We’ve got a huge plastic problem and drinking straws play no small part. Startup FinalStraw is on a mission to limit our use of these single-use strands of plastic, offering a reusable alternative that packs down into a case not much bigger than a cigarette lighter.
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Other than water, concrete is the most widely used material on the planet so it's unsurprising that scientists are working to make it safer and stronger. A team recently discovered a technique that uses irradiated plastic bottles to make a new concrete up to 20 percent stronger.
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You might think that the uninhabited Henderson Island sitting in the middle of the Pacific would be relatively pristine. Here scientists have found a nasty surprise, however, discovering the highest density of plastic waste to be reported anywhere on the planet.
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The Ocean Cleanup is due to begin clearing up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 2020. To get a better idea of what will be required, the Dutch foundation last year went for a close up look. It's now begun sizing up the task from the air and initial findings are that it's worse than thought.
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Ford has teamed with tequila producer Jose Cuervo to create car parts out of bioplastics made from the byproduct of tequila making. Researchers are testing the durability and heat resistance of the resulting plastics as a sustainable way to make car parts.
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A US footwear startup is selling new shoes that aren't new at all. Like the Adidas x Parley, Rothy's shoes are knitted using yarn made from recycled plastic bottles. They also boast carbon-free outsoles, insoles and packaging that are recycled and can be fully recycled when no longer needed.
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A breakthrough manufacturing method, using a technique known as nanoimprint lithography, has been devised that creates high-performance transistors with wireless capabilities on rolls of common, flexible plastic.
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Wood has pretty much been the material of choice for making acoustic instruments for many years, but the rise of 3D printing in recent times has brought us a number of instruments fashioned from plastic. 3DLI has created what's believed to be the world's first fully working 3D-printed sitar.
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Recycling programs have helped to reduce the amount of plastic waste making its way into landfills and the world's oceans, but a two-man team from France is providing a more direct approach. Their Plastic Bottle Cutter us a simple tool that lets plastic bottles be repurposed into something useful.
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In what could form the basis of petroleum-free plastics that are both entirely recyclable and biodegradable, chemists have found a polymer that can be synthesized into useful materials and then broken down into its original building blocks to be given a new life.
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