The best features in recycling

04 Feb 2012
Last updated: 2 weeks ago
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Plastics

Rigid Rules
The UK’s capacity to reprocess rigid mixed plastics was increased (nearly) exponentially earlier this year with the opening of Biffa Polymer’s Redcar facility. Will Simpson learns what happens to the pots, tubs and trays that wind up there

 
All mixed up
The public wants to recycle all varieties of plastic, and WRAP has deemed mixed plastic recycling technically feasible, but what with its limited infrastructure, is the UK ready to open this messy can of worms? Will Simpson finds out

 
Harvesting bioplastics
Plastic – love it or loathe it, there’s no getting away from it in today’s society. Or is there? In recent years, a new crop of materials, similar in technical properties to their traditional counterparts yet completely biodegradable and compostable, has sprung up.

 
The widening gyre
Many of the world’s plastics escape the waste management process and wind up with a second coming in the open ocean – turning into subtropical gyres, falling apart and damaging ecosystems as they do.

 
Bioplastics: broken down
When biodegradable plastic arrived on the scene a few decades ago, it was full of promise. Now, however, this solution is being questioned. As opinion over biodegradable plastics becomes divided, Leon

 
Plastics in the spotlight
Have you ever wondered how optical and laser laser sorters work? Did you get as far as the word 'spectroscopy' and decide it was too complicated? Here, Libby Peake explains the science behind the magi

 
 

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