Plastic Education for Governments and Citizens

Against plastics? That's understandable given what we're told. But who trusts the media? Have you checked the science to get the facts and proper perspective? You will see plastic is a small part of the larger picture. We need a holistic approach if we want to make a difference. Plastics Research Council nonprofit has the science E. Elhacham et al., Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass, Nature, Vol 588, p442, December 2020 Shows total cumulative use of plastic this century is ~2Gtonnes. Total cumulative use of all solid materials is ~1 teratonne. Perspective matters. Why? We can't solve a problem by only talking about a tiny fraction of it.

Researchers have developed a method that uses sunlight to convert plastic waste into fuels and industrial chemicals, offering a potential approach to tackling both pollution and energy demand. The study, led by PhD researcher Xiao Lu at the University of Adelaide, focuses on a solar-powered process that breaks down discarded plastics into hydrogen, syngas, and other chemical outputs. The findings have been published in the journal Chem Catalysis. More than 500 million tons of plastic are produced globally each year, with a significant portion ending up as waste in landfills and the environment. At the same time, global efforts to reduce fossil fuel dependence have increased interest in alternative energy technologies. https://lnkd.in/d3Ywjux2 #RBN #RaisedbyNumbers

Thrilled to announce that our CEO, Tal Shapira, will be speaking at the upcoming PLA World Congress in Munich! 🥨 At TripleW, we often get asked how we view the massive global challenge of food waste. To explain our vision we like to look back at the 19th-century Petroleum Revolution. Before the 1850s, "rock oil" was considered a valueless nuisance - a messy byproduct that ruined farmland and contaminated wells. It only became the foundation of the modern world when refiners figured out how to "crack" that valueless sludge into high-value energy and materials. Today, food waste is our "rock oil." Most see it as a costly liability to be buried or burned. At TripleW, we see it as an abundant, untapped "ore." We aren't just managing waste; we are the refiners of the 21st century. By converting this carbon-rich resource into lactic acid, we are creating the foundational building blocks for the next generation of PLA and sustainable bioplastics. Tal added: "I look forward to sharing how we are scaling this food-waste-to-PLA opportunity and why the future of the circular economy isn't just about recycling - it’s about high-value upcycling." See you in Munich! 🇩🇪 Renewable Carbon Plastics Alex Thielen #PLAWorldCongress #CircularEconomy #Bioplastics #FoodWaste #LacticAcid

Congratulations to all EWSERC members and collaborators on this excellent achievement! 🎉 We are proud to share this review publication in Chemosphere: “Treatment and valorization of spent caustic brine: A critical review with emphasis on membrane technologies” Authored by Rouba D. Al Bostami, Amani Lutfi Al-Othman, Muhammad Tawalbeh, Kerry N. McPhedran, and Mohammad Mahdi A. Shirazi. This comprehensive review explores sustainable treatment and valorization strategies for spent caustic brine (SCB), a hazardous yet resource-rich industrial waste generated across sectors such as oil & gas, textiles, food processing, and metal finishing. Key highlights from the review: • Transition from conventional disposal methods toward circular economy-based valorization • Membrane technologies enabling up to 85% caustic recovery and 90% water recovery • Critical evaluation of nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, and bipolar membrane electrodialysis • Integration of treatment and resource recovery for sustainable industrial wastewater management • Identification of current technological gaps and future research directions for zero-liquid-discharge systems The review emphasizes how advanced membrane technologies can transform SCB from an environmental liability into a valuable resource stream, supporting water reuse, chemical recovery, and sustainable industrial practices. 🔗 DOI: https://lnkd.in/dhNkBAhk

One of the biggest environmental own‑goals of the last decade? Conflating oxo‑degradable with oxo‑biodegradable. Oxo‑degradable plastics fragment — and that’s the problem. Oxo‑biodegradable plastics (like d2w) don’t just fragment — they biodegrade, they do no leave persistent microplastics. One of the biggest environmental own‑goals of the last decade? Conflating oxo‑degradable with oxo‑biodegradable. Oxo‑degradable plastics fragment — and that’s the problem. Oxo‑biodegradable plastics (like d2w) don’t just fragment — they biodegrade, they do no leave persistent microplastics.

When a milestone is still a long way to go. Could these colonies of methane-eating microbes be the key to transforming methane from potent greenhouse gas to sustainable carbon feedstock for bio manufacturing?

🔬 Supercritical Water Gasification (Ni‑Co Catalyst) ✨ Explore how a breakthrough water‑based reaction will reshape the global supply chain for plastics today. We are transitioning from the extract‑and‑burn paradigm toward a synthesize‑and‑cycle model, turning waste plastics into valuable syngas for a circular economy. ✓ 🏭 1. Traditional plastic incineration releases CO₂, toxic pollutants, and wastes energy. ✓ 🧪 2. Ni‑Co alloy catalyst in supercritical water efficiently gasifies mixed plastics to syngas >70% yield at 400 °C. ✓ 🏭 3. 10 MW pilot producing 100 kt yr⁻¹ syngas could replace fossil fuel use, cutting emissions by ~5 Mt CO₂ annually. 🟢 Which industry do you think will be the first to feel this chemistry’s impact? #SustainableChemistry #CircularEconomy #Syngas #PlasticRecycling #CleanEnergy

🔬 Supercritical Water Gasification (Ni‑Co Catalyst) ✨ Explore how a breakthrough water‑based reaction will reshape the global supply chain for plastics today. We are transitioning from the extract‑and‑burn paradigm toward a synthesize‑and‑cycle model, turning waste plastics into valuable syngas for a circular economy. ✓ 🏭 1. Traditional plastic incineration releases CO₂, toxic pollutants, and wastes energy. ✓ 🧪 2. Ni‑Co alloy catalyst in supercritical water efficiently gasifies mixed plastics to syngas >70% yield at 400 °C. ✓ 🏭 3. 10 MW pilot producing 100 kt yr⁻¹ syngas could replace fossil fuel use, cutting emissions by ~5 Mt CO₂ annually. 🟢 Which industry do you think will be the first to feel this chemistry’s impact? #SustainableChemistry #CircularEconomy #Syngas #PlasticRecycling #CleanEnergy

https://lnkd.in/dzm3guCm Phosphorus pollution is a "silent threat" to our freshwater resources, but the answer might lie in our organic waste. Our new study in Water, Air, & Soil Pollution explores how Iron Oxide Nanoparticle Modified Biochars can revolutionize wastewater treatment. By integrating green-synthesized nanoparticles into biochar, we’ve created a "super-sorbent" that's both eco-friendly and highly efficient. Why this matters: Green Synthesis: We used neem extract instead of hazardous chemicals. High Efficiency: Our modified vegetable peel biochar showed the highest P-sorption, outperforming many traditional methods. Circular Economy: We transformed agricultural and food waste (rice straw, maize straw, vegetable peels) into a tool for environmental protection. We believe this research provides a strong foundation for designing optimized, mechanism-driven adsorbents for a cleaner, more sustainable future.

292 million tons. Every year. Buried. Burned. Wasted. A third of it is organic carbon that biology is starving for. We did not run out of carbon. We just stopped recognizing where it went. We bury it. We burn it. We let it leak methane into the atmosphere and phosphorus into waterways. We call that waste management. Here is what we are actually managing: a continuous loss of biological energy that the planet needs to function. Organic waste is not garbage. It is long-chain carbon that has not been broken down yet. The problem is not that it exists. The problem is that nothing is converting it fast enough into a form biology can actually use. That is the gap Labile Carbon works in. When complex organic material is processed through high-intensity hydrothermal conversion, those long carbon chains break into small, bioavailable molecules, in under one second. What comes out is not a fertilizer. It is not a soil amendment. It is labile carbon, the fastest biological energy source microbes can consume. Feed the microbes. The system does the rest. The carbon was never missing from our soils, our digesters, our water systems. It was just buried in the wrong form, in the wrong place. Waste is not a problem waiting to be hauled away. It is misplaced carbon waiting to be activated. What would change if every community started seeing its organic waste as a carbon resource instead of a cost center? #labilecarbon #wastemanagement