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Biodegradable vs. Bioplastics: What’s the Difference?

Plastic that breaks down in weeks rather than centuries sounds fantastic. As concerns over plastic waste mount, the biodegradable plastics industry is growing rapidly coming up with all sorts of alternatives. However, it’s not as simple as simply throwing these new plastics in your backyard and letting nature take its course. By now, no one [...]

 

Plastic that breaks down in weeks rather than centuries sounds fantastic. As concerns over plastic waste mount, the biodegradable plastics industry is growing rapidly coming up with all sorts of alternatives. However, it’s not as simple as simply throwing these new plastics in your backyard and letting nature take its course. By now, no one denies that humanity has a plastic problem on our hands. At FP International, we think about this issue often, keeping innovation and sustainability at the...

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Meet the Enzyme That Eats Plastic

A mutant enzyme, created accidentally by scientists, eats up plastic waste, potentially helping to solve the planet’s growing plastic problem. Sounds like the stuff of science fiction, right? 

Yet it’s exactly what happened at a waste dump in Japan. In 2016, after spending five years searching through piles of waste, Japanese researchers discovered a strain of bacteria that naturally evolved to eat away at one of the most common plastics in the world: polyethylene terephthalate, also known as PET or polyester.

A mutant enzyme, created accidentally by scientists, eats up plastic waste, potentially helping to solve the planet’s growing plastic problem. Sounds like the stuff of science fiction, right?  Yet it’s exactly what happened at a waste dump in Japan. In 2016, after spending five years searching through piles of waste, Japanese researchers discovered a strain of bacteria that naturally evolved to eat away at one of the most common plastics in the world: polyethylene terephthalate, also known as PET or...

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The EU’s Plan to Combat Plastic Waste

The European Parliament voted for a complete ban on a range of single-use plastic waste across the union in a bid to stop pollution of the oceans. The proposal also called for a reduction in single-use plastic waste for food and drink containers, including plastic cups.

The European Parliament voted for a complete ban on a range of single-use plastic waste across the union in a bid to stop pollution of the oceans. The proposal also called for a reduction in single-use plastic waste for food and drink containers, including plastic cups. The new law, overwhelmingly backed by the European Parliament asserts 10 single-use plastic products with readily available alternatives will be banned by 2021. The EU states and all residing within them are now obligated...

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Recycling’s Uncertain Future: China’s Ban On Waste I...

China has long been treated as our planet’s repository for plastic waste. The nation has accepted 45% of the world's total plastic recycling since reporting to the United Nations Comtrade Database began in 1992.

China has long been treated as our planet’s repository for plastic waste. The nation has accepted 45% of the world’s total plastic recycling since reporting to the United Nations Comtrade Database began in 1992. But alongside a new push to protect the environment, China no longer wants to be the world’s trash can, or even its recycle bin. China passed their “National Sword” policy banning plastic waste from being imported beginning in January 2018, signaling to the rest of the...

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California Plastic Laws: What You Need To Know

Even before plastic straw bans grew trendy, California was at the forefront of using less plastic and promoting more sustainable living. California pioneered a statewide ban on plastics beginning in 2016, when the state became the first in the U.S. to ban most stores from providing customers with single-use plastic bags, following a successful referendum. [...]

Even before plastic straw bans grew trendy, California was at the forefront of using less plastic and promoting more sustainable living. California pioneered a statewide ban on plastics beginning in 2016, when the state became the first in the U.S. to ban most stores from providing customers with single-use plastic bags, following a successful referendum. But the statewide straw ban is the first-of-its-kind. Though cities across the country—and the world—have adopted plastic straw bans, California is the first U.S. state...

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How to Responsibly Recycle Your Holiday Packaging

The holidays are a time to spend with family and friends, to give and to receive...and to accumulate a lot of extra packaging. Fear not: There are plenty of ways to responsibly recycle after a season of packing on the packaging. 
The holidays are a time to spend with family and friends, to give and to receive...and to accumulate a lot of extra packaging. Fear not: There are plenty of ways to responsibly recycle after a season of packing on the packaging.  The holiday season is here and gone, and while many people were finishing up their to-do lists, wrapping the last of their presents and finalizing their travel plans, members of the waste and recycling industry were preparing their fleets,...

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A Look at Plastics’ Toll – And What We Can Do About It

Plastic continues to be one of the most controversial materials to use when making or packaging products. While production costs and misuse the material is a global environmental problem, there are ways to help mitigate damage caused by the commonly mishandled material. The Problem Before we get down to business, let's first take a look [...]

Plastic continues to be one of the most controversial materials to use when making or packaging products. While production costs and misuse the material is a global environmental problem, there are ways to help mitigate damage caused by the commonly mishandled material. The Problem Before we get down to business, let’s first take a look at some statistics derived just from bottled water: Producing bottles to meet America’s demand for bottled water uses more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually...

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Paper or Plastic: Which is the Greener Option?

While plastic has been demonized for its damaging effect on the environment, most people feel more comfortable with paper-based products like paper bags and cardboard. When one weighs out all the factors that go into the manufacturing, use, and recycling of both materials, however, paper isn't as green an option as people think. Don't [...]

While plastic has been demonized for its damaging effect on the environment, most people feel more comfortable with paper-based products like paper bags and cardboard. When one weighs out all the factors that go into the manufacturing, use, and recycling of both materials, however, paper isn’t as green an option as people think. Don’t get me wrong: plastics waste is a huge problem that needs to be reined in if we’re to preserve the planet we live on. Like we...

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VolkerWessels Wants to Roll Out PlasticRoad

When it comes to construction, plastic doesn't just have to come in Lego-shaped bricks to be a viable building material. Dutch construction company VolkerWessels is opening up about its PlasticRoad project which, as the name suggests, is looking for an alternative to conventional road-building by using recycled plastics instead. Is asphalt truly so bad that [...]

When it comes to construction, plastic doesn’t just have to come in Lego-shaped bricks to be a viable building material. Dutch construction company VolkerWessels is opening up about its PlasticRoad project which, as the name suggests, is looking for an alternative to conventional road-building by using recycled plastics instead. Is asphalt truly so bad that we need to find alternatives for it in a hurry? No, I wouldn’t say that. I will say, however, that it doesn’t hurt finding more...

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RanMarine’s Waste Shark Eats Trash Floating in the O...

Dutch sustainable technology innovators are at it again, this time with an aquatic drone with an appetite for trash floating at sea. RanMarine and the Port of Rotterdam Authority have teamed up and set loose the first wave of Waste Sharks, autonomous robots with an aim to keep our waterways clean. It's not news that [...]

Dutch sustainable technology innovators are at it again, this time with an aquatic drone with an appetite for trash floating at sea. RanMarine and the Port of Rotterdam Authority have teamed up and set loose the first wave of Waste Sharks, autonomous robots with an aim to keep our waterways clean. It’s not news that our oceans are increasingly polluted. From oil spills to islands made of garbage, to the acidification of the water due to excess levels of carbon...

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Clarifying Our Stance on Plastics Use

If you've been a fan of our blog posts so far, you might have noticed we're pretty critical of plastics waste. Given that we're a company that uses plastic in our void fill products, it could seem a little strange to speak up against a material that we, too, are guilty of using. That being [...]

If you’ve been a fan of our blog posts so far, you might have noticed we’re pretty critical of plastics waste. Given that we’re a company that uses plastic in our void fill products, it could seem a little strange to speak up against a material that we, too, are guilty of using. That being said, we’d like to take the time to clarify our stance on industrial plastics use and how we seek to continue our tradition as a...

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