LEGO has announced it will pay out of pocket to increase the amount of recycled plastic in its bricks to 50% by 2026. Estimated to increase the production costs by around 70%, the company’s CEO stated its bottom line will bear the burden as it hopes continued investment by LEGO will…
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An innovative chemical procedure turns ubiquitous waste plastic items in our society into hydrocarbon building blocks for use in making new plastics. The scientists behind the project explained that the process works “equally well” with the two dominant types of consumer plastic waste: polyethylene, the component of most single-use plastic bags;…
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Researchers in Zurich have found a way to potentially transform chocolate manufacturing by using the husk and the flesh of the cocoa bean pod to create a sugary syrup. Clearing two hurdles in one jump, it would allow chocolatiers to remove sugar from the process, and reduce the immense amount of…
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An Australian startup has created the world’s first mobile brick factory that pulverizes rubble from ruined buildings and presses them into LEGO-like bricks. Idealized as the ultimate in long-term housing solutions for disaster areas, locals who need shelter can place the rubble from their ruined homes inside the machine and within…
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A man in Taiwan is helping reduce fashion waste by creating a sustainable alternative to artificial textiles from an already existing waste stream. He’s using oyster shells—which when ground up and processed can produce a flexible yarn similar to sheep’s wool that’s been appropriately dubbed “sea wool.” According to the Taiwanese…
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Rising sea levels and coastal erosion are threatening farmers on America’s mid-Atlantic coast, but a crop from colonial times may be the future harvest in places like Delaware and New Jersey. The issue is that more and more mid-Atlantic farmland is becoming inundated with salt making crops like corn and soy…
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Businesses like to talk about the concept of a closed loop or circular economy, but often they’re trying to close small loops. Releaf Paper takes dead leaves from city trees and turns them into paper for bags, office supplies, and more—which is to say they are striving to close one heck…
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