4th Oct 2023
If you have visited a coffee outlet, or treated yourself to a takeaway this week, you may have noticed something. Your drink should not have come in a polystyrene cup, and your meal should not have come with plastic cutlery.
9th Nov 2021
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently caused a stir when he announced to a room full of schoolchildren that recycling plastic ”doesn’t work” (reported here). The PM’s comments upset some, but he did have a point. According to Sian Sutherland, A Plastic Planet co-founder, “less than 10% [of plastic waste] is actually recycled in the UK. Despite being touted by industry as a solution to the problem, all it has done is justify overproduction” (reported here).
28th Oct 2020
Increasing focus is being directed to developing Li-ion battery technology, particularly in view of the expected surge in uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) in the near to short term. It is not hard to imagine a future where battery powered EVs have replaced many, if not all, of the internal combustion engines on our roads. However, a number of concerns arise when looking towards this battery powered future, and highlight the need for robust recycling practices and technologies.
31st May 2019
We previously reported on how technology which aims to end plastic pollution could be protected with patents and how a genetically modified enzyme capable of breaking down plastic is the subject of a patent application. While technology to improve how our plastic waste is managed is clearly important it only represents part of the story. What if we didn’t need to use the plastic in the first place? All over the world, innovators are working to end our penchant for polymers.