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UAE to Ban Single-Use Plastic January 1, 2024

Posted on April 20, 2023April 20, 2023 by dishanth

In one of the world’s most crucial oil pricing regions, single-use plastic will be all but eliminated on January 1, 2024.

In 2017, we came to the island of Bali approximately halfway through a 10-month trip around the world with my family. We had been looking forward to the beaches and surfing for months, but when we arrived, we found them polluted with single-use plastic of all types. Due to a proliferation of corporate peddling of plastic convenience items but no meaningful way to manage trash or recycling in the communities, the local population discarded their waste in local ravines. The waste, flushed out to sea by winter monsoons, was deposited upon the (formerly) pristine beaches.

It is wonderful, therefore, to read that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently announced a ban on single-use plastic items, from cutlery to cigarette butts. The ban is part of an effort to reduce the plastic waste in the world’s oceans, a number generally estimated at around 8 million new tons each year. The announcement brings hope to environmentalists worldwide, showing us that even countries with an economic interest in oil-based plastic production are stepping up to make positive changes.

By banning single-use plastic products, the UAE is taking a big step forward regarding sustainability. Not only will this help reduce the amount of plastic waste in the ocean, but it will also encourage people to make more sustainable choices when they shop or eat out.

According to a 2019 report from the World Bank, the UAE ranked 11th in per capita consumption of single-use plastic. The report states that 11 billion single-use plastic items in the UAE are consumed annually, an average of 4.8kg per person or about 4 million tonnes per year for the entire country. This number contrasts with the global average of 3.25 kilograms per person. For reference, the highest-ranking countries for plastic waste are Japan, with 8 million tonnes and the USA, with 7.2 million tonnes, but a much higher population, resulting in lower per capita rates.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will ban most single-use plastics starting January 1, 2024. The ban includes everything from food packaging to plastic bottles, cotton sticks, crackers and chip bags, wet wipes, balloons and even balloon sticks that contain plastic. They also include cigarette butts and compostable plastic shopping bags, which while a good idea when used properly, often end up in the environment and can take decades to biodegrade outside a civic composting facility.

The UAE has introduced incentives for businesses to switch to reusable packing. They include subsidies for investments in reusable packaging, tax incentives for companies that reduce their plastic consumption, and grants for research projects on reducing plastic waste. The government has also introduced a new “Plastic Smart” program encouraging citizens to reduce their use of single-use plastics. It also enables businesses to reward customers who bring reusable items.

With these incentives in place, many businesses in the UAE have already begun to take steps to reduce their plastic consumption. For example, many hotels and resorts have started replacing plastic straws with paper or metal alternatives, while others are providing refillable bottles to customers instead of single-use plastic ones.

The immediate environmental benefits of the UAE’s ban on single-use plastics are apparent. By eliminating single-use plastics, the UAE will significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste in the ocean every year. This plastic ban, in turn, will prevent the destruction of marine life and reduce the risk of pollution from microplastics in the food chain and the greenhouse gasses emitted as plastic degrades over time.

The UAE is one of many countries to reduce plastic pollution in recent years. Countries like Canada, China, France, and the UK have also implemented similar bans. With continued effort, single-use plastics can be reduced or eliminated in the coming years.

Source Happy Eco News

Apple aims for 100% recycled cobalt in batteries by 2025

Posted on April 18, 2023April 21, 2023 by dishanth

Apple has unveiled plans to increase the use of recycled materials in its products, with a new target of using 100% recycled cobalt in all Apple-designed batteries by 2025.

The tech giant will also aim to use entirely recycled rare earth elements in magnets for its devices and 100% recycled tin soldering and gold plating in all Apple-designed printed circuit boards by the same year.

“Every day, Apple is innovating to make technology that enriches people’s lives, while protecting the planet we all share,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “From the recycled materials in our products, to the clean energy that powers our operations, our environmental work is integral to everything we make and to who we are. So we’ll keep pressing forward in the belief that great technology should be great for our users, and for the environment.”

Reducing Apple’s carbon footprint

The announcement is part of Apple’s broader efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and become more environmentally friendly.

In 2022, the company significantly expanded its use of recycled metals, with over two-thirds of all aluminium, nearly three-quarters of all rare earth materials, and more than 95% of all tungsten in Apple products sourced from 100% recycled material.

Apple’s rapid progress in this area brings the company closer to its ultimate goal of making all products with only recycled and renewable materials and advances its aim to achieve carbon neutrality for every product by 2030.

“Our ambition to one day use 100% recycled and renewable materials in our products works hand in hand with Apple 2030: our goal to achieve carbon neutral products by 2030,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. “We’re working toward both goals with urgency and advancing innovation across our entire industry in the process.”

If Apple is able to achieve this goal, it will show major steps towards achieving a more sustainable future for the company.

Source Sustainability

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

Posted on April 13, 2023April 13, 2023 by dishanth

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

Amazon Web Services pledges to reach water positivity by 2030

Posted on December 1, 2022December 1, 2022 by dishanth

The cloud provider has also announced its 2021 global water use efficiency (WUE) metric of 0.25 litres of water per kilowatt-hour.

As part of the new commitment, AWS will report annually on its WUE metric, as well as its new water reuse and recycling efforts. It will also report on new activities to reduce water consumption in its facilities and advancements in new and existing replenishment projects.

AWS chief executive Adam Selipsky said: “Water scarcity is a major issue around the world and with today’s water-positive announcement we are committing to do our part to help solve this rapidly growing challenge.

“In just a few years, half of the world’s population is projected to live in water-stressed areas, so to ensure all people have access to water, we all need to innovate new ways to help conserve and reuse this precious resource.

“While we are proud of the progress we have made, we know there is more we can do. We are committed to leading on water stewardship in our cloud operations and returning more water than we use in the communities where we operate. We know this is the right thing to do for the environment and our customers.”

The announcement today adds to Amazon’s commitment of $10m to Water.org to support the launch of the Water & Climate Fund, which will deliver climate-resilient water and sanitation solutions to 100 million people across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

This donation will directly empower one million people with water access by 2025, providing three billion litres of water each year to people in water-scarce areas.

Water.org chief executive and co-founder Gary White said, “Our collaboration with Amazon and AWS already brings over 805 million litres of safe water to communities around the world every year, and we are excited to continue to work with Amazon to bring even more safe water to families in need.”

AWS has four key strategies to help it achieve its objective: improving water efficiency, using sustainable water sources, returning water for community reuse, and supporting water replenishment projects.

Water efficiency

AWS said it is “constantly” innovating across its infrastructure to reduce water consumption. It achieves its industry-leading water efficiency by using advanced cloud services, such as Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, to analyse real-time water use and identify and fix leaks.

The firm further improves operational efficiency by eliminating cooling water use in many of its facilities for most of the year, instead relying on outside air.

For example, in Ireland and Sweden, AWS uses no water to cool its data centres for 95% of the year.

It also invests in on-site water-treatment systems that allow it to reuse water multiple times, minimising water consumed for cooling.

Sustainable sources

AWS uses sustainable water sources, such as recycled water and rainwater harvesting, wherever possible.

Using recycled water – which is only suitable for a limited set of applications such as irrigation and industrial use – preserves valuable drinking water for communities.

In Northern Virginia, the provider worked with Loudoun Water to become the first data centre operator in the state approved to use recycled water in direct evaporative cooling systems.

AWS already uses recycled water for cooling in 20 data centres around the world and has plans to expand recycled water use in more facilities as it works toward becoming water positive.

Community water reuse

After maximising the use of water in its data centres, the spent liquid is still safe for many other uses, and AWS is exploring more ways to return it to communities.

In Oregon, for example, AWS provides up to 96% of the cooling water from its data centres to local farmers at no charge for use in irrigating crops like corn, soybeans and wheat.

Water replenishment

To meet its water-positive commitment, AWS is investing in water replenishment projects in the communities where it operates. Replenishment projects expand water access, availability, and quality by restoring watersheds and bringing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene services to water-stressed communities.

To date, AWS has completed replenishment projects in Brazil, India, Indonesia, and South Africa, providing 1.6 billion litres of freshwater each year to people in those communities.

For example, in regions like Maharashtra and Hyderabad, India, and West Java, Indonesia, AWS is partnering with global clean water non-profit Water.org to provide 250,000 people with access to safe water and sanitation.

Building on its existing portfolio of water replenishment programs, AWS this week announced several new projects, which, once completed, will provide more than 823 million litres of water to communities each year.

Source edie