plastics

Recycling Technologies recycles all types of plastics, including films, coloured and laminated plastics such as crisp packages and food pouches

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) is to eliminate single-use plastics from its UK operations by the end of 2018. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has also pledged to do the same from its global operations by 2020, making it the first UK Government department to announce such a ban. The FCO, in recent weeks, has […]

India is the global host of the World Environment Day this year. It will take place on 5th June, with ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ the theme for this year’s edition urging governments, industry, communities and individuals to come together and explore sustainable alternatives and urgently cut the production and excessive use of single-use plastic polluting the […]

The BBC has announced it will ban all single-use plastics from its operations by 2020. It comes in the wake of its landmark Blue Planet II series, which highlighted plastic pollution in the ocean. Plastic cups and cutlery are to be scrapped by the end of this year, followed by plastic containers in canteens by […]

  Maldives has joined a UN campaign aimed at eliminating marine litter. The UN Environment’s CleanSeas campaign, which was launched in February this year, calls on government to pass policies to reduce plastic and industries to minimise plastic packaging. Maldives has pledged to launch a national campaign to reduce single-use plastics and look at reducing […]

A new technology that could “significantly reduce” the amount of energy and emissions associated with manufacturing plastics has been developed. Scientists from ExxonMobil and the Georgia Institute of Technology claim the “revolutionary” material could cut the industry’s global annual carbon emissions by up to 45 million tons if it is brought to industrial scale. That’s […]

German scientists say they have spotted a way to sort plastics for recycling much more speedily – and it’s all down to fluorescent light. The technique hinges on automated recognition of a plastic item’s polymer make-up – i.e. the molecules it is made of. Professor Heinz Langhals at Ludwig-MaximiliansUniversitat (LMU)’s Department of Chemistry explains: “Plastics […]

              The European Union could achieve a plastics recycling target of 62% by 2020 if it implements a number of resource efficient changes. A new report commissioned by Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) claims only 24% of plastics in Europe last year were collected for recycling, a figure the industry […]

The London borough of Kingston is expected to save around £50,000 a year in waste disposal costs after a surge in its plastics recycling rate. The council said the increase follows the introduction of collecting a wider range of plastics last year, including trays, cans, detergent containers and yoghurt pots. Its figures show collections have […]

A Volkswagen factory in Germany has saved up to 85% of energy on one of its plastic-making processes by switching from hydraulic machines to fully electric models. Designed by manufacturer Sumitomo, the new injection moulding machine at the Braunschweig car parts plant makes lighting dial trims for the Golf VII car (pictured). Marco Heinemann at […]