Old EV batteries could serve new energy purpose after they reach their end
In the last couple of years, the number of Electric Vehicles (EVs) being sold worldwide has been growing at a promising rate, and that’s good news for the environment. The problem, however, is that when these cars reach the end of the road, they are expected to leave their old batteries behind as Read More...
Concrete of the future may be recyclable and even biodegradable
Society has been using concrete to build infrastructure and homes for about 100 years and, throughout its long history, the process has pretty much stayed the same. But it seems concrete is set to get a makeover as the industry attempts to go greener. A few weeks ago we shared how researchers were Read More...
Buddhist temple in Thailand is turning plastic waste into robes for monks
Thailand is among the top plastic polluters in the world, but seeking to change that, a Buddhist temple in the south of Bangkok is recycling thousands of plastic bottles and turning them into sacred orange robes for the monks. Over the last two years, monks at the recycling temple of Wat Chak Read More...
Scientists figure out a way to recycle plastic hundreds of times
Currently, people in the UK are recycling nearly 45 percent of their plastic waste, and that number is expected to rise in the following years. However, one of the problems with current plastic recycling methods is that you end up with a lower-quality plastic with worse properties than the Read More...
Scientists have developed a way to give old EV batteries a ‘second life’
Typically when an EV battery reaches the end of its life-span, the manufacturer takes it back and recycles them. But according to researchers at the University of Warwick, many automotive Lithium-ion batteries have enough life left in them after a car is scrapped for “second-life” uses. To do Read More...
French startup can recycle any old plastic and turn it into virgin plastic again
The problem with traditional recycling is that you degrade the material each time you do it. That’s why a France-based startup called Carbios is taking an entirely new approach. Using a bioreactor, the startup is taking pulverized PET plastic waste—the kind of plastic found in drink bottles Read More...
Telling people what product their trash will turn into can boost recycling rates
We don’t mean to bring on the negativity, but US recycling rates are abysmal. About 75% of American waste is recyclable, yet just 30% of it is actually recycled. The figures are even worse with materials like plastic. Less than 10% of plastics disposed of in the U.S. in 2015 were recycled. Read More...
Plastic waste could soon be used to pave the roads you drive on
Last year China stopped accepting much of the world’s recyclable waste. Since then, many countries have been faced with the challenge of how to deal with their own trash. In Australia, however, recycling company Close the Loop has figured out a way to divert that trash from landfills and the Read More...
Researchers turn single-use plastics into kayaks and canoes
Today the world produces over 300 million tons of plastics every year. That’s almost equivalent to the weight of the entire human population. The vast majority of this is single-use and not designed to be recycled, ending up in landfills or sloughing off in the natural environment as Read More...
Check out this handy guide on plastic recycling. Thanks NPR!
The recycle step of “reduce, reuse, recycle” is not always as easy as it seems. With categories and policies varying based on city and disposal company, it is not always easy to know what can be recycled where. Luckily, NPR has created an easy to use guide to help the average consumer navigate Read More...