Plastic recycling news from the world of waste in August

It is time for the next instalment of our news round-up blog series, bringing you the latest interesting news from the waste and recycling industry.

August has seen positive developments for the plastics recycling world, with some new innovations and predictions. There’s a lot to look forward to in the next quarter of 2021 and ahead to 2022.

Here’s the latest industry insight from August…

Pets at Home trials new recycling initiative

An industry first for pet food packaging, Pets at Home is trialling a new nationwide initiative in 40 of its stores. Pet food manufacturers are supporting the store take-back scheme, which is set to include designated points in store for flexible plastic waste – allowing for pet owners to easily discard their used packaging.

If the scheme proves to be successful it will be rolled across the majority of Pets at Home’s UK premises by the end of 2022.

How a 'trash-to-treasure' mentality can change plastic waste

Recycling rates worldwide could be improved significantly if there was a combination of improved waste management practices, an optimised and uniform recycling system, alongside innovative product design from plastic producers.

This World Economic Forum article explains how a change in mindset is vital to a circular economy being an achievable reality – alongside leaving behind a ‘take-make-waste’ mentality. It goes on to explain how ‘waste’ should be seen as an opportunity – which we fully agree with!

Tesco expands soft plastic collection scheme

Supermarket giant Tesco has recently announced that it will be rolling out soft-plastic collection points across all of its large UK stores. This is due to the success of the 171-store trial earlier this year – in Wales and the South West – where almost a tonne of soft plastic was collected per day.

In a recent blog, Tesco said it recovered 80% of soft plastic recycled by its customers. The supermarket giant is currently working with its recycling partners to explore what can be done with the remaining 20%, which is currently sent for energy recovery.

Creator turns waste plastic into prosthetic limb joints and house bricks

Dr Karthikeyan Kandan, an associate professor at The De Montfort University Leicester (DMU), has led a team to create a prosthetic limb from recycled plastic bottles for amputee patients.

By grinding down the material and spinning it into polyester yarns, it can be heated up into a solid, but light, prosthetic limb.

The team has also found a way to create a brick from domestic plastic waste, which has proven to provide 10 times better insulation than a traditional clay brick.

The research will be presented at an industry expo in Dubai later this year, too.

Keep up to date with our favourite news stories next month, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, for more recycling updates and news from Indigo Environmental.