Log In Sign Up

Search for any green Service

Find green products from around the world in one place

Window cleaning

Singapore Safety Glass

Tag: plastic free

Composting Your Clothing – it’s Being Done in Australia

Posted on by dishanth
Composting Your Clothing – it’s Being Done in Australia

The average consumer now buys 60% more clothing than they did 15 years ago, and over 92 million tonnes of what is purchased gets thrown away – usually into a landfill. Another problem is the fabric from which our clothing is made. Around 70 percent of the clothing market is made from synthetic fabrics such as polyester, nylon and acrylic, all made from non-renewable sources such as oil and natural gas.

These synthetics can’t biodegrade, meaning they sit in landfills for hundreds of years. Because so many different materials can go into making a single garment, they are hard to separate so they can be recycled properly. Sorting different fibres and materials by hand is extremely labour intensive, slow, and requires a skilled workforce that doesn’t seem to exist in many countries.

What is the solution to reducing textile waste? Consumers can buy less, repair, donate, rent, and organize clothing swaps with friends. Some clothing brands are taking the issue further by creating garments that can be composted after they can no longer be used. Based in Australia, the Very Good Bra has created bras and undergarments made from 100% botanically sourced materials that can be composted, worm-farmed or buried in the soil at the end of their life.

The company uses no spandex, polyester or nylon – even in sewing, thread, elastic and labelling. This means that their products are 100% plastic-free. Their elastics are made from natural tree rubber knitted into organic cotton. Their hooks for bras are made from 100% organic cotton and Tencel sewing thread. Everything has been designed to be put in the soil as is.

The company has worked with sustainability experts, academics and industry to create a proposal for Standards Australia to create standards for compostable textiles. This standard would allow garments to be disposed of in commercial composters and would guarantee that the clothes would compost safely. The proposal was approved by Standards Australia and will enter a development phase to determine the criteria clothing will have to meet so that the compost would not be affected by dyes or flame-retardant coatings. For this to work, more brands must actively participate and consider using more than just natural fibres to ensure their clothing is truly compostable, such as nuts or bio elastics buttons to replace zippers.

If more clothing brands think about making their clothing compostable, we can enter a circular economy and reduce our landfill waste and impact on the planet.

 

 

 

 

Source Happy Eco News

Superglue can be turned into a recyclable, cheap, oil-free plastic alternative

Posted on by dishanth
Superglue can be turned into a recyclable, cheap, oil-free plastic alternative

Our team used superglue as a starting material to develop a low-cost, recyclable and easily produced transparent plastic called polyethyl cyanoacrylate that has properties similar to those of plastics used for single-use products like cutlery, cups and packaging. Unlike most traditional plastics, this new plastic can be easily converted back to its starting materials, even when combined with unwashed municipal plastic waste.

To make a plastic from superglue, we first had to address the very issue that makes superglue so “super” – it sticks to just about everything. When superglue is used to stick something together, it is actually reacting with moisture in the air or on the surface of whatever is being glued together. This reaction forms molecular chains of repeating superglue units called polymers. The polymers made when gluing something together are short and don’t bind to each other well, which makes the glue brittle and easy to break.

While short polymers are good for glue, long polymers have more binding locations and result in stronger materials. Our team realized that if we could create longer versions of the same type of polymers made from superglue, we might be able to produce a strong plastic.

The way we make these plastics is relatively simple when compared with how other types of plastics are made – we simply mixed acetone and a little bit of an eco-friendly catalyst into store-bought superglue. Once this mixture dries, it produces a solid, glassy plastic made up of long polymer chains.

In our lab, we can easily produce up to 10 pounds of this material in a matter of days and turn it into usable products. By pouring the mixture into molds before it dries, we can make plastic objects in many shapes, like bowls and cutlery. We also discovered that heating up the plastic after it dries not only allowed us to shape the material into other products, but also strengthened the plastic.

Why it matters

When manufacturers need to produce a stiff plastic object – like cutlery, disposable razors, CD cases or plastic models – they often turn to polystyrene. Polystyrene is one of the most widely produced and least recycled types of plastic.

Because our superglue plastic has properties similar to polystyrene – it is light, durable, cheap and easy to mass-produce – it could replace polystyrene in many products. But there are two distinct benefits of our superglue-based material: It isn’t made from oil and is easy to recycle.

When our material is heated to 410 degrees Fahrenheit (210 C), the long molecule chains made of repeating superglue units break apart into their small, individual superglue molecules. At this point, the superglue molecules turn into a vapor that is easy to separate out from a mixed waste stream of other plastics, paper, food residue, aluminum and other refuse commonly found in recycling waste streams. Once you collect the superglue vapor, you can cool it and turn it right back into our new plastic with over 90% efficiency.

What’s next?

Since superglue is inexpensive and already produced on an industrial scale, we imagine our method of creating superglue plastics should be easy to scale up. Finally, the machinery used to make superglue could also be used to recycle the superglue plastics and could be simply adapted into existing industrial processes.

Finding a replacement for polystyrene is a big step toward sustainable plastics, but polystyrene is only one of thousands of plastics used today. Our team is now designing superglue-based plastics with properties that resemble other kinds of commodity plastics, while still being easy to produce and recycle.

 

 

 

 

Source World Economic Forum

Unilever introduces paper-based bottles for laundry detergent

Posted on by dishanth
Unilever introduces paper-based bottles for laundry detergent

Unilever has introduced new technology to create a paper-based detergent bottle. A prototype is being used for the OMO laundry brand (also known as Persil, Skip & Breeze) and will be introduced in Brazil in 2022.

The new bottles are made of sustainably sourced pulp and can be recycled in the paper waste stream. The inside of the bottle is sprayed with a proprietary coating that repels water, enabling the paper-based packaging to hold liquids.

Unilever wants to roll the paper-based bottles out across its European markets and is piloting the same technology for haircare bottles.

The bottles have been developed through the Pulpex consortium. Last year, drinks manufacturers Diageo and PepsiCo joined Unilever in the formation of Pulpex, with venture management firm Pilot Lite. The Pulpex consortium was set up to produce a variety of plastic-free, single-mould bottles that will be used across the major FMCG companies.

Diageo has already unveiled a plastic-free, paper-based spirits bottle, which will debut on the company’s Johnnie Walker range of Scotch Whisky this year.

Unilever’s chief research and development officer, Richard Slater, said: “To tackle plastic waste, we need to completely rethink how we design and package products. This requires a drastic change that can only be achieved through industry-wide collaboration.

“Pulpex paper-based bottle technology is an exciting step in the right direction, and we are delighted to be working together to trial this innovation for our products. Innovating with alternative materials is a key part of our sustainable packaging strategy and will play an important role in our commitment to halve our use of virgin plastic materials by 2025.”

edie recently spoke with Slater to discuss how a focus on ‘better, less and no plastic’ is enabling the consumer goods giant to reduce its plastics footprint globally while improving the recyclability of packaging.

In 2019, Unilever, which owns iconic brands such as Dove, Cif and Magnum, set a target to halve its use of virgin plastic by 2025 by reducing plastic packaging by more than 100,000 tonnes, increasing the amount of recycled plastics it uses and collecting and processing more plastic packaging than it sells.

Unilever is the latest corporate to trial paper-based bottle prototypes.

The Coca-Cola Company – one of the biggest plastic producers in the food and beverage space – has confirmed plans to trial 2,000 paper-based bottles this year, to test the material’s viability as an alternative to single-use plastics.

The Coca-Cola Company has been working with other big-name companies, including Absolut, L’Oreal and Carlsberg, to develop the bottles. The designs are being shared through a collaborative company set up to facilitate this joint project, called The Paper Bottle Company (Paboco).

Fellow Paboco member Absolut confirmed plans for its first real-world trials of paper-based bottles. The alcoholic beverage giant has sold 2,000 of the bottles across its Swedish and UK markets since autumn 2020.

 

 

By Matt Mace

Source Edie

 

M&S expands plastic-free refill offering as UK lockdown lifts

Posted on by dishanth
M&S expands plastic-free refill offering as UK lockdown lifts

Customers visiting the retailer’s Two Rivers Shopping Centre Store in Staines will be able to choose from more than 50 lines of refillable products, including pasta, rice, cereal, confectionary and frozen fruit. Products will be housed in reusable dispensers and customers will be encouraged to bring their own reusable containers, or to use paper bags available in-store.

M&S first launched its ‘Fill Your Own’ offering on a trial basis in its Hedge End store in Southampton in the latter half of 2019. During the trial, 25 of the 44 lines outsold their pre-packaged counterparts. Across all 44 lines, more than 2,600kg of loose product was sold over a three-month period.

This success prompted the retailer to make the format a permanent offering in Hedge End, and to announce a broader rollout in March. Plans for additional stores were put on hold due to Covid-19 but have now been resumed, with new stores set to be added in 2021.

To make the offering Covid-19-safe, M&S has installed hand sanitisers near the refill stations. It has also chosen to post staff at the refill stations to help customers fill, weigh and pay safely. The business has revealed that four in ten refillable lines have outsold pre-packaged options in 2020 so far, in spite of the pandemic.

“As we continue testing and learning from Fill Your Own, it’s clear that demand for refillables remains strong; we know families particularly enjoy shopping the concept as a fun activity, so our new store in the popular Staines shopping centre is the ideal next location for Fill Your Own,” M&S Food’s director of food technology Paul Willgoss said.

“But most importantly, our customers care about the issue of plastic and this initiative is just one part of our plan to help them reduce, reuse and recycle – because we know our actions today will help to protect the planet tomorrow.”

 

Plastics strategy

M&S’s broader plastics packaging strategy – which is embedded in its Plan A for sustainability – is headlined by a 2022 ambition that packaging that could end up with customers will be “widely recycled”. As part of its aim, the retailer is planning to develop one recyclable plastic polymer for use across all of its plastic packaging and removing plastics from products such as clothing, cotton buds and coffee pods.

On reuse, M&S has plumped for individual incentive schemes rather than setting time-bound, numerical targets. It offers customers at all stores with cafes a 25p discount on hot drinks to go when they bring a reusable cup and offers free water refill stations at several stores. A more recent addition to its refill offering was the introduction of a 25p discount for customers bringing reusable containers for food-to-go from its Market Place counters. These can be found in 23 stores and offer both hot and cold lunch options.

 

Refill revolution

Given that only 9% of all plastic ever made has been recycled – and with 82% of UK shoppers now stating that the amount of plastic packaging produced by companies needs to be “drastically reduced” – M&S is not alone in expanding its investments in refill.

Waitrose & Partners’ ‘Unpacked’ scheme, launched last year, was so well-received by shoppers that it was rolled out ahead of schedule. This year saw Asda launch a similar offering at its store in Middleton, Leeds.

Amid initial lockdown restrictions in spring, many retailers were forced to close stores with refill or packaging-free offerings, including Lush and The Body Shop. Elsewhere on the high street, some supermarkets removed loose fruit and veg; some coffee shops stopped accepting refillable cups and some of City to Sea’s busiest Refill stations were closed or experienced a sharp drop in footfall.

The refill movement seems to be slowly but surely gaining traction once more – but efforts will need to scale dramatically if businesses are to rise to the scale of the global plastic pollution problem. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has calculated that just 2% of the products sold by the world’s biggest consumer goods firms this year came in reusable packaging.

 

 

By Sarah George

Source Edie

BLOND:ISH: The DJ who wants zero-plastic shows

Posted on by dishanth
BLOND:ISH: The DJ who wants zero-plastic shows

It was the end of one of the biggest shows of DJ Vivie-Ann Bakos’ life, but she felt like something wasn’t quite right.

“I was playing at Warung in Brazil, one of the most iconic clubs in the world,” Vivie, who performs as BLOND:ISH, tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

“At the end of the night you get a beautiful sunrise… but I could see cleaners coming out and picking up a mountain of plastic like robots.

“That juxtaposition made me think, ‘I need to do something about this’.”

 

Vivie-Ann Bakos
Image copyright: LYDIA LAWS PR

 

It was there that her zero-plastic initiative, Bye Bye Plastic was born.

The aim of the scheme is for venues to stop using single-use plastics like straws, cups and bottles.

The first steps include encouraging artists to ask for “eco-riders” at shows and offering promoters a hotline service to get advice on the alternatives to using plastics.

A rider is a list of items musicians and artists ask for backstage at their shows.

Although Vivie-Ann admits “nothing’s going to change overnight” she’s adamant the scheme is realistic.

“Even though it seems like a huge task doesn’t mean it’s an impossible one.

“We’re like the babysitter of the music industry. We’ve done a lot of the research for venues and can help hold their hands through the process.

“Through small, actionable steps we can change this… it’s a lot less overwhelming than it might seem to those on the outside.

“When I’m not doing music I’m talking about waste now – I had no idea this was my future.”

 

Coachella 2019
Image copyright:GETTY IMAGES
Image caption: BLOND:ISH recently performed at Coachell

Speaking ahead of a panel on dance music’s impact on the environment hosted by Newsbeat at the Brighton Music Conference, Vivie-Ann explains her recent performance at Coachella spurred her on.

“Unless I was bringing it up I don’t think a lot of people were talking about the plastic issue backstage.

“But when I did bring it up – agents, managers and DJs were super-excited to get on board and adopt the idea.

“I don’t know all the answers but I’m actively asking everyone about the topic.”

 

Vivie-Ann doing a beach clean
Image copyright: LYDIA LAWS PR
Image caption: Vivie-Ann takes part in beach-cleans as part of her initiative

The DJ reminds promoters about the scheme “every time” she’s booked for a show, no matter how big or small.

It’s all part of her outlook that a “generational shift” is needed around attitudes towards plastics at shows so that future headliners and event organisers can help “solve the issue”.

“It’s not easy to enforce… I wouldn’t go as far to refuse a gig because I like to come with the advocate over activist approach.

“This is a relevant conversation to be had and any time I’ve spoken about it, the conversation goes in a positive way.

“Millennials want to be attached to causes and purpose-driven missions and this is one they can do that with.”

 

 

By Jimmy Blake

Newsbeat reporter

Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.