Year: 2024

Crisp packets, bread bags and yoghurt tops to get a new life as furniture for NHS gardens

Stuart Mitchell

Thousands of pieces of soft plastics, such as bread bags and crisp packets, dropped off by customers at Tesco stores are to get a new lease of life as outdoor furniture and garden equipment in a series of community gardens being designed for NHS Property Services.  Veolia has introduced an innovative recycling process that can turn soft plastic, which previously was difficult to recycle, into items such as benches, decking, tables and raised beds. The recycled gardening products will be donated to the NHSPS Social Prescribing Programme to introduce nature…

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US and UK collaborating to research misinformation campaigns

Stuart Mitchell

The joint US-UK Bilateral Academic Research Initiative (BARI) social science programme has announced its first funded research project. The awarded project is ‘Influence, Manipulation and Information Threats as Adversarial Techniques: Events, Evolution and Effects (IMITATE3)’. It is led by Professor Jacob Shapiro at Princeton University for the US and Professor Martin Innes at Cardiff University for the UK. Over the three-year course of the project, the US research team will receive up to $3 million of US Department of Defense (DoD) funding from the Minerva Research Initiative. The UK research…

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Hub will pioneer use of digital twins to decarbonise transport

Stuart Mitchell

A new research hub will lead the use of digital twins in determining how transport systems can be decarbonised as quickly, safely and cheaply as possible. The TransiT Hub, led by Heriot-Watt University and the University of Glasgow, is supported by a £46 million investment from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and 67 partners. Digital replicas It will use digital twins, digital replicas of the physical world that collect data in real time by sensors connected to infrastructure such as roads, railways or shipping. This means real-world…

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Victory for clean air as D.C. Circuit refuses to block stricter standards for hazardous air emissions from power plants

Stuart Mitchell

In a significant win for public health and the environment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has denied attempts to delay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) stricter regulations for hazardous air pollutants, including mercury, from existing coal-fired power plants. The decision comes after industry and state challengers filed motions to stay implementation of the standards while the court heard challenges to the rule. “Hazardous air pollutants like mercury, arsenic, and nickel present serious threats to public health and the environment, especially in frontline communities,” said Hayden…

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CARBIOS and FCC Environment announce joint project to establish UK-based PET biorecycling facility

Stuart Mitchell

CARBIOS, (Euronext Growth Paris : ALCRB), a pioneer in the development and industrialization of biological technologies to reinvent the life cycle of plastic and textiles, and FCC Environment UK (“FCC”), one of the UK’s leading recycling and waste management companies, have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to jointly study the implementation of a UK-based plant using CARBIOS’ PET biorecycling licensed technology.  CARBIOS’ biorecycling technology is key to supporting FCC’s continuing goal of contributing to the circular economy by exploring new processes and technologies to produce recycled PET (r-PET) from PET plastic and…

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