Plastic reduction

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Link: Lego plans to make half the plastic in bricks from renewable materials by 2026 | Lego | The Guardian

 

Lego plans to make half the plastic in its bricks from renewable or recycled material rather than fossil fuels by 2026, in its latest effort to ensure its toys are more environmentally friendly.

 

The Danish company last year ditched efforts to make bricks entirely from recycled bottles because of cost and production issues. At the moment, 22% of the material in its colourful bricks is not made from fossil fuels.

 

In the long term, Lego plans to switch entirely to renewable and recycled plastic by 2032, in a green push that has resulted in the company testing more than 600 alternative materials.

 

The toymaker hopes gradually to bring down the amount of oil-based plastic it uses by paying up to 70% more for certified renewable resin, the raw plastic used to manufacture the bricks, in an attempt to encourage manufacturers to increase production.

 

Lego’s plastic producers are replacing virgin fossil fuels with alternatives such as cooking oil or food industry waste fat as well as recycled materials but costs can be two or three times higher because the market is still developing.

 

Niels Christiansen, the chief executive of Lego, said the shift towards more sustainable materials meant a significant increase in the cost of producing its bricks.

 

Last year, the group pledged to triple spending on sustainability to 3bn Danish kroner (£340m) a year by 2025, while promising not to pass on higher costs to consumers.

 

“So far we have decided that we will bear the burden of it, and [the extra cost] comes out of our bottom line. We are not sure consumers are very willing to pay,” Christiansen told the Guardian.

 

He said Lego was making the investment to “try to push the industry to develop” and “shift the supply chain” by increasing demand and he said it was hoped this would eventually lead to the development of new or cheaper materials that would help Lego meet its 2032 target.

 

Lego has also expanded its brick takeback programme, Replay – where consumers can donate old bricks to the company through free shipping – into the UK and continued to test similar models in the US and Europe.

 

On Wednesday, Lego reported a 13% rise in sales to 31bn kroner in the first half of this year as it claimed it had “significantly outpaced the toy industry, gaining market share”.

 

Operating profit rose 26% to a record 8.1bn kroner as the group launched about 300 new sets within top performers, including its icons sets. The range includes a £259.99 Lamborghini kit and the £554.99 Eiffel Tower, as well as Technics, Star Wars and Harry Potter toys. Christiansen said its botanical collection – of plant-themed kits – had helped increase appeal among adult women who were now bigger advocates for the brand.

 

“Our portfolio continues to be relevant for all ages and interests, and this is driving significant demand across markets. We used our solid financial foundation to further increase spending on strategic initiatives which will support growth now and in the future to enable us to bring learning through play to even more children,” Christiansen said.

 

He said the toy market had shrunk by about 7% last year, the worst performance in 15 years. However, he said that sales across the market had been flat in the first half of this year and could return to growth in the second half.

 

Christiansen said the brand had “good momentum” as it expected to continue to outperform the wider market.

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Link: Most soft plastic collected for recycling is burned, campaigners say | Plastics | The Guardian

 

Seventy per cent of soft plastic collected in supermarket recycling schemes and tracked after collection ended up being burned, an investigation by campaigners has found.

 

By placing trackers inside packages of soft plastic that were collected by Sainsbury’s and Tesco in July 2023 and February 2024, campaigners found that most of them ended up being incinerated rather than recycled.

 

Everyday Plastic, which carried out the investigation alongside the Environmental Investigation Agency, tracked parcels of soft plastic that the supermarkets collected from customers with the promise they would be recycled. Of 40 packages of plastic, the trackers reached end destinations in 17 cases. Of these, 12 packages were used as fuel pellets or burned for energy, the investigation found.

 

When Sainsbury’s launched its in-store soft plastic collection in 2021, it said: “The innovative recycling system allows customers to recycle polypropylene film found in several household products.”

 

Tesco said its customers would be able to bring back any soft plastic packaging for recycling. Soft plastic is hard to recycle and very few facilities in the UK have the ability to process it.

 

Alison Colclough, of Everyday Plastic, said: “Our trackers reveal the hard truth about soft plastic recycling schemes at supermarkets – soft plastic packaging is not going to get recycled.

 

“The majority of the bundles of soft plastic we tracked ended up being burned for energy recovery – a solution that is being deployed more and more in order to deal with the unmanageable amount of plastic waste.

 

“The takeback schemes are being presented as a solution, which is diverting attention from the main issue that can’t be overlooked: far too much unnecessary plastic packaging is being produced.”

 

Katie-Scarlett Wetherall, of the environmental NGO Client Earth, said the investigation into what was really happening to soft plastic collected by supermarkets revealed a huge gap between what consumers were being told and the reality. She said soft packaging recycling claims made on packages were misleading.

 

Next month countries will attempt to hammer out a global plastics waste treaty after a pushback from developed countries over the proposed remit. In the last talks on the UN plastics treaty there were accusations that developed nations had bowed to the fossil fuel and plastics lobby over whether cuts in plastic production should be a key part of the treaty.

 

The UK sends most of its plastic waste abroad, exporting nearly 600,000 tonnes of plastic waste for recycling in 2023, a 10% increase on the previous year. In August 2023 alone, nearly 53,000 tonnes of plastic waste was exported.

 

Turkey was the largest destination for UK plastic waste exports in 2023, taking more than 140,000 metric tons. The Netherlands received the second most, at 116,500 metric tons.

 

Plastic waste exports are counted in UK government recycling data.

 

Sainsbury’s said: “We’re always seeking ways to positively manage the end of life of our packaging. Our return to store recycling scheme provides the opportunity to recycle more soft plastic until kerbside collection becomes available in 2026-27.

 

“We collect a small volume of flexible plastic overall in store. The majority is in good condition and so is recycled. However, when materials are soiled or damaged then they may need to be converted for energy, which is managed by our supplier.”

 

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We have a clear plan to remove packaging wherever possible and reducing, reusing and recycling it where we can’t. Given the challenges of collecting soft plastics at kerbside, we have soft plastics collection points in our stores for customers.

 

“Where it is not possible to recycle the collected plastic, we put it to alternative uses to avoid these materials going to landfill, for example using it for energy recovery.”

[maark]

Link: Most soft plastic collected for recycling is burned, campaigners say | Plastics | The Guardian

 

It's not ideal but in some ways I would sooner it was burnt than going into the environment.

[mavhc]

Compress it into bricks or insulation or something instead of burning it, plastic is basically really expensive oil

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Link:

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I anticipate frothing indignation from sources like The Daily Fail.

 

However, what's in the tub is the same as what would have been in its predecessor.

 

[Andrew_C]

However, what's in the tub is the same as what would have been in its predecessor.

Six sweets - about right allowing for shrinkflation.

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Link: Glitter has lost its shine – but scientists may have found a safer substitute | Environment | The Guardian

 

Shimmery cellulose-based alternative looks safer for soil than conventional microplastics, Australian-led research finds

 

Even before Taylor Swift donned “glitter freckles”, the sparkly stuff was prolific – sold in tiny vials at craft shops, and sprinkled on to a variety of products from clothing to Christmas decorations, cards and makeup.

 

Glitter ends up everywhere: in the environment as well as the carpet.

 

While some scientists have called for an outright ban, new Australian-led research has found a shimmery cellulose substitute that could be safer for soil.

 

University of Melbourne researchers tested the effects of conventional and cellulose-based glitters at different concentrations – 10, 100 and 1,000 mg glitter/kg of soil – on the health of tiny soil animals called springtails.

 

The paper, published in Chemosphere, found that when conventional glitter made from plastic and metal was present in soil at 1,000 mg/kg, springtails produced 61% fewer offspring compared to a control soil sample after 28 days.

 

There were no toxic effects on springtail reproduction at any concentration of the cellulose glitter.

 

The co-author and University of Melbourne ecotoxicologist, associate prof Suzie Reichman, said the results highlighted the potential risks microplastics like glitter posed for soil health.

 

“We all know that plastic is a big issue in our oceans,” she said. “But what a lot of people aren’t as aware of is that there’s actually more plastic pollution in our soil, and it’s potentially having just as big an impact.”

 

Springtails are tiny organisms that crawl around in the soil and help maintain its health by eating decaying materials and fungi, she explained. If, as the experiment showed, plastic glitter affects their health and reproduction (and that of other soil-dwelling organisms), that could in turn affect the growth of healthy plants.

 

The non-plastic glitter made from cellulose nanocrystals was developed by researchers from the UK’s University of Cambridge. The lustrous dust was produced from very thin films of cellulose, a type of sugar found naturally in cotton and wood, which were then broken up into tiny crystal structures.

 

Based on the results, Reichman said the cellulose glitter was likely to be safer, noting that further research was under way into its effects on the aquatic environment.

 

Dr Cassandra Rauert, who researches human and environmental exposure to microplastics at the University of Queensland and was not involved in the glitter paper, said microplastics such as glitter are “ubiquitous”.

 

“They’re in the soil, they’re in the water, they’re in the air,” she said.

 

Microplastics and the chemicals they contain raise health concerns, as they could break into much smaller pieces and cross biological barriers in our bodies – though the implications are still unknown.

 

“For instance, if we eat them, they can then get through our stomach into our blood. Or if we inhale them, they might be able to get through the pathways and the lungs into the blood and then circulate through the body.”

 

Because glitter is a significant source of microplastics, Rauert said: “If there’s an alternative we should be using it.”

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I anticipate frothing indignation from sources like The Daily Fail.

 

However, what's in the tub is the same as what would have been in its predecessor.

 

 

Quality street (and other brands of similar sweets) tins were probably a lesser issue. The mantra has always been reduce, reuse, recycle, and that would certainly have fallen into "reuse" more often than not. Great storage containers that last for years and years, longer than items designed for that very purpose. Case in point - who's ever seen a tin of Danish Cookies/Biscuits/Shortbreads that actually had any cookies in? Exactly - it was always mums/grans sewing kit, and the Quality Street tin often had nuts, bolts washers and other items Dad found that might be useful one day in the distant future

 

Regardless, I applaud the idea. We can all remember the kickback when they changed the sweet packaging and the only reason anyone could ever come up with was "it doesn't feel the same". They're right, it doesn't. Our great grandparents probably felt the same about rations, slavery and Syphilis.

[FN-GM]

I was at the post office today. A plastic bubble mailer (inside and out) was $[emoji637] cheaper than the paper equivalent…

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NOT plastic reduction:

 

Link: International talks on curbing plastic pollution fail to reach agreement | Plastics | The Guardian

 

Negotiators have failed to reach agreement on a landmark treaty to curb plastic pollution, the diplomat chairing the talks has said.

 

Nearly 200 nations are taking part in a meeting in Busan, South Korea, that is intended to result in a landmark agreement after two years of discussions. But a week of talks has failed to resolve deep divisions between “high-ambition” countries seeking a globally binding agreement to limit production and phase out harmful chemicals, and “like-minded” nations who want to focus on waste.

 

A draft text released on Sunday afternoon after multiple delays included a wide range of options, making clear the ongoing level of disagreement.

 

When an open plenary session finally convened late on Sunday night, the chair, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, said progress had been made but “we must also recognise that a few critical issues still prevent us from reaching a comprehensive agreement”.

 

He said: “These unresolved issues remain challenging and additional time will be needed to address them effectively. There is a general agreement to resume the current session at a later date to conclude our negotiations.”

 

His comments reflected earlier calls from delegates for a follow-up to the so-called INC5 talks, given the ongoing divisions.

 

“If you ask me … we stop, we adapt the paper as it is and we try to do another session,” Senegal’s Cheikh Sylla said. That would offer time “to bring the positions closer together, and at this session … we can reach an agreement that is balanced”.

 

Earlier, delegations seeking an ambitious treaty said a handful of countries were steadfastly blocking progress. A French minister accused the like-minded group of “continuing obstruction,” while a Rwandan delegate, Juliet Kabera, said a “small number” of countries “remain unsupportive of the measures necessary to drive real change”.

 

“Rwanda cannot accept a toothless treaty,” Kabera said.

 

While countries have declined to directly name those preventing a deal, public statements and submissions have shown that mostly oil-producing nations including Saudi Arabia and Russia have sought to block production cuts and other ambitious goals.

 

A Portuguese delegate, Maria João Teixeira, said earlier on Sunday that another round of talks might be the best option for a meaningful deal. “We are really trying to not have a weak treaty,” she said.

 

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Environmental groups had pushed ambitious countries to call a vote if progress stalls and said another round of negotiations was unnecessary. Eirik Lindebjerg, the global plastics policy lead at WWF, said: “We know what we need to do to end plastic pollution … simply adding more meetings is not the solution.”

 

More than 100 countries support setting a target for production cuts, and dozens also back phasing out some chemicals and unnecessary plastic products. Left unclear is the position of the world’s top two plastics producers, China and the United States. Both were notably absent from the stage at a press conference on Sunday by countries urging a strong treaty.

 

“They are still considering and we are hopeful that there will be some interest on their part,” said Mexico’s head of delegation, Camila Zepeda. “This coalition of the willing is an open invitation. And so it’s not like it’s them against us.”

 

Panama’s Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez told colleagues that “history will not forgive us” for leaving Busan without an ambitious treaty. “This is the time to step up or get out,” he said.

 

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Delayed plastic reduction ...

 

Link: How Loch Long became a magnet for Scotland's plastic waste - BBC News

 

At the head of beautiful Loch Long in Argyll sits one of Scotland's biggest plastic problems.

 

A combination of prevailing winds and the rotation of the earth drive litter up the loch to create what is known as the Arrochar litter sink.

 

About 62,000 items wash up on the beach each year, much of it from the waterways in and around Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city.

 

It is estimated that 11% of the rubbish which enters the River Clyde - which flows through the city - and its tributaries is eventually washed up at Arrochar.

 

The local residents can't clean it up fast enough.

 

Lots of the waste is tangled in the seaweed which was once an asset to the community.

 

It used to be collected by the bucketload to fertilise farm land, but that's no longer possible because of the pollution.

 

Campaigners say the only solution is to stop the waste entering the water in the first place - and that the introduction of a deposit return scheme for bottles and cans would play a major role in doing just that.

 

A Scottish scheme was originally meant to be operational by 2023 but was delayed after objections from businesses to the inclusion of glass.

 

It then emerged that the UK government was considering blocking Scotland's plans because it wanted a single scheme for all four nations.

 

UK ministers eventually decided they would grant an exemption - but only if glass was taken out of the Scottish plans to align it with the scheme it was planning to introduce in England.

 

That position led to angry recriminations and eventually an announcement from Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater of a further delay until at least October 2025.

 

That was later extended to 2027, in line with the UK scheme.

 

But in December, the Welsh government confirmed it was opting out of the UK-wide proposition and creating its own scheme - which would include glass recycling.

 

In the meantime, a deposit return scheme has been successfully launched in the Republic of Ireland which has captured almost a billion items in its first year.

 

All of these political rows have been frustrating to people who just want to see the marine environment free of litter.

 

Kirsty Crawford from the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) says it's vital for places like Arrochar that the current target date of 2027 is not pushed back again.

 

She said: "With each fresh high tide you're going to get more litter washing in.

 

"It is a big task at hand but this is where we hope the deposit return scheme would help see a reduction in that problem."

 

The scheme in Ireland went live a year ago and more than 900 million items have so far been returned to shops.

 

Consumers have to pay a deposit of 15 cents for every standard-sized plastic bottle or can which is purchased. The deposit is refunded when the item is returned.

 

Glass is not included in the scheme.

 

Some retailers were initially resistant, but others say it has led to an increase in footfall in shops.

 

Reverse vending machines can cost shop owners about €15,000 (£12,500), but stores do have the option of collecting returned items over the counter.

 

Environmental group Coastwatch Europe, which monitors more than 500 stretches of shore in Ireland, says the scheme is already having a significant impact.

 

Seven years ago volunteers were recording around 60 bottles per kilometre of beach - but a survey in September and October found an average of eight per kilometre.

 

Co-founder Karin Dubsky believes that's not just down to the deposit return scheme but also a broader appreciation of the impact of plastic pollution.

 

”There is so much positivity and I think it has opened the gates to a different kind of thinking,” she said.

 

Politicians hope a deposit return scheme scheme will boost Scotland’s stubborn household recycling figures, which have barely budged for a decade.

 

In 2023, 43.5% of household waste was recycled, compared with 42.9% in 2014.

 

The Scottish government says it expects the scheme to reduce littering by a third and increase recycling of single-use drinks containers to 90%.

 

Lorna Slater, the Scottish Greens minister who introduced the scheme during her time in government, says she hopes glass can still ultimately be included in the scheme.

 

But she says it’s most important that there are no further delays to its rollout.

 

That view is echoed by environmental charities like the MCS and Keep Scotland Beautiful.

 

On Monday, the deadline passed for applications to run the scheme for Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.

 

Scottish ministers say they are committed to delivering the scheme by 2027.

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Link: Netley boy saves thousands of sweet tubs from landfill - BBC News

 

 

"I'm one little boy and it started with one tub and one dream to save the planet, and now look how many we've got."

 

Teddy has collected more than 2,500 plastic confectionery tubs because he does not want them to end up in landfill.

 

The six-year-old from Netley in Hampshire was "angry" when he found out that the tubs, often piled high in supermarkets, could not be recycled by the kerbside.

 

Teddy, whose hero is David Attenborough, told the BBC: "We have one planet and we need to look after it."

 

Last year he collected 358 of the tubs, which are typically sold with chocolates, sweets, or crackers inside.

 

He wrote a letter to his school, which in turn sent out a letter to parents, and together with his mum Laura he put up posters at local businesses.

 

He even asked his grandad to go to the local tip to ask them to save any tubs that people had binned, to prevent them going to landfill.

 

Recently he stepped up his activity, and a post on Facebook in which he described himself as an "eco warrior on a mission" and telling of how "hundreds of thousands of [tubs] go to landfill or the ocean" helped gather momentum.

 

He quickly "smashed" this year's target of 500 tubs, reaching 2,598 in a month.

 

He has also been collecting them from people's houses, and has taken them out of bins.

 

Teddy, who wants to be a marine biologist or a stunt man when he grows up, said: "I'd heard we can't recycle these tubs in our normal recycling bin but I wanted to change that so I can save the world.

 

"We have one planet and we need to look after it."

 

Mum Laura said: "Teddy's realising now the issues we have, and is really keen on trying to get the message out there, and inspiring others to make a difference.

 

"It doesn't matter what change you're making or how big or small, it does make a difference to our environment."

 

She added: "People have been so supportive and kind getting behind him.

 

"Every time we come home there's more tubs left on the doorstep, friends have told friends who've told friends and every tub makes the difference."

 

Teddy has collected the tubs as part of Greene King's Tub2Pub charity appeal. The tubs will be taken to The Shamblehurst Barn pub and from there to a plastic reprocessing centre.

 

But for now he has no plans to repeat the feat next year.

 

"I'm going to have a break," he admitted. "I've done it for two years straight!"

 

Click the link above for a (short) video (bottom of the page.)

[FN-GM]

Good lad!

 

But why are those containers plastic in the first place?

[Andrew_C]

Cheaper to make than metal?

 

ETA - WTF is he going to do with them now? Send them to China to be burnt in a field? Which is what was happening to all those carrier bags we took back to the supermarkets...

Edited February 10, 2025 by Andrew_C

[mavhc]

It says, he's taking them to a plastic recycling plant, the issue is his local council don't do that I suppose.

 

Why would you burn plastic in a field when you can burn it in a power plant?

[FN-GM]

Cheaper to make than metal?

 

Surely cardboard would be cheaper. Even if it isn't, the government should introduce a law to force producers to use more appropriate packaging when possible.

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Surely cardboard would be cheaper. Even if it isn't, the government should introduce a law to force producers to use more appropriate packaging when possible.

 

Paper packaging was trialled last year:

 

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[mavhc]

Surely cardboard would be cheaper. Even if it isn't, the government should introduce a law to force producers to use more appropriate packaging when possible.

 

Not if they break/can't be stacked 50 high/get eaten by rats

 

Everyone should be forced to pay for the pollution they cause, at a rate equal to the cost of cleaning up the pollution. Then use that money to clean up the pollution. That way the least polluting things will cost the least, because using the planet/atmosphere as a free sewer is no long a way to avoid the true costs of making stuff. (and as a side effect billions will be spent making cleaning up pollution cheaper)

[E_G_R2]

We had a tub of celebrations in a cardboard container this Christmas. Worked very well.

[Andrew_C]

Easier / cheaper to use peasant labour probably.

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Link: Durable plastic gets a sustainability makeover in novel polymerization process

 

Car tires, replacement hip joints, bowling balls—these and other items are made from a class of plastics called thermosets, known for extreme durability.

 

Their "crosslinked polymer" chemical structure guarantees longevity but also makes these petrochemical-based materials—which comprise 15%–20% of all polymers produced—impossible to recycle.

 

"Currently, zero percent of the world's thermoset materials are recycled—they're either incinerated or thrown in landfills," said Brett Fors, professor of chemistry and chemical biology in the College of Arts and Sciences.

 

The Fors lab has addressed that environmental challenge by creating an alternative made from a bio-sourced material that has crosslinked thermosets' durability and malleability but can be easily recycled and degraded.

 

"The whole process, from creating to reusing, is more environmentally friendly than current materials," said Reagan Dreiling, a doctoral student in the field of chemistry and first author of "Degradable Thermosets via Orthogonal Polymerizations of a Single Monomer," which published in Nature.

 

According to Fors, the corresponding author, it's also remarkable chemistry that initiates two polymerization processes from one monomer base.

 

The Fors group studies dihydrofuran (DHF), a monomer—or chemical building block—that can be made from biological materials and has the potential to eventually compete with petroleum-based feedstocks.

 

Dreiling used DHF, a circular monomer with a double bond, as a building block for two successive polymerizations, the second of which results in a crosslinked polymer.

 

The first polymerization process involves opening the circular monomer and stitching many of them together, creating a long, open chain. Flexible and soft, the resulting material can be completely chemically recycled using heat and degraded by acid, Dreiling said.

 

Not all DHF is consumed in the first polymerization though, and the remaining DHF is crucial for toughening the material in the subsequent polymerization, Dreiling said. In the second step, DHF monomers are connected to each other and to the first polymer while keeping their rigid, circular structures intact, yielding a material that is strong and tough. This final crosslinked polymer can be recycled through heating and will degrade naturally in the environment.

 

The first polymer, the flexible one, retains a double bond that is needed to make the second, in a reaction initiated and controlled by light.

 

"It's so easy," Dreiling said. "Just by changing the amount of time you run each reaction for, the amount of catalyst you put in each reaction, and the intensity of light you use, you can get a wide scope of properties through a simple process."

 

The more light that reaches the material, Fors said, the more crosslinking and the harder the material. The parts that have received less light will stretch more; the parts of the material not hit by light are completely chemically recyclable.

 

DHF thermosets show comparable properties to commercial thermosets, including high-density polyurethane (used in electronics instruments, packaging and footwear, for example) and ethylene propylene rubber (used in garden hoses and automotive weatherstripping).

 

In contrast to current petrochemical thermosets, the DHF-based materials offer a circular economy of use, Fors said. Chemically recyclable, the material can be made back into its building block monomer and used again from scratch. And when some of the material inevitably leaks into the environment, these materials will degrade over time into benign components.

 

The researchers are working toward applications, including making the DHF-based material useful for 3D printing. They are also experimenting to expand the properties with additional monomers.

 

"We've spent 100 years trying to make polymers that last forever, and we've realized that's not actually a good thing," Fors said. "Now we're making polymers that don't last forever, that can environmentally degrade."

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Link: Bye-bye microplastics? Japanese researchers create ‘revolutionary’ plastic which dissolves in salt water

 

Revolutionary’ plastic created by Japanese researchers

 

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) in Japan have developed a ground-breaking new plastic which is not only biodegradable, but able to fully break down in sea water. The new plastics have been created by combining two ionic monomers that form cross-linked salt bridges, which provide strength and flexibility. Initial tests combined a common food additive ‘sodium hexametaphosphate’ with guanidinium ion-based monomers. Both components can be metabolised by bacteria, ensuring biodegradability once the plastic is dissolved into its components. The researchers found that in soil, sheets of the new plastic degraded completely over the course of 10 days, supplying the soil with phosphorous and nitrogen, similar to fertilizer.

 

Using this method, the team at RIKEN was able to generate plastics that had varying degrees of hardnesses and tensile strength, finding all were comparable or in some cases better than conventional plastics. This means that the new type of plastic can be customised to meet demand; hard scratch resistant plastics, rubber silicone-like plastics, strong weight-bearing plastics, or low tensile flexible plastics are all possible.

 

The material has been designed as a potential alternative to traditional plastics, which are non-sustainable and harm the environment- particularly oceans where current ‘biodegradable’ plastics such as PLA cannot be degraded as they are insoluble. Instead, they linger in our oceans forming ‘microplastics’, pieces smaller than 5 mm which harm wildlife and ultimately end up in the food chain.

 

Further benefits of the new plastics are that they are non-toxic and non-flammable, meaning no CO2 emissions. They can also be reshaped at temperatures above 120°C like other thermoplastics.

 

Project lead, Tazuko Aida said: “With this new material, we have created a new family of plastics that are strong, stable, recyclable, can serve multiple functions, and importantly, do not generate microplastics”...

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Link: Scientists use bacteria to turn plastic waste into paracetamol | Drugs | The Guardian

 

Quote

Bacteria can be used to turn plastic waste into painkillers, researchers have found, opening up the possibility of a more sustainable process for producing the drugs.

 

Chemists have discovered E coli can be used to create paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, from a material produced in the laboratory from plastic bottles.

 

“People don’t realise that paracetamol comes from oil currently,” said Prof Stephen Wallace, the lead author of the research from the University of Edinburgh. “What this technology shows is that by merging chemistry and biology in this way for the first time, we can make paracetamol more sustainably and clean up plastic waste from the environment at the same time.”

 

Writing in the journal Nature Chemistry, Wallace and colleagues report how they discovered that a type of chemical reaction called a Lossen rearrangement, a process that has never been seen in nature, was biocompatible. In other words, it could be carried out in the presence of living cells without harming them.

 

The team made their discovery when they took polyethylene terephthalate (PET) – a type of plastic often found in food packaging and bottles – and, using sustainable chemical methods, converted it into a new material.

 

When the researchers incubated this material with a harmless strain of E coli they found it was converted into another substance known as Paba in a process that must have involved a Lossen rearrangement.

 

Crucially, while the Lossen rearrangement typically involves harsh laboratory conditions, it occurred spontaneously in the presence of the E coli, with the researchers discovering it was catalysed by phosphate within the cells themselves.

 

The team add that Paba is an essential substance that bacteria need for growth, in particular the synthesis of DNA, and is usually made within the cell from other substances. However, the E coli used in the experiments was genetically modified to block these pathways, meaning the bacteria had to use the PET-based material.

 

The researchers say the results are exciting as they suggest plastic waste can be converted into biological material.

 

“It is a way to just completely hoover up plastic waste,” said Wallace.

 

The researchers then genetically modified the E coli further, inserting two genes – one from mushrooms and one from soil bacteria – that enabled the bacteria to convert PABA into paracetamol.

 

The team say that by using this form of E coli they were able to turn the PET-based starting material into paracetamol in under 24 hours, with low emissions and a yield of up to 92%.

 

While further work would be needed to produce paracetamol in this way at commercial levels, the results could have a practical application.

 

“It enables, for the first time, a pathway from plastic waste to paracetamol, which is not possible using biology alone, and it’s not possible using chemistry alone,” Wallace said.

 

[mavhc]

https://plasticcleverschools.co.uk/ a website with resources for your school to reduce plastic, if you want to let your most environmental teacher know about it