recycling
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Environment
Global plastic recycling rate of less than 10% “stumbling”: Research
Less than 10% of all plastics are recycled, and this is a stagnant percentage even when production explodes. The amount of plastic recycled around the world is stagnating at less than 10%, with most new plastics made from fossil fuels being made on Thursday. Researchers at Tingia University in China said that even if plastic production exploded, the speed of…
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Science
Nevada is leading the rest of the state in water recycling, the report found
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Nevada is leading the other six states when it comes to recycling the most valuable resources in the Colorado River Basin, a new report confirms. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, looked at wastewater data that are often inaccessible, and showed that Nevada is leading seven states in reuse rates of 85% of wastewater.…
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Environment
New frontiers in the recycling of waste vegetable oils: A research project for the circular economy
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain World coordinator Politecnico di Milano proposes innovative, cyclical and sustainable processes for the Waste Oils Recycle and Development Project to transform used vegetable oils into valuable resources. The study was published in RSC Sustainability and rewarded for its originality by being featured on the cover. The goal of the global project is to optimize waste vegetable…
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Earth
Earth’s hidden carbon recycling: Sulfur bacteria work together to break down organic matter from the seabed
To determine the molecular tools sulfate-reducing bacteria use, researchers analyzed the entire set of proteins known as the proteome. In total, they looked at the results of 80 different test conditions. Each time, the protein mixture was separated in several steps until individual compounds were identified. Here, a separation gel containing a blue band with proteins of similar size and…
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Chemistry
Light triggering processes break down polymers into monomers and make recycling easier
The return of commercially available plexiglass to the starting material, the monomers. Credits: Hyun Suk Wang and Athina Anastasaki A team of materials scientists and engineers from Eth Zurich have developed a light chemical process to break down specific polymers into component monomers. This paper has been published in Journal Science. In recent years, scientists have noticed new problems associated…
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Chemistry
New research leads to executable solutions for recycling polycotton fiber waste.
Polycotton’s sample (left) and (right) processing (right) and after (right) (right). The sample on the right is transparent because all cotton is removed. Only polyester remains. Credit: HIMS / AVANTIUM In a paper published in Nature Communications, researchers in the Sustainable Chemical Group at the University of Amsterdam (UVA) offer a solution to the difficult recycling of polycotton fabric waste.…
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Environment
The first step to integrating ocean plastic into urban recycling
From left: Amaia Mendoza, Gardar Cortaveria, Cristina Peña. Credit: Gorka Estrada. UPV/EHU. The need to address the millions of tonnes of marine debris (mostly plastic) floating in our oceans and effectively manage this waste has never been more urgent. Faced with this reality, the Materials + Technology Research Group at UPV/EHU decided to take the first step. “We evaluated the…
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Science
Add visible light energy to your carbon dioxide recycling process and you get a two-for-one deal
New research from the University of Illinois captures energy from the visible light spectrum to enhance carbon dioxide recycling. Credit: National Science Foundation By combining visible light and electrochemistry, researchers accelerated the conversion of carbon dioxide into valuable products and stumbled upon a surprising discovery. The research team shows that visible light significantly improves an important chemical property called selectivity,…
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Environment
Poor countries are recycling far more imported plastic than previously thought, but it’s not enough
Total import volume, trade value, and average unit price of plastic waste paid by the top 22 importers from 2013 to 2022. Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51923-4 Countries like Malaysia import tons of plastic waste from Europe every year, paying pennies per kilogram. This may seem strange, but Kai Li says it makes sense. “Residents in the Netherlands pay…
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Biology
Researchers identify a novel endocytic recycling mechanism via ‘kiss-and-run’ membrane fusion
Identification of intracellular clathrin-associated carriers that transiently visit the plasma membrane. Credit: Nature Cell Biology (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41556-024-01499-4 Endocytosis and recycling control the uptake and retrieval of a variety of materials in eukaryotic cells. Mammalian cells have developed several recycling pathways, including the “fast” and “slow” tubular vesicle recycling pathways, which have been relatively extensively studied. However, endocytic recycling pathways…
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