Photo by the Los Angeles Times in article, “Afghanistan woman breaks ground with Kabul recycling plant”
INITIATIVES
35-year Zuhal Atmar has become Afghanistan’s first women to start her own recycling operation. Atmar is breaking ground, as the country is often not friendly to women entrepreneurs. However, despite high capital costs, cultural conservatism, and threats to her life, Atmar is pushing through in order to help tackle her city’s growing garbage problem. Read more on the Los Angeles Times.
Beijing will begin implementing a city-wide mandatory household garbage sorting system. To curb pollution, households will be required to sort their garbage into four categories: kitchen waste, recyclable waste, hazardous waste, and other waste. Those who fail to comply will be charged a fee of 50-200 yuan (about $7-28 USD). The new rule will also ban super-thin or free plastic bags in supermarkets and malls, and encourages offices to go paperless and stop using disposable cups. Read more on these regulations on Xinhua Net.
The Scottish Government has begun an initiative to curb the use of single-use menstrual products for young girls. The campaign is a collaboration between the government, Zero Waste Scotland, and social enterprise Hey Girls. Entitled, #TrialPeriod, the program gives away reusable menstrual cups to more than 2,000 young women who have applied. This breaks down the barrier of ‘initial investment,’ and will help reduce the 427 million single-use menstrual products that are discarded every year. Read more on BBC.
When deciding between a plastic bag ban and a fee, the city of Chicago found that a fee was far more effective. Researchers found that “consumers are less motivated by emotional appeals to save the environment and more by the impact on their pocketbook—even when it’s just a few cents.” Read more on Politico.
Tunisia and the UK have announced a sustainable tourism charter in Tunisia. This charter is expected to result in the discontinuation of disposable plastic cups, straws, and cutlery in hotels by March 2020, as well as increased responsible waste disposal and recycling for the tours. Read more on Travel Daily.
Young Indonesian activist Tenia Lestari leads a network of volunteer divers to remove trash from coral reefs and recycle what they find. Watch the video on BBC.
PRODUCTS
Two NYC-based designers have tackled the challenge of creating a plastic-free coffee cup. Their foldable-paper design, Unocup, maintains all the functionality of a conventional coffee cup, but without needing a plastic lid. Unocup has won a New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize, including $100,000 in prize money, and is now a full-fledged company. Read more on Fast Company.
A new, 3D-printed brick made from recycled plastic has been shown to provide 10 time better insulation than traditional, clay bricks. Inspiration for the new product came from the Baya weaver bird’s nest, which is known for its elaborate construction. The brick is expected to improve energy efficiency of modern buildings and therefore reduce their carbon footprint. Read more on De Monfort University’s News section.
PACKAGING
Hoffman Neopac has developed packaging best practices for tube packaging recycling. The guide includes suggestions such as making the caps out of the same material as the tube to ensure a mono-material pack, and to use natural or light tube coloring. You can check out the guide on Packaging Europe.
TECHNOLOGY
Recycled PET plastics could be turned into molecular filters in the chemical industry. KAUST researchers have found a way to convert recycled plastics into porous membranes that separate molecules from liquids. This outlet could increase recycling rates and save energy within the chemical industry. Read more on SciTechDaily.
OTHER NEWS
Coldplay has decided to postpone their upcoming concerts until they have found a way to make their shows more sustainable. Although they recently released a new album, “Everyday Life,” they are holding off on live shows until they can figure out how to power them with solar energy, eliminate single-use plastics from the event, and figure out other ways to be low-impact with their concerts. Find out more on USA Today.
Mexico has inaugurated its first highway made partially from recycled plastics. The 2.5-mile stretch of highway “used 1.7 tons of recycled plastic, or the equivalent of 425,000 plastic packaging units.” The recycled plastic is expected to help extend the life span of the paved road, and help foster a circular economy. Read more on Yahoo! Finance.
It may sound like an unpopular opinion, but a high-level exec is arguing that plastic manufacturers are not to blame for the plastic crisis. Instead, Richard Jones, the SVP of Indorama Ventures, argues, “It’s not the packaging [that’s the problem]. It’s how it’s used and abused. People need to dispose of litter properly.” In an analogy, he claimed that people don’t blame cars or the steel used to make them when looking at traffic fatalities. Read more on his speech on Eco-Business.