Plastics: Biodegradable, Bio-based, or Compostable?
Conventional plastics are widely recognised as harmful to the environment, but are the alternativ...
Features
Not All Plastics Are Made Equally Recyclable
Aniqah Majid looks at the multiple plastics clogging up the waste management system and whether t...
Let’s Go Round Again: Closing the Loop on Problem Plastics
With today’s Earth Day campaign calling for action on plastic production, Adam Duckett talks to J...
Plastic Recycling: A Crosslinking Approach for Managing Mixed Waste
Amanda Jasi talks to Eugene Chen, Sanat Kumar, and Tomislav Rovis about the crosslinking solution...
Waste Away
Adam Duckett on our plastic plight and the efforts of engineers
Plastic Feedstocks: From Plants and Emissions
Kerry Hebden speaks to researchers exploring novel routes to greener plastics
Challenges for recycled polymers in Europe
An analysis of the increasing pressure faced by the recycled plastic supply chain in Western Europe
Pyrolysis Gets Personal
Adam Duckett visits the workshop of Nik Spencer to understand more about a pyrolysis unit that ...
Packing a Punch
David Smith discusses the importance of product packing and filling for formulated dry products
Plastics: Towards a Circular Economy
Using chemical recycling to tackle the problem of plastics waste
Turning Ocean Trash into Cash
Project turns plastic waste in the sea into vehicle fuels
News
Neste and Technip join forces for ‘copy and paste’ liquefaction for plastics recycling
IN A BID to reduce the upfront costs for the chemical recycling of plastics, Neste, Alterra and T...
Mitsubishi to invest £250m doubling plastic output at Saltend site
MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL is investing £250m (US$328m) to double production of packaging plastic at its...
UK announces £16.6m funding to bolster semiconductor innovation for green technologies
THE UK’s semiconductor industry is set to benefit from a £16.6m (US$21m) cash injection that will...
Dow and P&G partner to create polyethylene recycling technology
DOW and Procter & Gamble (P&G) are jointly developing a new process to recover near-virgin qualit...
Mondi agrees £5bn deal for DS Smith in bid to create packaging heavyweight
MONDI has agreed to buy rival DS Smith for £5.1bn (US$6.5bn) in a deal which will create one of t...
Xampla and 2M awarded Innovate grant to scale up production of biodegradable materials
XAMPLA, a company specialising in natural, biodegradable materials, has been awarded the Innovate...
BASF opens centre to research microplastics and biodegradation
BASF has opened a research facility in the US to help understand how plastics disintegrate and bi...
Johnson Matthey licenses technology for largest-of-its-kind biodegradable plastics plant
JOHNSON MATTHEY is licensing its butanediol (BDO) process technology for a new plastics plant in ...
Plastic Energy opens new R&D labs at Loughborough
RECYCLING technology firm Plastic Energy has opened new research and development labs and a dedic...
Ineos joins NEXTLOOPP polypropylene recycling project
INEOS Olefins and Polymers (O&P) has announced that it is joining the NEXTLOOPP project, which is...
Partners share open-source PFAS-free packaging technique
FOLLOWING nine months of collaboration, partners Solenis and Zume have open-sourced a recipe and ...
Pilot plant will convert soybean waste into bioplastic
A FINNISH consortium is building a pilot plant to convert waste from soybean processing into comp...
SABIC and BP join forces on circular plastics
SABIC and BP are working together to produce recycled plastics at the Gelsenkirchen chemical comp...
Four proposed UK plastic recycling facilities receive funding
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has invested £20m (US$26m) in four proposed plastic recycling p...
Recycling Association calls for Government to support paper and cardboard recycling
THE UK’s Recycling Association has called for Government to support investment in UK paper and ca...
Stretch film manufacturer commercialises sustainable alternative
DOXA Plast, a stretch film manufacturing company, is commercialising a family of bio-based high p...
Coronavirus could lead to packaging material shortage, warns Recycling Association
THE UK risks a shortage in material for vital packaging needed to protect food and medical suppli...
US$1.32m to accelerate waste-reduction innovation and research
ECOSURETY, a UK producer responsibility compliance scheme, has launched a £1m (US$1.32m) innovati...
Partners build Vietnam’s first ‘plastic road’
MATERIALS science company Dow and Vietnamese industrial zone developer DEEP C Industrial Zones ha...
Behold the Plastic Age: synthetic fibres found in fossil record
GEOLOGISTS could one day determine the age of rocks by measuring the amount of plastic found in s...
Neste and LyondellBasell claim bioplastic first
NESTE and LyondellBasell are claiming an industry-first with the parallel, commercial-scale produ...
A tougher bioplastic for food packaging
ADDING rubber to bioplastic to make it less brittle has led to the development of a new type of b...
Consortium aims to bring world-first PET recycling technology to market
PEPSICO, Nestlé Waters, and Suntory Beverage and Food Europe have joined a consortium to help bri...
BP joins effort to make paraxylene from biological sources
BP has formed a partnership with Virent and Johnson Matthey to commercialise a process that produ...
Coca-Cola Company to extend loan for novel PET recycling technology
THE Coca-Cola Company has announced an agreement extending a loan to Ioniqa Technologies, a start...
UK government announces £60m in funding for sustainable packaging
THE UK government has announced the launch of a £60m (US$76m) innovation fund to accelerate the d...
New technique for recycling multi-layer packaging
CRISP packets, chocolate wrappers, and blister packets for pills are all extremely difficult to r...
New packaging: cheap and slippery
FANS of fast food know how tricky it is trying to squeeze out the last drops of ketchup from thos...
CO2 shortage sparks concerns over food and drinks supplies
BEER, fizzy drinks, and poultry supplies are at risk of disruption in the UK following a shortage...
DuPont and ADM launch bioplastic pilot plant
DUPONT and ADM have announced the opening of a pilot plant in that will be the world’s first prod...
Easter eggsperts: chemical engineers have chocolate eco-ratings licked
AS we peel the foil off our Easter eggs this Sunday, chemical engineers are urging us to consider...
Bread alert: chemical engineers reveal worst sandwiches for the climate
DO you want to do your bit for the climate at lunchtime? If so, chemical engineers say you should...
UK plastic recycling crisis expected
THE UK’S recycling industry says it may not be able to cope with an increase in plastic waste, as...
Locking plastic in concrete
ADDING plastic bottles to concrete could lead not only to lower carbon emissions, but improve str...
Surf and turf: replacing plastic laminates
A COMPOSTABLE biomaterial made of derivatives from lobster shells and wood could sustainably repl...
Making polysulfates and polysulfonates
RESEARCHERS using so-called “click chemistry” say they have developed a fast, easy way to make su...
Turning dirty foil into useful catalysts
CONTAMINATED foil is unrecyclable as grease and fats damage recycling equipment, so it is often l...
Making polycarbonate from sugar and CO2
CHEMISTS at the University of Bath, UK, have developed a process to create polycarbonate plastic ...
