Paco Industries' discovery has overcome one of the biggest barriers to the repeated recycling of polyethylene terephthalate plastic (PET), which degrades each time it is reprocessed.

It has caught the attention of food giant Arnott's and speciality coffee roaster Pablo & Rusty's, who agreed to use Paco's technology if it can be delivered at scale.

Paco Industries can produce 1000 tonnes of plastic per year at its base at the University of New South Wales, but the start-up is seeking a larger facility and aims to reach between 20,000 and 30,000 tonnes.

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It comes after he successfully convinced consumer goods giant Unilever to take plastic scoops out of its Surf washing powder.

Unilever said the move, due to start in June 2022, would reduce the amount of plastic in circulation by 14.9 tonnes every year.

Now, Nico has sent a letter to Minister of Education Chris Hipkins, along with other ministers with education portfolios, asking them to help put compost bins in every school. Read more

The Chip Packet Project (CPPNZ) was founded in September 2021 during lockdown, and was a spin-off of the UK-based organisation, Crisp Packet Project.

The organisation collects freshly-washed chip packets, or any foil-wrapped food item, before fusing them together with an iron to create a "survival sheet" for Aucklanders in need. Read more

But Bindi Chouhan and her family of seven, who generate less than five rubbish bins worth of waste per year, say that most sustainable things they do on a daily basis are mindless.

The fourth-generation Indian-Zimbabwean grew up in a micro village of extended family members, about 25 people, who lived in three houses next door to one another.

So the biggest shock Chouhan experienced upon moving to New Zealand with her parents and brother in 2003 was an introduction to convenience culture.

"There were a lot of adjustments we needed to make from living in a large family of more than twenty to being just four of us," she said.

"My mum used to cook most of the meals back in Africa, and the biggest thing she needed to readjust was the meal size.

"We would be eating leftovers for days."

In her eyes, there is a clear correlation between wealth and waste.

In Zimbabwe, the whole family ate a plant-based diet, primarily grown by Chouhan's grandmother on the property.

"My parents, grandparents, uncles, aunties and cousins were always making use of everything.

"Nothing was ever just thrown out."

Not having enough food, water, or power were real possibilities - so there was a staunch commitment to making the most of every resource.

If a tool broke, someone would find a way to fix it. If something was no longer useful, it got up or re-cycled.

"The irony is when you come into a first-world country, you think you're progressing in life- but our habits started to go backwards.

"You start imbibing the things that everyone is doing around you (like using plastic bags and ordering takeaways) and without even realising, you start living a life that is against the principles that you grew up with."

Now, Chouhan and her husband share a small cottage on a property in Titirangi, Auckland, that they built themselves.

Chouhan's mum and dad live in the main house with her brother, sister-in-law and their baby. Her mother-in-law also comes to stay for about a week out of every month, as do family friends. The household is always in flux, but always at least a headcount of seven.

Chouhan started work as a sustainability travel coordinator, acting on behalf of Auckland Transport within school communities, as well as a yoga/breathwork teacher.

Yoga is about helping people with their mental garbage, she said, so helping them with their actual garbage felt like a natural extension.

The first goal she set for her household was to reduce their kerbside rubbish bin - from going out fortnightly, to once a month.

Then she brought home a worm farm. This was not well-received, but she persisted.

The family has restarted growing their own food, something Chouhan believes is the simplest way to live a more sustainable life.

Start with herbs and the vegetables you buy the most often, she suggests, and don't do it alone. For renters, that might mean going in on a little benchtop or balcony garden with flatmates or sharing with neighbours.

Chouhan and her mum are experimental cooks. They like to take homegrown taro, curry leaves, spices and bitter gourd and figure out dishes: "This week we used broccoli leaves to make spicy rolls with chickpea flour."

Leftovers went to Chouhan's sister-in-law, who keeps them flush in lemons, limes and other fruits from her trees. Sharing and swapping produce and bulk buying keeps the grocery bills down.

Between the two houses, Chouhan estimates their weekly spend is about $100. That goes on lentils, grains and flour, the few veggies that aren't in the garden, and cheese. Continue reading

Ms Sage said recycling plastics for food containers was part of an effective response to China's National Sword policy that restricted the amount of waste imports it accepted. Read more

In the name of profit and convenience, corporations are literally choking our planet with a substance that does not just "go away" when we toss it into a bin.

Since the 1950s, some 8.3bn tons of plastic have been produced worldwide, and to date, only 9% of that has been recycled.

Our oceans bear the brunt of our plastics epidemic - up to 12.7m tons of plastic end up in them every year.

Just over a decade ago, I launched the Story of Stuff to help shine a light on the ways we produce, use and dispose of the stuff in our lives.

The Story of Stuff is inextricably linked to the story of plastics - the packaging that goes along with those endless purchases.

We buy a soda, sip it for a few minutes, and toss its permanent packaging "away".

We eat potato chips, finish them, then throw their permanent packaging "away".

We buy produce, take it out of the unnecessary plastic wrap, then throw its permanent packaging "away".

The cycle is endless, and it happens countless times every single day.

But here's the catch - there is no "away".

As far as we try to toss a piece of plastic - whether it's into a recycling bin or not - it does not disappear. Chances are, it ends up polluting our communities, oceans or waterways in some form.

For years, we've been conned into thinking the problem of plastic packaging can be solved through better individual action.

We're told that if we simply recycle we're doing our part.

We're told that if we bring reusable bags to the grocery store, we're saving the world.

We think that if we drink from a reusable bottle, we're making enough of a difference. But the truth is that we cannot recycle our way out of this mess.

Recycling alone will never stem the flow of plastics into our oceans; we have to get to the source of the problem and slow down the production of all this plastic waste.

Think about it: if your home was flooding because you had left the faucet on, your first step wouldn't be to start mopping.

You'd first cut the flooding off at its source - the faucet. In many ways, our plastics problem is no different. Continue reading

• Image: Inhabit

A clerical clothing manufacturer has launched the first-ever plastic cassock in a bid to make priestly clothing more eco-friendly. Read more

"It is a lot of detailed work, but with perseverance and patience, anyone can create a nice artwork from the recycled plastics," Anna says.

Sr Anna, who is an Indonesian, moved to Fiji in December 2009 and started making the artworks in March 2010.

She says she is here to make a significant change in rural women's lives by using recycled products and at the same time helping to preserve the environment.

"I believe that it is very important to save the environment and one easy way is through recycling rubbish to products that can be sold to tourists and locals," she said.

"I was alone in the beginning; however, after five years living in Fiji, I am able to convince Fijian women and children that plastic rubbish can be very useful for our daily lives."

"Not only do we keep the area clean, preserve the nature, but we can grow money or some type of earnings for these women to support their families."

"By all means, they gain skills and motivations to be more creative with anything they see around them. It is also to teach them not to be wasteful."

Anna mostly uses biscuit, noodle and chips wrappers because she can find them easily in the area where she lives.

The plastics are cleaned and cut up using a craft scissors.

By folding and sewing with a needle the rubbish is turned into designs and useful objects such as purses and bags.

"Unlike paper cutting, this work of arts has a certain measure to cut and design. One can easily destroy the design if not thought out carefully before cutting.' says Anna.

Sister Anna's community have refurbished their old residence in Nausori as a centre to meet the needs of the poor who are already being ministered to by the Sisters and other helpers from the Parish and St. Vincent de Paul Society.

A number of the Sisters are trained social workers, nurses, teachers, and together with others who support them, the centre provides counselling, special programs and classes, life-skills and general social assistance.

Source

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