Enlarge (credit: Yagi Studio | Getty Images) Since the first factories began manufacturing polyester from petroleum in the 1950s, humans have produced an estimated 9.1 billion tons of plastic. Of the waste generated from that plastic, less than a tenth of that has been recycled, researchers estimate. About 12 percent has been incinerated, releasing dioxins […]
Enlarge (credit: Makiko Tanigawa / Getty Images ) Island Press is “the nation’s leading publisher on environmental issues. ” In its latest release, Thicker than Water , Erica Cirino, a photojournalist and licensed wildlife rehabilitator, explores what becomes of plastic—all 8 billion or so tons of it that humans have manufactured in the last seventy-ish […]
Ford has been using 3D printing for prototyping and other design and engineering work. But 3D printing does not lend itself well to mass-produced parts. [credit: Ford ] Slowly but surely, car companies are beginning to make themselves more sustainable. We most often hear about this in the context of using clean energy to power […]
Expand (credit: Getty Picture ) Someone residing across the Ganges River in India lately got a present which we may safely say no one on Earth had ever gotten before. In the beginning, it must have seemed just like a typical plastic jar floating down the lake, spare for the pole poking from the best, […]
Expand / / Workers type plastic waste for a swimmer transfers plastic waste in Yongin Recycling Center at Yongin, South Korea. (charge: Bloomberg/Getty Pictures ) A couple of decades ago, it seemed just like plastic recycling was made to develop into an integral element of a sustainable future. Afterward, the purchase price of fossil fuels […]