Plastic Pollution

UBC professor Dr. Feng Jiang holding samples of the biodegradable foam:. Credit: Lou Bosshart/UBC A new biodegradable packing foam developed at UBC not only potentially addresses the world's plastic pollution crisis but also serves as an equal and true partnership example of working with First Nations. The team came together…

Microplastics have become a new form of plastic pollution, reaching an alarming level worldwide. Commodity plastics are widely considered to be chemically inert, but alterations in their surface properties owing to environmental weathering are often overlooked, impeding their life-cycle analysis in the environment.  In a new paper published in ACS…

In 2018, the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment was launched by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) in collaboration with UN Environment. Signatories collectively represent more than 20% of all plastic packaging produced globally. Food and beverage majors Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, The Coca Cola Company, Mars, Inc. and Danone are among…

In the murky waters of Lake Ontario just off the Toronto harbor, a stream of trash inches toward a round, tubular-looking device floating in the water. A piece of white styrofoam bumps up against the device’s lip. Then, in one fluid motion, it tumbles over the edge. With tendrils of…

Globally, over 460 million tonnes of plastic is produced every year. Rising populations and incomes are driving a ‘relentless increase’ in the amount of plastics produced globally, according to a recent report from OECD. However, policies to curb leakage into the environment are ‘falling short’. Only 9% of the plastic…

The saliva of wax worms contains enzymes that can break down plastic in a matter of hours, new research shows. Published October 7, 2022 04:28PM EDT Because they eventually become moths or butterflies, all caterpillars are destined for greatness. The larvae of at least one species, however, are equipped to…

Two substances in the saliva of wax worms — moth larvae that eat wax made by bees to build honeycombs — readily break down a common type of plastic, researchers said on Tuesday, in a potential advance in the global fight against plastic pollution. The researchers said the two enzymes…

This piece was originally published by InvestigateWest. When dealing with the life cycle of plastic, hundreds of solutions await, from alternative bioplastics that might be able to degrade themselves through the magic of fungus, to complex chemical recycling that can break plastics down to become other petroleum products or to…

Hilal Ezgi Toraman, Virginia S. and Philip L. Walker Jr. Faculty Fellow in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State. Credit: Penn State University Turning plastic waste into useful products through chemical recycling is one strategy for addressing Earth's growing plastic pollution…

The plastic problem is well publicised. A very small percentage of the plastic produced today is successfully recycled (the OECD estimates as little as 9%), with eight million tonnes of plastic thought to enter the oceans every year. One way to address plastic pollution in the food and beverage industry…