A Zero Waste Lab was just opened in Greece that directly recycles plastic into outdoor furniture. Closing the plastic waste loop with direct recycling is one of the more compelling selling points of 3D printing.
A quarter century ago people called it “Garbage Island.” Today it has one of the world’s most efficient recycling programs, claiming 55 percent of trash collected from households being recycled.
The mall is located about 60 miles outside Stockholm in the town of Eskilstuna. There are 14 stores, a restaurant (see below), an exhibition area and an educational program so that Swedes can learn how to recycle even more.
BioCellection startup decided to tackle the problem on the molecular level. Instead of shredding plastic trash, it chemically converts it into raw materials that can be used to make new products.
Finland has set a goal to make the country a global circular economy leader by 2025, by adopting the world’s first road map to a circular economy in 2016.
The development is also good news for the environment as bio-bricks are made in moulds at room temperature. Regular bricks are kiln-fired at temperatures around 1 400°C and produce vast quantities of CO2.
The country’s second-largest city has launched the recycling incentive scheme, which allows customers to drop off plastic bottles and cups at terminals in exchange for bus tickets.
After hundreds of thousands of empty potato crisp packages were sent back to Walkers by environmental critics, the company is launching a free recycling initiative to collect and repurpose the plastic packaging.
A type of compostable bioplastic made of corn starch, sugar and used cooking oil, created by Crafting Plastics Studio, could replace "all the packaging we know", according to its designers.
Restaurants in Austin, Texas, will no longer be allowed to throw out food waste. Businesses can dispose of their food waste by donating extra food, giving scraps to local farms for animals, or composting.
At a power plant in Linköping, Sweden, a municipal government company is burning rubbish to turn waste into energy. This is one of Sweden’s 34 plants that uses rubbish instead of coal or gas for heat and electricity.
The 30 meters of plastic bike path contain recycled plastic equivalent to more than 218,000 plastic cups or 500,000 plastic bottle caps. The PlasticRoad is also the first smart bike path in the world.
With 25 of the plastic vending machines currently installed, the Istanbul has set a goal of installing 100 by the end of the year with the hopes of reducing the 17,000 tons of garbage they produce every day.
Changing people's perspectives to see waste as a resource will take some time, but trial initiatives are already underway in places like Costa Brava, Sweden, Romania and a variety of sites across Europe.
The Recycled Island Foundation has been collecting litter from the Maas River in Rotterdam and recycling it into floating islands that benefit people and the aquatic ecosystem on which they drift.
