money, use of new materials, designing for sustainability and solutions for a world where plastic is used, but without the footprint.
Interactive map aids polypropylene recycling efforts
Published on 30 April 2014
Berry Plastics Group and Moore Recycling have given consumers a new tool to aid polypropylene recycling – an interactive map of collection locations in the U.S.
Coffee Roaster Looks to Improve Footprint of Single Cup Systems
Published on 26 April 2014
“From the consumer perspective, they’re fabulously convenient, but at the end of the day there’s a lot of end-of-life waste for these individual capsules, and their components just end up in landfill,” said Bill VandenBygaart, vice president of business development at Mother Parkers.
New Plastic Recycling Plant to be in the Netherlands
Published on 25 April 2014
Quality Circular Polymers (QCP) to be built in the Netherlands for PP and PE material recycling.