#plastic environment

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‘Single-use plastics’ to be phased out in Australia from 2025 include plastic utensils and straws

National agreement on items covered by ban should provide businesses with certainty and ease consumer confusionPlastic cutlery and straws are among the types of single-use plastics to be phased out in Australia from 2025 under a plan to reduce plastic waste.

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Plastic straws, polystyrene containers banned in Queensland under sweeping new rules

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Hot Pockets recall: Nestle recalls nearly 763K pounds due to possible glass, plastic contamination

Nestlé Prepared Foods is recalling about 762,615 pounds of pepperoni pizza Hot Pockets, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced late Friday.

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Bioplastic made from wood waste is durable yet degradable

The race to make plastics renewable has led to bioplastics made from cornstarch, sugarcane, potatoes, coffee grounds, food waste, and algae. Researchers now introduce a new contender made of waste wood powder that they say could be a stronger, cheaper, and more sustainable alternative. The bioplastic, reported in the journal Nature Sustainability, is strong: it can hold liquids without degrading and resist damage from UV light. Yet at the end of its life, it can be fully recycled or biodegraded.

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Shortage fuelled switch from virgin to recycled polyolefins could prove permanent for some grades

Severe shortages of virgin  polyolefins are driving substitution to recycled polyolefin   alternatives. With ongoing regulatory and consumer pressure against   single use plastics, for some grades there may not be a swich back.

Europe  recycled polyolefin pellet values are once again at their most   competitive levels against virgin on record across all grades, as virgin  price rises continue to outpace those in the recycled polyolefins  chain.

This is despite recycled   polypropylene (R-PP) currently being at record high levels, and prices   for recycled polyolefin pellets having risen by up to 55% since the  start of 2021.

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UN Hopes to Reduce Ocean Plastic Waste Within Five Years

This month, a new era began in the fight against plastic pollution.

In 2019, 187 nations within the United Nations amended the 1989 Basel Convention, which governs trade in hazardous materials, to include plastic waste. The historic treaty created a legally binding framework to make global trade in plastic waste more transparent and better regulated, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) said in a press release.

The amendment to the Basel Convention, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2021, will result in a cleaner ocean within five years

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Mexico City’s ban on single-use plastics officially takes effect              

A broad ban on single-use containers, forks, straws and other ubiquitous items takes effect in Mexico’s capital, one of the world’s largest cities, after more than a year of preparation.

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Microplastics revealed in the placentas of unborn babies              

Health impact is unknown but scientists say particles may cause long-term damage to foetuses