Recycling

Food additives called emulsifiers are widely used to combine two liquids which ordinarily don't mix, like oil and water. And while most are made from dairy proteins or egg yolks, a new one uses spent brewer's grain which may otherwise be discarded.

Concrete is the most widely used building material in the world, but it comes at a huge environmental cost. Engineers in Japan have developed a new technique to make concrete by recycling waste concrete and combining it with captured carbon dioxide.

E-waste is a major environmental hazard, full of valuable metals. Engineers at Rice University have now shown that precious metals and rare earth minerals can be recovered by flash-heating ground-up electronics with a zap of electricity.

The lithium-ion batteries at the heart of our transport future don't last forever, and researchers expect a massive influx of depleted units in the coming decade. A new breakthrough, however, could streamline our efforts to recycle them.

The James Dyson Award is an international competition to encourage students to get creative to solve the world's pressing problems. The national finalists have been announced for 2021, showcasing ideas that help people and the environment.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new robotic system that automatically disassembles spent electric vehicle batteries with great efficiency and safety, making them easier to recycle.

Although stand-up paddleboards are eco-friendly to use, they're typically made of not-so-green substances. German scientists are trying to change that, with a board made of sustainable materials – obtained partially from old wind turbine blades.

In reality, the inherent difficulties of recycling electronic devices creates many millions of tons of electronic waste each year, but new research shows how we might chip away at this problem by having key components dissolve in water.

Composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, gypsum is a naturally occurring mineral used in building materials. Scientists have now devised a method of creating synthetic gypsum, which should be more energy efficient than processing the genuine article.

Along with their batteries, many electric cars now utilize supercapacitors for tasks such as quickly delivering power while accelerating. Thanks to new research, a key component of such devices could soon be made from waste tamarind shells.

Orange peels certainly are compostable, but Milan-based startup Krill Design has come up with an interesting alternative use for them. The company is incorporating orange waste into its 3D-printed Ohmie lamp, which is currently on Kickstarter.

While electric vehicles are greener than their fuel-burning counterparts, their battery packs still aren't as recyclable as they could be. A new process could help, by more efficiently extracting reusable materials from old lithium-ion batteries.