It took 90 days for the fungi to degrade 27 per cent of the plastic tested, and about 140 days to completely break it down, after the samples were exposed to ultraviolet rays or heat.

Chemical engineering professor Ali Abbas, who supervised the research team, said the findings were significant.

"It's the highest degradation rate reported in the literature that we know in the world," the professor said. 

From ABC News Australia

The student-led startup from Nigeria recycles plastic sachets into paint, and adds an organic insect repellent to fight malaria.

Soo,

I've been following the Precious Plastic project for a while now: it's a project for small scale plastic recycling, based on sharing knowledge open source so that anybody in the world can access it for free.

I think i'll write more about this in the future, i totally love what they're doing, but recently the project celebrated its 10 year anniversary and they made a lovely recap video. I think more people should see it: precious plastic has a superstrong real life community, but their youtube channel doesn't have that big of an audience because it was started only one year and a half ago. So,

Here's the link:

And i hope it will reach as many people as possible!

A Canadian government plan to track plastics could help put more money into consumers' pockets and keep plastic waste out of landfills. The government announced Tuesday it's seeking input on a new national plastics registry. Experts say it could create a lucrative system that encourages companies to salvage waste plastic and reimburse Canadians and retailers for dropping off scraps. "Plastic waste is a commodity like anything else," said Calvin Lakhan, a research scientist at York University's faculty of environmental and urban change. "Right now, we're not doing a very good job of recycling our plastics."  The registry would track various plastic items produced in Canada. Everything from food and beverage containers to household appliances, clothing, tires and fishing equipment could fall under its scope. Government documents say the reporting requirements likely would apply to plastic producers, not consumers.

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada

Black and white upcycled plastic bag yarn ball! I've been chipping away at this for weeks now, just chaining bits and pieces before going to sleep. I suspect it's probably not enough to make a basket yet... so I guess I'll just have to find more plastic to recycle =P

Pénurie d'eau février 2023. Êtes-vous prêt à payer plus cher ???

Le penseur de Rodin. Artiste Javier Jaen

Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Polyethylene plastic, found in products such as plastic bags, water bottles, and food packaging, takes 1,000 years to dissolve naturally.

The RPI team tackled the challenge of engineering this bacteria to convert the carbon atoms of polyethylene into a genetically encoded silk protein.

Polyethylene is particularly problematic, as it is commonly found in single-use applications. Resultingly, polyethylene is the most commonly produced plastic, representing 30% of all plastics production

Mechanical recycling is inefficient, typically yielding materials that have inferior mechanical properties compared to virgin plastics.

The development of a new strain of Pseudomonas bacteria capable of converting depolymerized polyethylene into high value bespoke recombinant protein products.

Fact that feels like someone slapped you awake with a wet eel everytime you hear it?

i honestly spent several hours blankly trying to come up with an answer for this. i guess to be grim, i'd say that it's the fact that most plastic isn't actually recyclable, and that most of what gets sorted by people into recycling bins just ends up in landfill anyway.

source: Recycling plastic is practically impossible — and the problem is getting worse, npr.

which like, yeah sort of does feel like a slap in the face sometimes when you see the amount of effort that governments and local councils and everyday people put into trying to establish recycling sorting systems. yeah glass and aluminum and paper can all go through multiple lifespans, but most 'recycled' plastic is just shipped away from imperial centre nations to recycling centres in the global south, where the vast majority of it just ends up going in the dump. but in someone else's dump, so they get to deal with the mess and the consequences and the environmental impacts, while people in the imperial centre get to pat themselves on the back for being eco-friendly because they spent the time sorting their plastic recycling.

the best way you can be eco friendly is just to avoid plastic entirely - and for companies to produce as little of it as possible. no one use plastics, less random plastic crap. like, yeah the world isn't going to end if you have a plastic case on your sewing machine or tupperware or something, something you're going to get years of use out of - in which case it is a practical material - but honestly the best thing you can do is just to not buy plastic if you can help it

which sucks, bc its often very hard to avoid when shopping at supermarkets. another reason to enjoy the farmers market i guess

but yeah, that's something that feels a bit like an unpleasant gut punch every time i see my flatmates meticulously doing the recycling and washing stuff to be recycled. don't know if its eel-tier, but hey

HDPE 63 grade

HDPE 63 grade offers high strength and stiffness for impact resistance in industrial containers. . . Technical Details . . * MFI (in 5kg): 0.85 to 1.10 * Moisture Content: 0.12 to 0.15 * Ash Content: 1.2 to 1.4 * Density (23): 0.94 to 0.96

Israel's Good News Newsletter to 7th May 23

In the 7th May 23 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

Israelis have developed and implanted the world’s smallest heart pump.

Medical experts come to Israel to learn about healthy aging.

Israelis show the Jewish State in its true light to the United Nations.

Israeli technology can solve the problem of unrecyclable plastic.

Israeli airport security scanning is keeping our skies safe.

Oil from Jerusalem is used to anoint King Charles.

Read More: Good News From Israel

This week's newsletter takes you inside many of Israel's achievements. Israeli medical successes include the world's smallest heart pump; a mother and daughter heart transplant; removal of painful internal human tissue by freezing; and how to live longer by maintaining a healthy inside.  Israelis went inside the United Nations to show how Israel benefits the world; Israeli apartments are being strengthened inside to protect them against earthquakes; and Israeli children receive education even while inside hospitals. You can read the inside story of Israel's Iron Beam laser defense project; the inside-out process of an Israeli startup that turns any plastic waste back into petrochemicals; an Israeli sunscreen with minerals that go inside coral reefs to promote growth; and an Israeli airport scanning system that can check inside passenger baggage 10 times faster than any human-operated X-ray device. So many Israeli companies are working inside US States to benefit their economies; and inside companies such as Volvo and thousands of cities worldwide to make transportation safer and more efficient.

Finally, the atmosphere inside Israel has been uplifted by the story of Lucy Dee's husband and remaining children coming to the hospital to listen to Lucy's heart which is now beating inside an overjoyed Israeli woman.

The photo is of the inside of Israel's Knesset - Parliament, the decision-making institution of the most democratic country in the Middle East. The photo was taken during the announcement that the President of Israel would travel to London and walk on Shabbat to Westminster Abbey to attend the coronation of King Charles III of the United Kingdom.

An Infinitely Recyclable Plastic Could Solve the World’s Pollution Problem https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/an-infinitely-recyclable-bio-plastic-could-solve-worlds-pollution-problem/

Polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam, is a commonly used plastic in packaging and insulation industry. However, recycling is extremely difficult, and most places do not accept collection for recycling. Many countries around the world and some states in the US have enacted a total or partial ban on polystyrene foam. However, it is still one of the most widely used plastics, several million tons are produced each year.

Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia have discovered that a type of beetle larva can eat, and completely decompose styrofoam, which is notoriously difficult to recycle. The larvae of the Zophobas morio beetle have enzymes in their intestines that can break down the polystyrene. Chris Rinke, senior lecturer in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland, said: “This larva is like a small recycling plant, chopping polystyrene with its mouth and then letting the bacteria in its intestine decompose”

Click here for more detail

A walker mech that i made out of plastic trash.

Plastic yarn ball, made from ~15 upcycled produce bags from the grocery store. Slowly but surely getting my stash of recyclable plastic converted into yarn, since it's one of the few things I can do between jobs at my desk.

I'll post a tutorial for how to do this eventually.