Plastics: Towards a Circular Economy
Using chemical recycling to tackle the problem of plastics waste
Features
What to do About Waste?
Conclusions from the Royal Society of Chemistry’s summit on future waste science policy.
Answering the Call of Nature
Dyllon Randall explains how bio-bricks can be grown from human urine
Take it Apart; Put it Back Together
How do you dismantle a chemical plant for re-erection at the other side of the world? Richard Van...
Worth its Weight
It is increasingly important for companies to maximise the sustainability of their manufacturing ...
From Slime to Sublime
The potential of algae to recover valuable resources from waste could transform the traditional w...
Landfill vs Skyfill
How landfill might be the better option for disposal of low-grade plastics
A Battery Olympics
Getting around the limitations of battery devices with clever ways of teaming different technolo...
Rubbish Roads
A solution to the world’s plastic problem could be right under our feet. Toby McCartney, MacRebur...
A Greener Future for IChemE
The BioFutures Programme will address the opportunities and challenges faced by the chemical engi...
Solar-Powered Water Purification Wins Top Prize
Helen Tunnicliffe reviews the winners of IChemE’s annual awards programme
News
Steam cracking transforms waste plastic into new
A PROCESS has been developed for steam cracking of plastic waste to produce new plastic, which co...
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...
Upcycling plastic bottles for the chemical industry
RESEARCHERS at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia have ...
Partners build Vietnam’s first ‘plastic road’
MATERIALS science company Dow and Vietnamese industrial zone developer DEEP C Industrial Zones ha...
100+ partners commit to the Circular Plastics Alliance
MORE than 100 public and private partners, including from the chemical sector, have signed the De...
Scientists win Nobel prize for developing Li-ion batteries
THE 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham, and A...
Recycling EV batteries
ERAMET, BASF, and SUEZ have partnered to develop an innovative closed-loop process to recycle lit...
Jaguar Land Rover and BASF trial recycled plastic in cars
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has partnered with BASF in a pilot research project to trial plastic recy...
New plastic can be recycled repeatedly
SCIENTISTS at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory (LBNL) hav...
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...
Increasing the recycling rate of electric vehicle batteries
A PARTNERSHIP between Nordic clean energy company Fortum, and Finnish speciality recycling compan...
A new process for converting plastic waste to fuel
A NEW process has been developed that uses supercritical water to transform polypropylene plastic...
Report identifies challenges towards a plastics circular economy
THE European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) has released a report identi...
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...
Nuclear reprocessing ends at Sellafield’s Thorp plant
THE thermal oxide reprocessing plant (Thorp) at Sellafield, UK, has ceased reprocessing spent nuc...
Recycling mixed plastics together
RESEARCHERS in the UK have undertaken a project which aims to develop new technologies for dealin...
UK set to see surge in biomethane plants
THE UK is set to see a 50% rise in biomethane plants operating by 2020, with as much as £400m (US...
Producing hydrogen from plastic waste
A PROCESS has been developed to convert waste plastic into hydrogen which could be used as fuel.
Joint report calls for immediate action to remove greenhouse gases
The Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) have released a joint report outli...
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...
Neste aims to turn plastic waste into fuel
NESTE, a producer of renewable diesel, is developing ways to turn liquified plastic waste into a ...
Stemming the flow of plastic waste
EUROPE has proposed a law banning or restricting single-use plastics, the UN has released a polic...
Reducing the environmental impact of palm oil production
NEW technology has been developed that will convert palm oil waste into building materials and bi...
Engineered enzyme digests plastic
AN EXPERIMENT to study a plastic-eating bacterium accidentally created a mutant enzyme that degra...
Unilever joins forces with Ioniqa to scale up breakthrough plastic waste recycling process
UNILEVER has formed a partnership with processing pioneer Ioniqa and Indorama, the world’s larges...
Europe's first waste-to-chemistry facility provides solution for non-recyclable plastics
A FACILITY that will convert non-recyclable wastes into biofuels and chemicals for industrial use...
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...
A new whey to drink
TOFU whey, a byproduct from tofu manufacture, has been fermented into a new alcoholic drink, whic...
Locking plastic in concrete
ADDING plastic bottles to concrete could lead not only to lower carbon emissions, but improve str...
Putting human waste to good use
NUTRIENTS, energy and water will be safely recovered from the faeces and urine of up to 1,000 peo...
Functionalising waste methane in remote locations
A NOVEL electrochemical process to convert methane into methanol precursors could reduce the need...
Arup: Organic waste could be used in construction
A NEW report from engineering major Arup says that organic waste such as that from bananas, potat...
An olive branch for a circular economy
RESEARCHERS have piloted a process to turn a waste stream from olive oil manufacture into biofuel...
Biodiesel: The tip of the fatberg
A GIANT “fatberg” made of congealed insoluble matter will be converted into 10,000 L of biodiesel...
Solving the big butt problem
STREETS worldwide could be made greener and cooler by incorporating waste cigarette butts into as...
Rise of incinerators risks circular economy
A SURGE in the construction of facilities that burn residual waste is a direct threat to the UK a...
Turning dirty foil into useful catalysts
CONTAMINATED foil is unrecyclable as grease and fats damage recycling equipment, so it is often l...
