Farmers using plastic mulch film now have a compostable alternative that returns to the earth as organic matter instead of polluting soil with microplastics that remain for decades, even centuries. An Australian made, compostable agricultural film called BioAgri can be customised for farmers by Adelaide-based BioBag World Australia. In a circular story, the BioAgri film [...]
Part I of this article summarized the scope and research methods for a recent study at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands that analyzed the fate of compostable packaging in an industrial composting plant. The central aim of the study, “The fate of (compostable) plastic products in a full scale industrial organic waste [...]
Waqas Qureshi hears from seven compostable and biodegradable packaging suppliers. The mood on the long-term outlook is mixed but there is a call for clarity over how the UK manages these materials. The industry experts interviewed are: Nick Burton – Managing Director of Celebration Packaging Joe Frankel – Chief Executive of Vegware [...]
In its latest report, The Recycling Myth 2.0, Greenpeace reveals that plastic waste exports from the UK and other developed nations, illegally dumped in Malaysia, have caused widespread environmental contamination. Heavy metals and toxic chemicals potentially harmful to human health, were found to be present in soil and water samples taken from [...]
A vital knowledge gap about England’s environment has been uncovered by soil campaigners. They have discovered that just 0.41 per cent of the cash invested in environmental monitoring goes on examining the soil. That’s despite the fact that soils round the world – including in the UK – are said to be [...]
A new report by international development and relief agency Tearfund claims that single-use bottles, sachets and packets produced by the companies are being burnt in developing countries at an alarming rate and contributing to the climate crisis in the process. The Burning Question report found that the four global companies create enough plastic pollution [...]
Around 50 per cent of the five million tonnes of plastic currently in circulation throughout the UK each year is used for packaging; maybe a quarter of which gets recycled. This compares pretty well with the proportion of waste to consumption worldwide, which could be as much as 90 per cent of [...]
The petrol-powered motor was first invented in 1885, however, it took until 1913 to become mass produced and cemented as a cornerstone of daily life. The replacement of the horse and carriage with the car was revolutionary. However, the development of the infrastructure to ensure cars would, for example, always be within [...]
ReFood is calling for “rejuvenated government support” in its national drive to nationally ban food waste from landfill. Having lobbied for a UK-wide ban since launching its Vision 2020 roadmap in 2013, ReFood says that achieving this ambition will be “impossible” without decisive legislative support. “With UK landfill sites now at bursting [...]
The global economy is consuming 100 billion tonnes of materials a year for the first time ever – but reuse of resources has gone into reverse, according to a new report. Launched 21 January in Davos at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, The Circularity Gap Report 2020 suggests that [...]