Monash University research has found that an increasing number of consumers are prepared to pay more for products that use sustainable or recycled materials, with more than 50 per cent indicating it’s important that products are fully made from recycled materials.
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Deakin researchers have found a new use for old glass – grinding it up as a substitute for sand to make a type of concrete commonly used in the construction industry.
A report on Victoria’s waste management system has been released and found that several key agencies in the state have failed to effectively manage the sector, which is what led to “significant amounts of recyclables ending up in landfill and increased stockpiling posing unacceptable risks to public health and the environment”.
The HolyGrail project, led by Procter & Gamble (P&G) and facilitated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, has published information on the use of digital watermarking technology to improve sorting of recyclable material.
Australia’s Cocos (Keeling) Islands are littered with an estimated 414 million pieces of plastic debris, a University of Tasmania study has found.
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A Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group (MWRRG) survey found that Melbourne’s 31 councils are collectively spending at least $10.8 million per year cleaning up illegally dumped materials.
Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have designed a recyclable plastic – called poly(diketoenamine) or PDK – which can be disassembled into its constituent parts at the molecular level and then reassembled into a different shape, texture and colour over and over again, without loss of performance or quality.
Research by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) is examining the economic barriers, technologies and opportunities of recycling end-of-life solar PV modules.
A new study has found that bags that claim to deteriorate faster than traditional single-use plastic bags, are taking longer than three years to break down.