The proceedings of a National Academy of Sciences workshop, held May 9 and 10, 2019 in Washington, DC, titled “Closing the Loop on the Plastics Dilemma” have been published – The Initiative presented the following poster, titled “Why a Public Private Partnership is Necessary for the Discovery of New Food Packaging Materials” – The proceedings note […]
Author: adfpinitiative
Plastic Bottle Recycling in 2018
What is the recycling rate for plastic bottles in the US? According to a December 18, 2019 American Chemical Council (ACC) news release which summarized the “29th annual National Postconsumer Plastic Bottle Recycling Report” “… the overall US recycling rate for plastic bottles in 2018 was 28.9 percent, falling just 0.4 percent”. The per capita consumption of plastic bottles has been […]
Funding New Efforts for Solid Waste Collection and Recycling
According to a January 2, 2020 Plastic News Magazine Staff blog “… a material-neutral plan that puts small fees on single-use packaging, possibly at the wholesale level, would provide a steady stream of funding to support upgrades in waste collection and recycling …”. Because local governments and organizations need billions of dollars to build out needed recycling infrastructure, […]
Ocean Plastic is More than Floating Debris
According to a December 31, 2019 Guardian Newspaper story “… What scientists can see and measure … accounts for only a tiny fraction of the total plastic entering the water … It is becoming apparent that plastic ends up in huge quantities in the deepest parts of the ocean … more like a chemical dissolved in the […]
Engineered Nanomaterials – Occupational Exposure
On December 17, 2019, the CDC National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) issued a Federal Register Notice requesting the submission of toxicological and physicochemical data on Engineered Nanomaterials (ENMs). ENMs are substances manufactured by man for specific uses in medicine, manufacturing and food packaging. Nanoscale materials have at least one dimension in the range of 1 to 100 […]
PepsiCo Issues Its First $1 Billion Green Bond Fund
PepsiCo has issued its first $1 billion Green Bond Fund “to address global challenges like carbon emissions, access to clean water, and plastic waste”. The Fund will address “priority areas where the company believes it can make the best contribution [including] … Sustainable Plastics and Packaging … to reduce 35% of virgin plastic content across […]
Patchwork Approach to Recycling Not Working
“The patchwork approach to recycling in the United States … has led to widespread consumer confusion and is a major cause of low recycling participation”, according to Geoff Freeman, president/CEO of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. In an Oct. 8, 2019 address in Tokyo to the delegates to the G20 Implementation Framework for Actions on Marine […]
Human Behavior in Mitigation of Plastic Pollution
University of Cambridge UK scholars suggest that behavioral “rather than only economic costs and benefits [be considered] in policy intervention designs”. This stated in an October 8, 2019 study published in the journal Nature Communications. The authors note that “Policy-makers often rely on an outdated mental model of human behaviour where it is assumed that […]
Unilever Commits to Plastic Reduction and Reusability
Unilever, owner of brands including Dove, Ben & Jerry’s and Lipton, on October 7, 2019 announced “new commitments to reduce its plastic waste and help create a circular economy for plastics”. By 2025, the company commits to the following: Halve its use of virgin plastic … [and] Help collect and process more plastic packaging than […]
Baby Turtles in Boca Raton, Florida Starved by Plastic
Baby Turtles in Boca Raton, Florida Starved by Plastic, according to an October 6, 2019 UK Independent newspaper story. The story is titled “Baby turtle had more than 100 pieces of plastic in stomach when it died of starvation”. This article makes the following statements: Experts say it was one of just dozens of young […]