February 7, 2021
Pact Group and Cleanaway have announced a joint project to build a new plastic recycling plant in Western Australia, which has attracted $9.5 million in grant funding from the Recycling Modernisation Fund and the WA Government. The funding — which remains conditional upon the completion of financial due diligence and entry into formal funding agreements — was announced by WA Minister for
...February 4, 2021
Since leaving her role as Brand Power presenter some years ago, Sally Williams has dedicated her career to only supporting and representing brands and companies that are making a concerted effort to reduce waste. Taking a realistic stance on sustainability, Sally realised the growing need for industry groups, consumers — and importantly, government — to unite in order to make any significant
...January 29, 2021
Contrary to popular belief, a profitable business model for reused construction steel is not nearly as impossible as one may believe. Steelmakers have almost perfected the "recycle" element of the four hierarchical elements of the circular economy — reduce, reuse, remanufacture and recycle — with steel recycling rates of almost 90 percent. Despite the recycling success,
...January 28, 2021
Chemists from Rice University in Texas have converted pyrolysed ash from plastic recycling into graphene using a Joule heating process. The graphene could be used to strengthen concrete and toughen plastics used in medicine, energy and packaging applications. In the lab of Rice chemist James Tour, a strong jolt of energy flashes pyrolysed ash into turbostratic graphene. Weak attractive interactions
...January 28, 2021
Numerous companies have set 100 percent recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging goals such as Colgate-Palmolive and Kellogg. Virtually all these companies, though, are not tracking whether their packaging is actually recycled and what new products their packaging becomes. Without this end-of-life tracking, they cannot determine the extent of the economic and environmental impact from how their
...January 26, 2021
Despite early fears that reusable containers could be a vector for disease, public concern over the environmental impacts of our trash hasn’t gone away.
January 24, 2021
CSIRO has released the National Circular Economy Roadmap, detailing key strategies for creating jobs and reclaiming billions in economic value from plastic, glass, paper and tyres currently going into landfill. According to the roadmap, innovation is crucial to realising Australia’s largest economic gains, which will come from designing new products and materials and embracing new business
...January 19, 2021
The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) has published a report that tracks Australia’s progress towards the 2025 National Packaging Targets. The report — Australian packaging consumption and recycling data 2018–19 — is second in a series of annual publications mapping the state of packaging in Australia, demonstrating that overall trends are positive and
...January 19, 2021
The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) has published a report that tracks Australia’s progress towards the 2025 National Packaging Targets. The report — Australian packaging consumption and recycling data 2018–19 — is second in a series of annual publications mapping the state of packaging in Australia, demonstrating that overall trends are positive and
...January 19, 2021
Solutions to the world's biggest problems, including climate change and the coronavirus pandemic, are studied in research laboratories across the globe. But as sterile as those labs may appear, they have a dirty secret: immense carbon footprints. Labs burn through five to 10 times more energy per square foot than offices, an impact that may be magnified tenfold for clean rooms and other specialized
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