NovoLoop uses circularity to address the plastic crisis
When Miranda Wang visited the Serangoon landfill in Indonesia, she realized the true scope of plastic pollution and the devastating toll it takes on the environment and the residents of developing countries that receive millions of pounds of dumped plastic waste from other countries each year. Read More...
Volunteers in Myanmar build a library for orphans out of discarded plastic
Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady River intercepts an estimated 119 tons of plastic waste per day, making it one of the most polluted waterways in the world. It is not uncommon to see plastic waste littered on the country’s roadsides and clogging up sewage drains. The excess of plastic litter inspired Read More...
Sea squirts can help address our oceans' growing microplastic problem
In the past, The Optimist Daily has written about unassuming sea creatures such as sea cucumbers, which, despite their humble appearances, play a vital role in maintaining the health of the entire underwater ecosystem and can reveal important information about how human activity impacts marine Read More...
How can we solve our plastic waste problem? Make an island out of it.
Visionary architect and psychologist Margot Krasojevic is working on an outlandish concept that may just help us deal with the concerning plastic waste problem plaguing the world’s oceans: building a plastic island. Krasojevic and her team at Margo Krasojevic Architecture started with Read More...
Major firms sign ambitious deal to cut plastic waste in the Pacific
Every year, more than 800,000 tonnes of plastic waste in Australia end up in landfills or the environment, contributing to an already toxic plastic soup that’s threatening marine ecosystems all across the world. In the coming years, that number is expected to decrease significantly thanks to a Read More...
New app aims to cut plastic waste at the source by tracing leakage points
Every year, more than eight tons of plastic waste end up polluting the oceans and destroying marine habitats. Figuring out where that plastic litter originates from is key to making a significant dent in this growing environmental crisis. A new app developed by scientists in Norway aims to do Read More...
Bioplastic made from wood waste breaks down in three months
Finding alternative materials to plastic is a key step towards achieving a circular economy, where no harmful waste ever makes its way into the environment. In this pursuit, scientists have been using all sorts of biomass types to produce more eco-friendly bioplastics, and one of the latest Read More...
These garbage-collecting sea bins will use AI to monitor pollution data
In 2013, surfer duo Peter Ceglinski and Andrew Turton developed a device, called Seabin, that could clean waterways on its own. A few years later, the duo had a slightly different vision — to live in a world where there’s no need for its product. "Our ultimate goal is pretty simple: It's a Read More...
Kenyan woman recycles plastic waste into bricks stronger than concrete
Kenya uses 600,000 tons of plastic bottles annually, of which only 9 percent is recycled while the rest ends up in landfills and polluting the environment. A Nairobi-based, impact-driven entrepreneur is putting that plastic waste to much better use. Meet Nzambi Matee, a 29-year-old entrepreneur Read More...
These trash traps are made to remove plastic waste from Vietnam’s rivers
Recently we shared a story about the Ocean Cleanup’s new venture to stop the flow of plastic waste from rivers into the marine environment. Though they may not look as swanky as the Ocean Cleanup’s Interceptors, Vietnam’s recently installed trash traps follow the same line of thinking — Read More...