Read the full story from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
At the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, scientists discovered a promising approach to make it easier to turn petroleum-based plastic waste into chemicals that can be used to produce new materials and fuels.
While we know the greenest bag is the one a customer already owns, and the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag is advancing research and testing to increase instances of customers bringing their own bags, the focus of this report is specific to the testing of reusable bag systems undertaken in summer 2021. We share our learnings from conducting first-of-a-kind reusable bag pilots across select CVS Health, Target and Walmart stores, where customers could “borrow” a bag and use it multiple times before returning it at the same or a different brand’s store to be washed, redistributed and reused by other customers.
Read the full story at Food Navigator.
AINIA, the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology, and Productos Lácteos Romar embark on a new project to turn citrus, watermelon and kaki waste into functional food items.
Read the full story from South Dakota Mines.
Ilke Celik, Ph.D., assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at South Dakota Mines, has received funding from the National Science Foundation to study methods for creating new types of solar panels that will be more easily recycled in the future.
Read the full story at Waste360.
An Iowa Vestas site is collecting wind turbine blades from across the country to be recycled. The company is grinding the blades up to be used as an additive in cement.
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
Building demolition accounts for more than 90 percent of the 600 million tons of construction-related waste generated in the U.S. each year.
Read the full story at Dairy Foods.
Whey protein phospholipid concentrate (WPPC), a low-value coproduct, is currently being examined as a source of nutritional and functional ingredients. WPPC contains high-value components, such as various types of proteins and phospholipids.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
A ban on single-use plastic and paper bags in grocery stores had an unintended effect: Delivery services switched to heavy, reusable sacks — lots of them.
The Reuse Catalyst program by the U.S. Plastics Pact aims to create a collaborative network of companies working towards a reusable plastics program. The program’s applications are open through Oct. 20.
The U.S. Plastics Pact will select program participants on a case-by-case, rolling basis. Participants will be engaged for 6-18 months depending on the specific characteristics of the company and their project scale.
Read the full story at Packaging World.
Extended producer responsibility offers the potential to increase material recovery rates and streamline waste management, especially for hard-to-recycle flexible packaging materials.
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