Environment

  Australia will need to introduce a tax on plastic to help reduce a mounting waste problem, a global financial analyst has predicted. A report by global wealth manager Credit Suisse found those restrictions have had a “colossal” impact on Australia and warns of an “impending plasticide”. Australia was exporting a large portion of its recyclable waste to China, but China has tightened its contamination standards and banned 24 types of waste. “There will be more plastic than fish in the ocean, by weight, in

Stressing the need for scientific disposal of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) chairperson BSS Prasad said that Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across the State should take measures to hand over segregated plastic waste to cement manufacturers for them to make revenue out of it. Speaking at the brainstorming session on ‘Co-Processing of MSW and Plastic in Cement’, held in the city on Wednesday, Prasad called upon the municipalities to accord priority to allocating budget for scientific

The BBC has unveiled a new sustainability strategy, which sets out commitments to achieve zero waste to landfill and source 100% renewable energy, with the broadcaster also revealing it has cut out more than 500,000 pieces of single-use plastics since April 2018. In February 2018, the BBC vowed to “lead the way” by removing single-use plastics from its operations by 2020 The BBC has today (12 November) published its Greener Broadcasting strategy, outlining new commitments to reduce carbon emissions

Retail giant Marks and Spencer (M&S) has unveiled a new range of reusable carrier bags made with 75% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic in a bid to boost consumer awareness around plastic pollution and raise money for recycling infrastructure. The bags will be made with post-consumer recycled plastics from Plastic Bank’s Manilla recycling facility The bags, which are set to go on sale on Tuesday (6 November), are made using plastic waste sourced from social enterprise Plastic Bank, which aims to prevent plastic

Concern is mounting over the volume of plastics in our oceans and, in particular, how tiny particles of plastic and other synthetic materials are infiltrating every part of our ecosystem. Can technology help address the problem? In October 2009, windsurfing teacher Rachael Miller went to help clean up an island off the coast of Maine in the north-east of the US. There had been a heavy storm and “we found the beach covered in debris”, she says, mostly washed up plastic fishing

A north London supermarket has become Britain’s first to introduce plastic-free zones, in a move campaigners believe will spur the giant chains to follow suit. Thornton Budgens in Belsize Park has converted more than 1,700 product lines to non-plastic packaging over the past 10 weeks, part of a journey that promises to take the store “virtually plastic-free” within three years. Supported by local resident celebrities Jim Broadbent and Dame Janet Suzman, the supermarket claims to have becoming a “public

Plastic, a durable, malleable, customisable material that is easy to manufacture, is arguably the definitive 20th century “mod-con”. It has proved irresistible to consumers and manufacturers who have been complacent about the collateral damage it causes the environment. But the tide — now awash with an additional 8m tonnes of plastic entering the oceans annually — is slowly turning. The scale of the environmental problem is staggering. More than 6.3bn tonnes of plastic waste has been produced since the 1950s, more

One of the BillerudKorsnäs packaging redesign projects replaced the plastic casing around camping gear with cardboard. At the Swedish-owned BillerudKorsnäs design lab in Portland, Oregon, he’s laid down a massive sheet of it, as big as a king-size bed. He flips the switch on a machine that zips around the cardboard, stabbing and cutting it like a robotic exact-o knife. “Basically anything we create, any design we’re looking to validate, we cut out with this machine,” he says. “This lets us know

Business giants, financial investors, non-profit organisations and national Governments have vowed to eradicate plastic waste and pollution, as part of a new Global Commitment spearheaded by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The UK and Scottish Governments are among the five governments and cities to sign up The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment will be launched in collaboration with the UN Environment at the Our Ocean Conference in Bali later today (29 October). The Commitment aims to create a “new normal”