Good News Notes: “The Ocean Cleanup, the non-profit developing and scaling technologies to rid the oceans of plastic, have shared their proof of technology upon returning to Victoria Harbour with trash collected from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. With this confirmation, the organization will immediately return to the infamous gyre to start cleaning the ocean’s…
Category: plastic
From trash to cash: waste pickers help stem the plastic pollution tide, earn thousands
Good News Notes: The world’s ability to produce waste outpaces its ability to manage it. In Cavite, informal waste pickers are helping stem the plastic pollution tide by turning trash into useful products with the assistance of Project ASEANO. ASEANO is a project under Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA),…
Hydrogen from plastic waste: Japanese corporations’ plan could be boon for resource-constrained nation
Good News Notes: “Three major Japanese corporations — car maker Toyota, industrial gases giant Iwatani and engineer JGC Holdings (formerly Japanese Gasoline Co) — are teaming up to produce clean hydrogen from household and industrial plastic waste by 2025, according to Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei. Producing hydrogen from waste is a fairly new but growing…
Trash for rice: Bali recycling scheme gives families pandemic lifeline
Good News Notes: “For Balinese souvenir shop owner I Kadek Rai Nama Rupat, the past two years during the COVID-19 pandemic have been a fight for survival. The pandemic has prevented the foreign tourists that usually throng businesses like his on the Indonesian resort island from coming and rising food prices have compounded the economic…
Companies race to stem flood of microplastic fibres into the oceans
Good News Notes: “From filters to bags to balls, the number of products aimed at stopping the torrent of microplastic fibres being flushed out of washing machines and into rivers and oceans is increasing rapidly. Grundig recently became the first appliance manufacturer to integrate a microfibre filter into a washing machine, while a British company…
Walmart to eliminate single-use plastic bags across Canada by early 2022
Good News Notes : “Walmart Canada is set to eliminate the use of single-use plastic bags for in-store purchases, online grocery pickup and deliveries by early next year, the company announced on Tuesday. The change will apply to all of Walmart’s more than 400 locations across the country by April 22, which is also Earth…
Mars Petcare to use food-safe recycled plastic in packaging
Good News Notes: “US-based food and petcare company Mars Petcare is preparing to launch wet pet food packaging made from food-safe recycled plastic content for its SHEBA cat food brand in Europe. The move is part of the company’s larger commitment to using more recycled content in its plastic packaging. SHEBA will be the first…
IKEA Assembles a Future Without Plastic Packaging
Good News Notes: “Thanks to tiny pieces and convoluted instructions, putting together a bookshelf from IKEA can be a maddening experience. But there’s a payoff: What’s stressful is stylish—and also sustainable. The Swedish retailer has been a champion of the environment for years. In 2018, for instance, it announced plans to use only renewable and recycled materials…
Ford Takes Giant Baby Step On Recycled Plastic
Good News Notes: “Ford has just introduced a new car part made from recovered fishing nets, or “ghost gear,” and the company is billing it as the first ever use of recycled plastic from the ocean by the auto industry. That’s sure to catch the attention of other automakers eager to make an impression on…
New refill store aims to reduce consumer reliance on disposable plastics
Good News Notes: “Plastics are everywhere, from shampoo to conditioner, to household cleaners. All of those containers result in a lot of material that eventually end up in the landfill or recycling. Now, a new store in Medicine Hat aims to reduce the amount of plastics by encouraging customers to refill instead of throw out….