Italy’s plastic tax postponed again under new budget plans
Italy’s planned plastic tax, which was get off the ground in 2020 and aims at promoting a reduction of single-use plastics, has faced a series of delays. The Italian Government refers to economic factors connected to the pandemic to justify the delay. The tax on plastic was scheduled to come into force on 1 July although this was already the second postponement as the original date was July 2020. The government stated that the tax will be delayed again until 2023 and again discussed under the next budget law.
Coca-Cola unveils prototype bottle made from 100% plant-based sources
The Coca-Cola Company today revealed its first prototype bottle made from 100% plant-based plastic (bPET) produced using technologies that the company says are now ready to be commercially scaled across the industry. This builds on Coca-Cola’s and UPM’s earlier announcement of a technological breakthrough regarding the first planned commercialization of technologies to convert second-generation biomass to plant-based monoethylene glycol (bMEG), one of two molecules necessary to create bPET. The other molecule used is PTA comprised of bPTA and Virent’s bPX.
Scientists develop computational model for climate-neutral plastic production
Researchers from ETH Zurich, RWTH Aachen University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara have created a new computational model of global plastic production and disposal. With their model, the scientists demonstrate that it is possible to economically produce plastics that have a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions balance over their entire life cycle. The team was led by André Bardow, formerly of RWTH Aachen University and now Professor of Energy and Process Systems Engineering at ETH Zurich. Model benefits from a combination of three technologies that already exist: plastic recycling and plastic production from biomass and from CO2 through carbon capture and utilization (CCU).