Every year, around 1 billion tires reach the end of their useful life worldwide. These wheels, mostly discarded, could be recycled, taking advantage of the recovered materials for other applications. In particular, tires contain steel and a high amount of organic materials.
Every year, in the European Union alone, 750,000 tons of crustacean shells are discarded. Now a project led by Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB) has come up with a solution to recycle them. The aim is to create a biorefinery for the processing of bio-waste rich in chitin, a biopolymer present in insects and fungi, in whose composition it has nitrogenous sugar molecules joined to form a polymer chain.
In Europe, according to a report just released by the European Environment Agency (EEA), Austria, Germany and Belgium are the countries that recycle the highest proportion of urban waste. In total, 35% of municipal waste was recycled in Europe in 2010, a significant improvement over the 23% recorded in 2001. However, the study indicates that many countries will find it extremely difficult to achieve the EU-imposed targets of recycle 50% of household and similar waste by 2020.
We thought that recycling was a modern phenomenon, typical of our time of consumption and growing concern for the environment, but we were wrong. 13,000 years ago, our ancestors were already reusing their tools, as an article published in the Journal of Archaeological Science has just shown.
At the base of each bottle or plastic container there is a triangle formed by three arrows that is nothing more than a simplification of the international recycling symbol (Möbius triangle). Inside the triangle there is a number between 1 and 7, which follows the classification of the American identification system SPI (Society of Plastics Industry), and under it some letters that allow us to recognize at a glance what plastic each is made of. bottle.
A group of Biochemistry students from Yale University (United States) have discovered a fungus, called Pestalotiopsis microspora, which can decompose or degrade plastic. The finding may be a "breakthrough" for the recycling industry, experts say.
If you are lazy to recycle, Newcastle University (United Kingdom) could have an effective solution. It's called "BinCam" and it's a tiny camera placed in the garbage can that takes a photo every time the lid is lifted and uploaded to the Facebook social network. In this way, watch out if you separate the waste (cardboard and paper, beer cans?).
The tons of plastic waste that floods the Pacific Ocean could cease to be a problem if, as the Dutch architectural firm WHIM Architecture claims, they serve to create a habitable artificial island, the Recycled Island.
Danni Büchner is invited to Sam Dylan's Halloween party. But the "Goodbye Germany" emigrant has no desire for many other party guests. And find clear words.
