Sea-farmed supercrop: how seaweed could transform the way we live
From high-protein food to plastics and fuel, Swedish scientists are attempting to tap the marine plant’s huge potential. As we shift to a bio-based rather than fossil-fuel-based economy, seaweed could provide a lot of the compounds we need. For example, Ulrica Edlund, Steinhagen’s collaborator at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, is a professor of polymer science who has used polysaccharides extracted from seaweed to make plastic films, filaments and other plastic materials. “It’s circular because it provides a route away from fossil-based plastics. It allows you to use biomass that can be produced at a really high rate in the oceans,” Edlund says. “You don’t have to wait 50 years for the forest to grow until you can harvest those polymers.”
European plastics industry requires “radical” change to meet climate goals, finds Systemique
The European plastics industry needs to “radically” alter its strategies and current adaptations to meet agreed-upon climate goals, finds a new report commissioned by industry association Plastics Europe. The report, entitled “ReShaping Plastics – Pathways to a Circular, Climate Neutral Plastics System in Europe,” was conducted by B Corp organization Systemique, which was founded to drive the achievement of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Its findings state that a redesigned plastics system must address circularity and carbon emissions simultaneously and, to do so, implement both upstream and downstream measures. The report stresses recycling alone will not suffice.
Chemical recycling principles established by The Consumer Goods Forum
The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) Plastic Waste Coalition of Action has brought together 16 of its member companies to publish an independent Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that reportedly demonstrates that chemical recycling has the potential to reduce the climate impact of hard-to-recycle plastic waste when compared to waste-to-energy incineration. Alongside this, the group has published a set of principles that it claims can help to guide the credible, safe and environmentally sound development of the chemical recycling industry.