NEWS-ENV

A rather pessimistic article on plastic recycling, with a lot of arguments for why recycling doesn’t work today – and is not expected to work in the future. Although it stems from data in the USA, the situation and the challenges described stand for Europe and all over the world.

Read the full article here.

Microplastics permeate the globe from the oceans’ depths to the highest mountaintop — and our bodies. Here’s everything you need to know.
Source: The Week

Refill is an award-winning UK-based campaign from “City to Sea” to help people live with less plastic. Anyone can download the free app to tap into a global network of places to reduce, reuse and refill. From a coffee on your commute to drinking water on the go, or even shopping with less plastic.

Read more and download the app

How do you consider the role of art in transmitting powerful messages to the public?  These “Plastic popsicles” are a great example how the visual arts can engage a broader public in issues of water pollution.

Students from New Taipei City collected samples from urban rivers, creeks and ports which they then froze in moulds and preserved in resin. ‘We hope when more people see this they can change their lifestyles,’ they said.

Credits: theguardian.com
Read the full article here

Recycling can be complex: Some people are uncertain about how it helps the planet, while others consider it a waste of time, money and energy.

Nonetheless, things have changed in the last years. More and more industries are trying to reduce their wastes and consumer behavior has shifted. Greater emphasis is now on reducing, reusing, and recycling, as people are becoming more conscious of the world’s waste problem.

Yet still, misconceptions remain. This article sheds light on six popular myths.

Read the full article.

Plastic Smart Cities is a WWF initiative that supports a no plastic in nature agenda. Since 2018, the initiative has supported cities and coastal centres in taking bold action to stop plastic pollution, with a goal to reduce plastic leakage into nature by 30% in the near term, and achieving no plastics in nature by 2030.

How do they do it?

Explore their growing catalogue of Best Practices to find out.

This user-friendly platform presents a series of concrete steps we can take to have a positive impact for the planet. The process is simple. You choose a step and the level of commitment that works for you. You give yourself a month to try it. Then you track your progress by adding “steps” to the course of this global effort to cut down our CO2 emissions.

https://breakingboundaries.count-us-in.com/steps

Consumer Reports (CR) reveals where most of the plastic you throw away really ends up and explains what to do to limit its environmental harm.

The aricle is USA-focused, but much of its content relates to the plastic insustries, recycling myths and consumer behaviour in general that is why it is relevant to many European countries.

Read the article.

Plastic production has grown exponentially in just a few decades and so did the amount of plastic waste. The EU is already taking measures to reduce plastic waste, but what happens to the waste that is generated despite all efforts? And how can recycling rates be increased? Sadly, less than a third of plastic waste in Europe is recycled.

Find out more facts and figures on plastic waste and its recycling in the EU in this infographic of the European Parliament. Read more.