Trash from packaging of online products poses threat
8 years, 11 months ago

Trash from packaging of online products poses threat

China Daily  

Workers sort packages at an express delivery firm in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province. But as the nation of more than 1.3 billion people increasingly shops online, casting off a huge amount of plastic bags and paper boxes, "garbage mountain, garbage sea" comes to mind. Last year, with a total of 20.67 billion delivery parcels, the industry left behind 11 billion plastic bags, 9.9 billion cardboard boxes and 17 billion meters of adhesive tape, said Zhu Lei, deputy head of the Qingdao Research Center of the Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication. The company began pilot projects in 2014 in some areas to recycle paper and plastic materials, "but we have many difficulties in expanding the recycling system", Xiang said. "It would increase the cost of the delivering service providers if they collect the used materials, and the recycled ones would not make profits for them," said Zhu Lei, the Qingdao research center expert.

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History of this topic

New Jersey targets plastic packaging that fills landfills and pollutes
3 months, 2 weeks ago

New Jersey targets plastic packaging that fills landfills and pollutes

Associated Press  

TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey is aiming to drastically reduce the amount of packaging material — particularly plastic — that is thrown away after the package is opened. The New Jersey bill seeks to move away from plastics and imposes fees on manufacturers and distributors for a $120 million fund to bolster recycling and reduce solid waste. He called the …

Households face new bin rules after ‘avalanche of rubbish’ in streets
3 months, 3 weeks ago

Households face new bin rules after ‘avalanche of rubbish’ in streets

The Independent  

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Households and workplaces must now sort their rubbish into four …

The environmental cost of convenience
4 months, 1 week ago

The environmental cost of convenience

New Indian Express  

On my morning walks in the university campus where I am a scholar-in-residence, I initially saw piles of waste everywhere. However, within next few days, I saw sanitary workers filling their trucks with the garbage piled up on the roadside. The biggest culprits were disposable cutlery, especially the plastic trays used to deliver food along with the delivery packaging. In …

Effective Recycling Supply Chain Crucial for Sustainable Consumer Goods Trade-in Programs
4 months, 3 weeks ago

Effective Recycling Supply Chain Crucial for Sustainable Consumer Goods Trade-in Programs

China Daily  

Trade-in programs are gaining momentum in China, with a focus on effective recycling supply chains to mitigate the environmental impact of waste materials. The government is setting ambitious targets for recycling and circular utilization, aiming to double scrap car recycling volumes, increase used car transaction volumes, and increase waste home appliance recycling quantities by 2027. While there are regulations in …

The Cure for Disposable Plastic Crap Is Here—and It’s Loony
7 months, 3 weeks ago

The Cure for Disposable Plastic Crap Is Here—and It’s Loony

Wired  

A plastic bag might be the most overengineered object in history. Some years back, I stopped by a French deli to buy some big chunks of cheese and carried them home in a plastic bag. There’s plastic in grocery bags, obviously, but also in yoga pants and car tires and building materials and toys and medical products. A significant chunk …

Will alternatives to plastic bags step up the fight against waste?
8 months, 2 weeks ago

Will alternatives to plastic bags step up the fight against waste?

The Hindu  

The switch to the alternatives to the banned plastic products has yielded mixed results in Tamil Nadu. A shopkeeper at Parry’s Corner says, “We have shifted from selling plastic items to printing invitation cards, selling greeting cards and paper and cloth bags since the Tamil Nadu government banned the single-use plastic. But, on Anderson Street, you will still find many …

Why your small goods come in gigantic boxes
11 months, 1 week ago

Why your small goods come in gigantic boxes

BBC  

Why your small goods come in gigantic boxes Getty Images Even the tiniest purchases often end up in massive packaging. This is called "packaging psychology", says Rycroft, and some companies use it to their advantage – or at least don't go out of their way to ensure boxes are right sized for their contents. When those large boxes show up, …

Over 700million pounds of Amazon's 'recyclable' plastic packaging is dumped into environment each year - where chemicals infest livestock, human organs and even clouds
1 year ago

Over 700million pounds of Amazon's 'recyclable' plastic packaging is dumped into environment each year - where chemicals infest livestock, human organs and even clouds

Daily Mail  

It's the environmental disaster hiding in plain sight - a new report finds that Amazon's 'recyclable' plastic packaging generates 709 million pounds of waste each year. Adding insult to injury, the new report found Amazon's so-called 'recyclable' plastic requires customers to drive their waste packaging to special 'store drop-off locations where plastic film is accepted.' The new report, from US …

Amazon claims its packages are recyclable. Much of the plastic ends up in landfills
1 year ago

Amazon claims its packages are recyclable. Much of the plastic ends up in landfills

LA Times  

Although the plastic packaging delivered by Amazon is stamped with recycling arrows, a new report suggests that only a fraction of it actually gets recycled. Although the paper and cardboard items Amazon uses for packaging can be placed in curbside bins and generally get recycled, plastic packaging must be brought to drop-off locations, such as those at Safeway or Target …

Trash talk: The big problem with tiny packs
1 year ago

Trash talk: The big problem with tiny packs

Hindustan Times  

It may have an expiry date of February 2025, but the tiny packs in your purse, your travel pack and elsewhere in your home will likely be around, in some form or another, for at least 500 years. “One of the first barriers is the glass,” says Alexis Hocken, a chemical engineering doctoral candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, …

Explained | What is Biotransformation tech
2 years ago

Explained | What is Biotransformation tech

The Hindu  

E-commerce giant Amazon generated an estimated 321 million kilograms of plastic from packaging waste in 2021 alone. It claims the technology would digest the plastic packaging waste naturally with the help of microbes and biodegrade the waste without leaving behind any microplastics. India’s Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, last year in New Delhi said, the country is generating 3.5 billion kgs …

Here’s how many times you need to reuse your reusable grocery bags
2 years ago

Here’s how many times you need to reuse your reusable grocery bags

CNN  

Sign up for CNN’s Life, But Greener newsletter. Many of us are drowning in reusable bags — cloth totes or thicker, more durable plastic bags — that retailers sell cheaply or give away to customers as an ostensibly greener alternative to single-use plastic. The answer to what’s the greenest replacement for a single-use plastic bag isn’t straightforward, but the advice …

New plastic waste guide aims for 100% circular packaging by 2050
2 years ago

New plastic waste guide aims for 100% circular packaging by 2050

NL Times  

The Waste Fund Packaging foundation presented a new Plastic Guide that aims to help municipalities, importers, producers, and recyclers work towards a packaging system that is 100% fossil free with 0% damage to people and the environment in 2050. It requires “different thinking and handling of the production and use of plastic packaging.” The Plastic Guide sets goals for a …

More supermarkets stop giving away plastic and paper bags for fruits & vegetables
2 years, 1 month ago

More supermarkets stop giving away plastic and paper bags for fruits & vegetables

NL Times  

Supermarket chains Lidl, Jumbo, Plus and Aldi will stop offering free plastic and paper disposable bags for fruits and vegetables this year. That is why it is important that as many supermarket chains participate as possible,” said Carlijn Röell, the head of the Plastic Pact NL. With this measure, the five expect to save around 126 million plastic bags and …

Amazon’s plastic packaging could circle the planet 800 times. Can it be stopped?
2 years, 3 months ago

Amazon’s plastic packaging could circle the planet 800 times. Can it be stopped?

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Jeff Bezos says he will give $124bn fortune to charity Oceana, the environmental advocacy group, estimated Amazon’s plastic packaging …

Why Most Plastic Ends Up As Trash In A Landfill : Short Wave : NPR
2 years, 3 months ago

Why Most Plastic Ends Up As Trash In A Landfill : Short Wave : NPR

NPR  

The Myth of Plastic Recycling Enlarge this image toggle caption Laura Sullivan/NPR Laura Sullivan/NPR For many, recycling feels like a tangible way to personally combat climate change and to positively affect the environment. That's partially because of decades of public environmental campaigns, But the reality is that only a small fraction of plastic is ultimately recycled. A recent Greenpeace report …

This Plastic Packaging Alternative Can Compost in a Year
2 years, 4 months ago

This Plastic Packaging Alternative Can Compost in a Year

Wired  

Every year, people in the United Kingdom throw away around 96 billion pieces of plastic packaging—an average household tosses 66 pieces every week. “The plastics crisis can be daunting,” says Insiya Jafferjee, the CEO and cofounder of packaging company Shellworks. Speaking at WIRED Impact in London this November, Jafferjee said that even small, seemingly simple pieces of plastic—such as scoops …

Trick or trash: What to do with tons of Halloween candy plastic waste
2 years, 4 months ago

Trick or trash: What to do with tons of Halloween candy plastic waste

LA Times  

The U.S. loaded up on an estimated 600 million pounds of Halloween candy this year. “What I’d like to see is this program actually goes away over time and we have a solution where it’s no longer required and we’re fully recyclable,” said Tim LeBel, president of sales for Mars Wrigley U.S. Mars is partnering with Rubicon Technologies, a Lexington, …

Trick or trash: Candy makers grapple with plastic waste
2 years, 4 months ago

Trick or trash: Candy makers grapple with plastic waste

Associated Press  

Halloween treats have a tricky problem: plastic packaging that’s difficult to recycle. “What I’d like to see is this program actually goes away over time and we have a solution where it’s no longer required and we’re fully recyclable,” said Tim LeBel, president of sales for Mars Wrigley U.S. Mars is partnering with Lexington, Kentucky-based Rubicon Technologies, a consultant and …

Recycling plastic is practically impossible — and the problem is getting worse
2 years, 5 months ago

Recycling plastic is practically impossible — and the problem is getting worse

NPR  

Recycling plastic is practically impossible — and the problem is getting worse Enlarge this image toggle caption Laura Sullivan/NPR Laura Sullivan/NPR The vast majority of plastic that people use, and in many cases put into blue recycling bins, is headed to landfills, or worse, according to a report from Greenpeace on the state of plastic recycling in the U.S. Greenpeace …

Millions of Britons ‘still not recycling cardboard, food and plastic’
2 years, 5 months ago

Millions of Britons ‘still not recycling cardboard, food and plastic’

The Independent  

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. And 42 per cent said there are so many misconceptions and myths around recycling, …

Quitting single-use plastic in Japan
2 years, 7 months ago

Quitting single-use plastic in Japan

BBC  

Quitting single-use plastic in Japan Charly Triballeau / Getty Images Single-use plastics which cannot be recycled are difficult to avoid in Tokyo Japan is one of the world's biggest plastic waste producers, thanks to its love of packaging - but a week of going plastic-free in Tokyo reveals surprising solutions. 63% of plastic waste was processed as "thermal recycling," which …

Green Revolution 2.0: Starting Today, Bid Adieu to Plastic Straws & Cutlery as India Readies for Cleaner Future
2 years, 8 months ago

Green Revolution 2.0: Starting Today, Bid Adieu to Plastic Straws & Cutlery as India Readies for Cleaner Future

News 18  

It is clogging our cities, killing marine life, turning into an eyesore and getting increasingly cumbersome to get recycled. The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2021, prohibit the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of a notified list of single-use plastic items, including straws, plastic cutlery and candy sticks, packaging on sweet boxes, cigarettes packets, invitation cards, polystyrene and expanded …

Best reusable bags 2022: Bags for life that won’t be adding to landfill
2 years, 11 months ago

Best reusable bags 2022: Bags for life that won’t be adding to landfill

The Independent  

Get our weekly Home and Garden email for tips, advice and interior inspiration Get our weekly Home and Garden email for tips, and interior inspiration Get our weekly Home and Garden email for tips, and interior inspiration SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Remember the days …

Trash or Recycling? Why Plastic Keeps Us Guessing.
2 years, 11 months ago

Trash or Recycling? Why Plastic Keeps Us Guessing.

New York Times  

Why Plastic Keeps Us Guessing. Trash Drag each item where you think it belongs Milk jug Peanut butter jar Water bottle Shampoo bottle Snack bag Diaper Plastic bag Bubble mailer Foam cup Single-use utensil Yogurt cup Takeout container Berry box Recycling The universal symbol for recycling, known as the “chasing arrows” logo, is stamped on so many things. “We don’t …

Packaging for the future
2 years, 11 months ago

Packaging for the future

The Independent  

Trace One is a Business Reporter client According to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the amount of plastic waste has doubled globally since 2000, with 353 million tonnes produced in 2019 alone. “They can make out that plastic is the bad guy, but some plastic could be entirely recyclable and might be better than complex …

Govt notifies extended producer responsibility norms for plastic packaging waste
3 years, 1 month ago

Govt notifies extended producer responsibility norms for plastic packaging waste

Live Mint  

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified the Guidelines on Extended Producers Responsibility on plastic packaging under Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. The guidelines on extended producer responsibility coupled with prohibition of identified single use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential, with effect from 1st July 2022, are important steps for reducing pollution …

France bans plastic packaging for most fruits and vegetables
3 years, 2 months ago

France bans plastic packaging for most fruits and vegetables

Al Jazeera  

France says the new ban is expected to eliminate about 1 billion items of plastic waste a year. There’s pluses and minuses on this.” France’s packaging industry meanwhile said it was dismayed by the new rules, particularly a ban on the use of recycled plastics. He told the AFP news agency that the costs were “insurmountable” for small companies who …

Are supermarkets really cutting back on plastic packaging?
3 years, 3 months ago

Are supermarkets really cutting back on plastic packaging?

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Since the mid 20th century, plasticwaste has ballooned, with our species extracting oil in order …

Reusable packaging, container deposit schemes, apps and enzymes: Is Australia's waste and recycling sector growing up?
3 years, 4 months ago

Reusable packaging, container deposit schemes, apps and enzymes: Is Australia's waste and recycling sector growing up?

ABC  

Australia's recycling sector is in the middle of an overhaul, sparked by a major policy shift by China, followed by a policy shift by the federal government and the creation of new recycling targets. "There was actually a Prime Minister who looked at the problem that had been created at state government level and said it's our waste, it's our …

Tesco rolls out recycling points for soft plastic packaging to all large stores
3 years, 7 months ago

Tesco rolls out recycling points for soft plastic packaging to all large stores

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. We're rolling out collection points to the whole of …

Are supermarkets doing enough to reduce single-use plastic waste?
3 years, 11 months ago

Are supermarkets doing enough to reduce single-use plastic waste?

Salon  

Plastic is ubiquitous in supermarkets. Data about single-use plastic waste in supermarkets in the U.S. is scant but a Greenpeace UK report found that seven of the top supermarkets in the U.K. were responsible for putting 59 billion pieces of plastic packaging — or 2,000 pieces for each household — into the environment annually. The Plastics Industry Association promoted single-use …

9 signs you order way too much stuff online
4 years ago

9 signs you order way too much stuff online

The Independent  

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about …

Tesco begins roll out of 'soft plastic' recycling points
4 years ago

Tesco begins roll out of 'soft plastic' recycling points

Daily Mail  

Tesco has started rolling out 'soft plastic' recycling points for old packaging such as bread bags, pet food pouches and crisp packets. One of Tesco's soft plastic recycling points, which is being rolled out so customers can recycle old packaging such as bread bags, pet food pouches and crisp packets A shopping basket showing products wrapped in plastic. Customers can …

Is trashion the future?
4 years, 1 month ago

Is trashion the future?

Live Mint  

"Main jaadugar hoon,” laughs Indra Kumari, adjusting her mask. For, since the day she walked into an export house seven years ago to report for her first job as a visual merchandiser and saw “pahads and pahads” of discarded garments, she made it her life’s mission to move people from a “disposable mindset to a reuse mindset”. “It took a …

Online shopping: Great for bargains, terrible for the environment
4 years, 3 months ago

Online shopping: Great for bargains, terrible for the environment

Al Jazeera  

If you worry about all the waste generated by the annual rush of holiday shopping and gift giving, it’s nothing compared to the mountains of discarded packaging that comes from a single event in China. On Nov. 11 each year, the world’s biggest consumer market goes into overdrive as e-commerce giants like Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. and JD.com Inc. lure …

Amazon must stop flooding our oceans with plastic waste
4 years, 3 months ago

Amazon must stop flooding our oceans with plastic waste

Al Jazeera  

Just last month, Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder of Amazon, announced that he would be donating $791m to 16 environmental organisations to help combat the effects of climate change. Unfortunately, as Amazon and its leader make news for their contributions to the fight against climate change, plastic packaging used by Amazon floods municipal waste systems and, a part of …

Study: 1 to 2 million tons of US plastic trash go astray
4 years, 4 months ago

Study: 1 to 2 million tons of US plastic trash go astray

Associated Press  

More than a million tons a year of America’s plastic trash isn’t ending up where it should. If you took nearly 2.5 million tons of mismanaged plastic waste — bottles, wrappers, grocery bags and the like — and dumped it on the White House lawn, “it would pile as high as the Empire State Building,” said co-author Jenna Jambeck, an …

Study: 1 to 2 million tons of US plastic trash goes astray
4 years, 4 months ago

Study: 1 to 2 million tons of US plastic trash goes astray

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. If you took nearly 2.5 million tons of mismanaged …

What to do with packaging waste from shopping online
4 years, 9 months ago

What to do with packaging waste from shopping online

ABC  

Like many of us, Nathan in Hobart decided to play it safe and ordered his new pillow online instead of going to a physical shop during coronavirus. You don't generally have to worry about removing sticky tape, but if there is a large amount of plastic tape covering the cardboard, you can pull it off and put the tape into …

Lidl launches packaging made from recycled plastic bound for the ocean
5 years ago

Lidl launches packaging made from recycled plastic bound for the ocean

The Independent  

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about …

When will we be plastic-free?
5 years, 4 months ago

When will we be plastic-free?

The Hindu  

I recently ordered a book from an online shopping site and it came wrapped in several plastic sheets inside a cardboard box. A few weeks before this, sturdy shampoo bottles and already-packaged ‘organic’ soaps came wrapped in bubble wrap and padded with plastic air pillows. New initiatives The government might have set an ambitious target to eliminate single-use plastic by …

America's Biggest Trash Hauler Stops Shipping Plastic To Poor Countries
5 years, 5 months ago

America's Biggest Trash Hauler Stops Shipping Plastic To Poor Countries

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING After months of global outcry over the United States’ role in the plastic pollution crisis, companies that collect and dispose of waste are trying to clamp down on the amount of American refuse that gets dumped in poorer countries. Waste Management Inc., the nation’s largest trash hauler, is no longer shipping discarded plastic to countries outside North …

Commerce ministry asks e-commerce firms to gradually slash single-use plastic in packaging
5 years, 5 months ago

Commerce ministry asks e-commerce firms to gradually slash single-use plastic in packaging

Firstpost  

The commerce and industry ministry has advised e-commerce companies to gradually slash single-use plastic in packaging of products being sold through their platforms New Delhi: The commerce and industry ministry has advised e-commerce companies to gradually slash single-use plastic in packaging of products being sold through their platforms, in line with the government’s commitment to reduce use of such material, …

We must switch to eco-friendly packaging
5 years, 7 months ago

We must switch to eco-friendly packaging

Hindustan Times  

During a recent visit to Bengaluru, I ordered ten ‘Rava Idlis’ from one of my favourite restaurants there through an online food delivery platform. The e-commerce food platforms have really made it easy to order and get food, whether at the workplace or at home and it has also generated employment opportunities for many, but there is an urgent need …

Australia is going to stop shipping its plastics and other recyclable waste overseas
5 years, 7 months ago

Australia is going to stop shipping its plastics and other recyclable waste overseas

ABC  

For many years Australia has been exporting millions of tonnes of plastic and other recyclable waste, but that may soon change, with governments agreeing to phase out the practice and boost local recycling capacity. The Council of Australian Governments met in Cairns on Friday, and announced state, federal and local government leaders had "agreed Australia should establish a timetable to …

What Grocery Stores Won’t Tell You About Plastic
5 years, 7 months ago

What Grocery Stores Won’t Tell You About Plastic

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING It’s next to impossible to be a plastic-free grocery shopper. “No other corporation in history has ever amassed this degree of control over the U.S. food system,” according to a June report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance on Walmart’s dominance of local grocery businesses. “No amount of labeling will solve broken recycling systems,” Pinsky and co-author …

The Brutal Reality Of Being The World's 'Best' Recycler
5 years, 8 months ago

The Brutal Reality Of Being The World's 'Best' Recycler

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING BERLIN ― Sandra Dudler is a passionate recycler. “Why am I separating my trash if isn’t being taken care of in the end?” Germans are required by law to sort their household waste into specific categories, each with their own receptacles. For a long time, China had been the main destination for much of the world’s exported …

Amazon’s incredible, vanishing cardboard box
5 years, 8 months ago

Amazon’s incredible, vanishing cardboard box

CNN  

Happy Amazon Prime week, the discount-fest that will clutter front stoops and front desks with packages bearing that ubiquitous smiling arrow. “My goal would be zero packaging of any type over the next couple years,” Houchens says, “by working with the manufacturers to think through product design and their primary package, to make sure that it serves the needs of …

Small shops still hand out 2 million plastic bags every day
5 years, 8 months ago

Small shops still hand out 2 million plastic bags every day

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Up to 2 million plastic bags a day could be kept out of landfills, recycling …

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