There is more and more to do on making better use of plastic waste. The plastic issue has been stressed several times by many governments, public agencies, businesses and academics. The concern over plastic waste resulted in plastic roadmaps and plastic pacts that aim to establish a circular plastic economy in different regions. Though, what is much needed to tackle this kind of issue, is the kind of entrepreneurship that uses creativity that kindles innovation for a circular economy. Currently, one of the main issues with regards to plastic waste in Europe is finding application for the use of residual ‘mix plastic’ waste stream. Where mono streams of plastic waste are often successfully recycled, resulting in valuable circular resources, the fraction that remains after sorting, referred to as mix plastic, is left without purpose and is often incinerated. When scrutinizing the issue of valuable use of mix plastic waste, two perspectives are being used in this case study. First of all we map the material flow of plastic waste streams. Although a high level analysis gives an idea of the magnitude of the problem, it is not fit to understand regional situations. Local analysis are needed to identify valuable use of waste and understand where incineration can be prevented. Secondly, circular strategies and end-of-life solutions for putting waste to valuable use are identified and studied. To this end, the business model and operational process of the Green Plastic Factory are scrutinized. In this paper we present the case of the Green Plastic Factory, a production plant to foster the local circular economy. This factory concept can be put into use on a local scale. The Green Plastic Factory adopts a technology referred to as intrusion-extrusion moulding (IEM), which combines the extrusion process with shaping material in a mould: intrusion. This IEM factory set-up can handle high contaminations that are typical for low quality mix plastic. In this way the Green Plastic Factory provides solutions to left-over waste streams, which are typical for household waste.
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Circularity and recycling are gaining increased attention, yet the amount of recycled plastic applied in new products remains low. To accelerate its uptake by businesses, it will be useful to empirically investigate the barriers, enablers, needs and, ultimately, requirements to increase uptake of recycled plastic feedstock for the production of new plastic products. During the six focus group sessions we conducted, a value chain approach was used to map the factors that actors face regarding the implementation of recycled materials. The identified factors were structured based on three levels: determining whether a certain factor acted as a barrier or enabler, identifying the steps in the value chain that the factor directly affected and the category it could be subdivided into. The results were then further processed by translating the (rather abstract) needs of businesses into (specific) requirements from industry. This study presented eight business requirements that require actions from other actors in the value chain: design for recycling, optimised waste processing, standardisation, material knowledge, showing possibilities, information and education, cooperation, and regulation and government intervention. The main scientific contributions were the value chain perspective and the applied relevance of the findings. Future studies may delve deeper into the individual factors identified.
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The escalating plastic waste crisis has increased the need for sustainable alternatives. Biodegradable plastics have emerged as a promising solution and are now frequently encountered at crime scenes. Although many studies have been published on the development of fingermarks on conventional plastics, limited research has been conducted on them on bioplastics. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of various fingermark development techniques on biodegradable (d2w) plastic garbage bags compared to traditional (Dumil) plastic garbage bags. Fingermarks were deposited on one of the two types of plastics and developed with one of the following methods: magnetic powder (MP), wet powder (WP), cyanoacrylate fuming (CAF) with Basic Yellow 40, or Vacuum Metal Deposition (VMD). After deposition, fingermarks were left to age for eight different time periods upon development, ranging from fresh (24 h) up to 50 days (about 1 and a half months). Results demonstrated that high-quality fingermarks could be obtained using wet powder and cyanoacrylate fuming, specifically on biodegradable plastics. The effectiveness of magnetic powder on both types of plastic declined over time, while vacuum metal deposition showed inconsistent results. Overall, in this study, fingermarks on biodegradable plastics exhibited more ridge detail than those on traditional plastics. The inability to achieve uniform zinc evaporation during vacuum metal deposition development may explain the differences in fingermark development between the plastic types. This research underscores the need for forensic methodologies for biodegradable plastics to ensure reliable evidence collection in criminal investigations. Further studies are essential to enhance fingermark development techniques for these emerging materials.
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Processes have been developed to integrate CIGS solar foils directly in plastic or composite based products. Using injection moulding and vacuum forming it turned out that mechanical stress is applied to the solar foil upon cooling. Using intermediate stress relief layers such as polyolefin this could be reduced considerably. The high temperatures needed in injection moulding have only a minimal effect on the performance of the solar cells. Making curved products is possible with the solar foils, leading to new markets for solar energy. Outdoor performance is attractive, but indoors only applications that require little power are feasible.
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Circularity and recycling are gaining increased attention, yet the amount of recycled plastic applied in new products remains low. To accelerate uptake by businesses, it will be useful to empirically investigate the main barriers and enablers that organisations experience when using recycled plastic feedstock for the production of new plastic products. In this research, categorisation is threefold: determining whether a certain factor acts as a barrier, enabler or both; identifying the steps in the value chain which the factor directly affects; and a categorisation in regulatory, economic, technical, systemic, organisational and cultural factors. Results from the focus group sessions show that main barriers seem to be: lack of clear policies and (stimulating) regulations, price differences between virgin and recycle materials, lower material quality and uncertainties about quality, availability and reliable stream of recyclate (from sufficient quality), lack of shortterm organisational goals, lack of knowledge, and lack of consumer demand and willingness. Comparing the results from a micro- and meso scale perspective, some factors are more important for certain steps in the value chain but may also (indirectly) influence the activities of others. Other factors affect all steps of the value chain. Moreover, the relevance of a factor may differ per actor depending on its positioning in the value chain and context, which comes along with uncertainties in industry. Further research may focus on extending literature review and address the needs of industry in order to increase uptake of recycled feedstock in new products.
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In human-controlled environments, areas of wild plants are 'translated' into cultivated landscapes to accommodate social, cultural and economic needs. This article explores indoor, agricultural and (sub)urban landscape in the Netherlands, focusing on the use of plants both indoors and outdoors, and reveals anthropocentric, instrumental and unsustainable practices. The article also presents suggestions for alternative, more ethical and sustainable ways of relating to plants in the Netherlands and beyond. https://www.ecologicalcitizen.net/article.php?t=wilderness-plastic-plants-how-might-get-back-wildness https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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In human-controlled environments and in cultivated landscapes, the plants accommodate social, cultural and economic needs. This article will focus on the use of plants for agriculture, urban planning, forestry, environmental education and indoor decoration in The Netherlands. This exploration, based on literature review and observations, reveals mostly anthropocentric, instrumental and unsustainable practices. In urban landscapes, plants are pushed to the margins, if not entirely eradicated. This article shows that the moral recognition of plants is an ethical imperative, which is also critically important in order to achieve environmental sustainability. In line with ecocentric ethics and in the interest of long-term sustainability, this article suggests an alternative, more ethical and sustainable ways of relating to plants in The Netherlands and beyond. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in "Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability" on 10/11/18 available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/17549175.2018.1527780 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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In human-controlled environments and in cultivated landscapes, the plants accommodate social, cultural and economic needs. This article will focus on the use of plants for agriculture, urban planning, forestry, environmental education and indoor decoration in The Netherlands. This exploration, based on literature review and observations, reveals mostly anthropocentric, instrumental and unsustainable practices. In urban landscapes plants are pushed to the margins, if not entirely eradicated. This article shows that moral recognition of plants is an ethical imperative, which is also critically important to achieve environmental sustainability. In line with ecocentric ethics and in the interest of long-term sustainability, this article suggests alternative, more ethical and sustainable ways of relating to plants in The Netherlands and beyond. This is the Author’s Original Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, on October 2018, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17549175.2018.1527780 https://doi.org/10.1080/17549175.2018.1527780
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Worldwide, plastic cups are used for serving drinks. Some typical examples of large-scale consumption are large concerts and festivals. As a part of the BIOCAS project, which focusses on the valorization of biomass through various routes, a PHA biobased festival cup was developed and created to reduce the impact of current fossil plastics. The role of VHL was to assess the environmental impact. The aim of the report is to inform the BIOCAS-partners about the use of plastic cups, and address the environmental impact in comparison with other types of biobased plastic cups and fossil-based cups. This report can serve as a basis for making choices within all different types of (plastic/biobased) cups. Besides, it can be used as a public communication tool about the environmental impact of different types of (plastic/biobased) cup applications.
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Nieuwe materialen zijn gemaakt door plastic van biologische oorsprong te mengen met textielafval. Dit nieuwe materiaal is recyclebaar en biologisch afbreekbaar. Het is CO2 neutraal, vermindert de afvalstroom en draagt niet bij aan de uitputting van de voorraad fossiele grondstoffen. De textielvezels versterken het plastic en verlagen de kostprijs. Door de unieke eigenschappen kunnen van het materiaal designproducten gemaakt worden die niet alleen duurzaam zijn, maar ook een geheel eigen uitstraling hebben.
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