plastics

Image: Tide/BoompodsAll these environmental considerations help to explain why Boompods -- a British electronics design company that makes peripherals, such as speakers, headphones, and ear buds, power banks and charging cables -- is using recycled ocean plastic to build devices that people use every day, while also aiding the fight against plastic pollution. Boompods founder David Tansley says one of the reasons he's steering the company toward using recycled ocean plastics is because of the amount of plastic…

Image: Tide/BoompodsAll these environmental considerations help to explain why Boompods -- a British electronics design company that makes peripherals, such as speakers, headphones, and ear buds, power banks and charging cables -- is using recycled ocean plastic to build devices that people use every day, while also aiding the fight against plastic pollution. Boompods founder David Tansley says one of the reasons he's steering the company toward using recycled ocean plastics is because of the amount of plastic…

Samsung Electronics said it aims to broaden the use of eco-conscious materials to all its smartphone products in the coming years.The world's largest smartphone maker said it plans to use recycled plastic materials in all its new flagship Galaxy smartphones and stop using plastics in packaging by 2025, reports Yonhap news agency.It also aims to use 100% recycled plastic parts in all of its smartphone products by 2050."You might question what impact our campaign can have on the Earth's environment, but it is quite a…

England will ban businesses from selling and offering a variety of single-use plastics, including plates and cutlery, by the end of the year, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced on Saturday. The government will begin enforcing the legislation in October 2023. In addition to some plastics, the ban will cover single-use trays and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers but will exempt plates, trays and bowls included with supermarket-ready meals; the government intends to…

Microplastics of 2mm. Credit: NIOZ UV light from the sun slowly breaks down plastics on the ocean's surfaces. Floating microplastic is broken down into ever smaller, invisible nanoplastic particles that spread across the entire water column, but also to compounds that can then be completely broken down by bacteria. This is shown by…

It’s the year 2050, and humanity has made huge progress in decarbonizing. That’s thanks in large part to the negligible price of solar and wind power, which was cratering even back in 2022. Yet the fossil fuel industry hasn’t just doubled down on making plastics from oil and gas—instead, as the World Economic Forum warned would happen, it has tripled production from 2016 levels. In 2050, humans are churning out trillions of pounds of plastic a year, and in the process emitting the greenhouse gas equivalent of over 600…

It will probably take until 2024 for the treaty to be completed, and we don’t know all the details yet, though there’s been talk of production limits, as well as more restrictions on what can go into plastics. But limits on how much plastic nations produce probably won’t be enough to solve the problem.  Finding ways to reinvent plastic recycling could also play a huge role in cutting down on plastic’s negative impacts.  Most plastic recycling today relies on thermal and mechanical techniques—basically melting down…

Rorrer says the researchers are also considering what materials they should use. Cobalt is more common and less expensive than some other catalysts they’ve tried, like ruthenium and platinum, but they are still searching for other options. Better understanding how the catalysts work could allow them to replace cobalt with cheaper, more abundant catalysts, Rorrer says. The ultimate goal would be a fully mixed-feed plastic recycling system, Rorrer says, “and that framework is not completely far-fetched.” Still, achieving…

This week in Uruguay, scientists, environmentalists, and government representatives—and, of course, lobbyists—are gathering to begin negotiations on a United Nations treaty on plastics. It’s only the start of talks, so we don’t know how they will shape up, but some of the bargaining chips on the table include production limits and phasing out particularly troublesome chemical components. A draft resolution released in March set the tone, acknowledging that “high and rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution represent…

If you've ever been turning over your compost heap and found months-old "compostable" plastic items that were still mostly intact – well, you're not alone. New research states that 60% of such plastics don't fully biodegrade in home composting systems.The findings are the result of a study undertaken by scientists from University College London, which began with ordinary citizens from across the UK completing an online questionnaire regarding their habits and opinions relating to compostable plastic and food…