blog posts

• Study assesses state-by-state efforts to take on plastic waste

  Oct 1, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Waste360, 9/16/25

  A new report by Ocean Conservancy assessed how states are doing against six benchmarks and scored them based on a five-point scale. The average score was a meager 1.5. Benchmarks included the presence or absence of policies in four areas: 1) single-use plastics, 2) microplastics, 3) reduce and reuse, and 4) producer accountability, as well as access to recycling and recycling rates. Ocean Conservancy went on to recommend what it considers the best of existing policies for improvement, and red-flagged policies it believes are thwarting progress.

• Phthalates in everyday products may fuel breast cancer, new study warns

  Sep 30, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: U.S. Right to Know, 9/5/25

  Common chemicals in plastics, personal care products, and food packaging may drive the onset, growth, and spread of breast cancer—the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in women, new research suggests. The findings, published this month [September 2025] in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, suggest phthalates hijack the body’s hormone systems, activate cancer-promoting genes, and make tumors easier to form. and harder to treat. The study raises new questions about the safety of chemicals that millions of Americans encounter every day in air, food, and water.   

• The chronic risks from single-use plastic water bottles are dangerously understudied, new Concordia research shows

  Sep 29, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Concordia University, 9/9/25

  In a paper published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, Sarah Sajedi and colleagues from Concordia University look at the science around the health risks posed by single-use plastic water bottles. They are serious, Sajedi says, and seriously understudied. In her review of over 140 scientific articles, Sajedi writes that individuals on average ingest between 39,000 and 52,000 microplastic particles per year, and bottled water users consume 90,000 more particles than tap water consumers. Once inside the body, these small plastics can cross biological boundaries, enter the bloodstream and reach vital organs. This can lead to chronic inflammation, oxidative stress on cells, hormonal disruption, impaired reproduction, neurological damage and various kinds of cancer. However, the long-term effects remain poorly understood due to a lack of widespread testing and standardized methods of measurement and detection.

• AI’s ballooning energy consumption puts spotlight on data center efficiency

  Sep 25, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Conversation, 9/3/25

  A Georgia Tech computer engineering professor who specializes in high-performance computing explains how data centers can be designed and managed to reduce their energy use.

• Scientists create biodegradable plastic stronger than PET

  Sep 23, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Kobe University, 9/4/25

  A Japanese research team successfully harnessed E. coli to produce PDCA, a strong, biodegradable plastic alternative. Their method avoids toxic byproducts and achieves record production levels, overcoming key roadblocks with creative fixes. 

• He crossed 26 miles in a kayak made from mushrooms – and lived to tell the tale

  Sep 19, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Guardian, 9/7/25

  Sam Shoemaker’s record-setting voyage shows the promise – and limits – of fungi as a plastic alternative. 

• Slow burn: The vital need for benign flame retardants

  Sep 18, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Chemical & Engineering News, 9/3/25

  Flame retardants slow the spread of fires but they can have serious, unintended human health and environmental impacts. Inadequate toxicity testing and inconsistent regulations make it difficult to keep potentially harmful fire-resisting chemicals out of products. Researchers in industry and academia are trying to develop safer chemistries and working on next-generation biobased flame retardants.

• Banned pesticides found in clouds, sparking new health concerns

  Sep 16, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: U.S. Right to Know, 9/11/25

  Pesticides banned years ago in the European Union are drifting through the skies and turning up in clouds above France, raising concerns about how long these toxins persist and how far they can travel, with potentially harmful global health impacts, according to a pathbreaking new study.  The research, published in Environmental Science & Technology, is the first to detect dozens of agricultural chemicals—including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other substances—suspended in cloud water droplets. That means pesticides not only linger in the environment but also move through the atmosphere and fall back to Earth in rain or snow, sometimes at levels exceeding European safe drinking water limits, the research suggests. 

• Allbirds debuts waste-based shoes

  Sep 12, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Trellis, 8/21/25

  In a footwear first, a new Allbirds’ sneaker features material that has been recycled from polycotton waste. The Remix runners, which retail for $140, are made with lyocell recycled by startup Circ from used polycotton T-shirts and other textiles. The midsoles are recycled from manufacturing-scrap foam by partner Blumaka, and the laces are made of recycled polyester.

• Recycling lithium from old electric vehicle batteries could be done cheaply with new electrochemical process

  Sep 10, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Wisconsin, 8/26/25

  With ever more electric vehicles on the road, regulators and automakers are considering what can be done with the millions of batteries that power EVs after they’re spent. Even when their useful life is over, EV batteries contain valuable lithium that could theoretically be recycled and used in new batteries, but coming up with a cost-effective way to do so is critical. A group of University of Wisconsin–Madison chemists are hopeful they’ve found a solution and they’re already filing patents and courting global carmakers.

• Data centers consume massive amounts of water – companies rarely tell the public exactly how much

  Sep 9, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Conversation, 8/19/25

  University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee researchers analyzed public records, government documents, and sustainability reports compiled by top data center companies and found that technology companies don’t always reveal how much water their data centers use.

• UMaine unveils app to gauge AI’s environmental cost

  Sep 8, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Maine, 8/5/25

  A new app, “What Uses More,” aims to reveal the environmental footprint of tasks completed with artificial intelligence, encouraging users to examine critically the energy and water consumption of their digital activities. 

• New wastewater tech tackles fatbergs at the source

  Sep 4, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: RMIT University via Phys.org, 8/20/25

  A new wastewater treatment system developed by RMIT University researchers could help prevent fatbergs—solid masses of fat, oil and grease (FOG) that clog sewers and cost water utilities globally billions to remove each year. A team from RMIT's Effective Technologies and Tools (WETT) Research Center has developed a solution that combines a redesigned grease interceptor with a smart chemical treatment—more than doubling fat removal rates in commercial kitchen wastewater. The new design features a series of physical barriers, or baffles, inside a grease interceptor to slow wastewater flow and separate larger fat particles. A small dose of alum, a common water treatment chemical, is then added to clump smaller, suspended fats for easy removal.
  
  The research article, "Performance optimization for the removal of fat, oil, and grease from food service establishment wastewater using a novel grease interceptor," is published in ACS ES&T Water.

• A potential ‘green’ alternative to formaldehyde and PFAS in fabric finishing

  Sep 2, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: American Chemical Society, 8/18/25

  More than half of the 7.5 million bales of cotton produced annually in the U.S. will be used in clothing manufacturing. The finishing techniques used to make cotton fabric smooth, water-repellant and resistant to wrinkling can be detrimental to the environment and the wearer. Now, researchers propose a method for using cottonseed oil as a “greener” and safer alternative to formaldehyde and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often called forever chemicals, when finishing cotton fabrics.

  Taylor Kanipe, a graduate student at North Carolina State University (NC State), presented her results at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), held Aug. 17-21.

• Researchers advance effort to turn spent coffee grounds into food packaging

  Aug 21, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Oregon State University, 3/21/25

  Researchers from Oregon State and the Rural Development Administration in South Korea have made a key advance in turning spent coffee grounds into food packaging materials that can extend the shelf life of products. Their findings were published in the Journal of Food Science.
  
  An estimated 60 million tons of spent coffee grounds are generated worldwide annually. Most end up in landfills and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas. That has led researchers to study other uses for coffee grounds, such as incorporating them into biofuels, cosmetics, catalysts and composite materials, including concrete, and now food packaging materials. The researchers believe coffee grounds could be used to make different food packages, including sheets between sliced cheese, pads underneath fresh meat and pads in clamshell containers used to package strawberries.

• Exposure to PFAS, ‘forever chemicals’, linked to increased type 2 diabetes risk

  Aug 20, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Medical News Today, 7/24/25

  Vishal Midya is the corresponding author of a new study recently published in the journal eBioMedicine that found exposure to a class of synthetic chemicals called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)Trusted Source — also known as "forever chemicals" — may increase a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

• New research uncovers gene impacts of PFAS exposure in firefighters

  Aug 19, 2025 9:00 am

  Medical Express, 7/25/25

  Researchers at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health found that certain kinds of long-lasting chemicals firefighters are exposed to may affect the activity of genes linked to cancer and other diseases. The findings appear in the journal Environmental Research. The study is among the first to connect common industrial chemicals called PFAS—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—to changes in microRNAs, or miRNAs, which are molecules that act as guardrails to help control gene expression.

• Researchers at Notre Dame detect ‘forever chemicals’ in reusable feminine hygiene products

  Aug 18, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Notre Dame, 7/22/25

  The results of a study conducted by researchers from Notre Dame and Indiana University focusing on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in reusable feminine hygiene products have been published in Environmental Science & Technology.  Most of the samples contained PFAS concentrations low enough to be characterized by study authors as "non-intentionally fluorinated." But period underwear (33 percent) and reusable pads (25 percent) had the greatest rates of "intentional fluorination." 

• From masterpieces to makeup: eco-friendly art conservation gentle enough for human skin

  Aug 11, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Horizon Magazine, 7/1/25

  Green art conservation methods developed by EU-funded researchers are setting new standards and proving useful far beyond museums, from cosmetics to agriculture. 

• Pollution solution with a pinch of clay

  Aug 7, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Cambridge, 7/28/25

  A low-cost material made from clay and vitamin B2 could one day help clean up pollution using only sunlight. Developed by researchers in the University of Cambridge Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CEB), the new material – Flaponite – combines a clay base with compounds derived from vitamin B2, also known as riboflavin, to create a sustainable photocatalyst. It’s affordable, recyclable, and designed to work in water under visible light – offering a promising new approach to breaking down environmental pollutants without harsh chemicals or high energy use. The study demonstrates how the material can break down model pollutants in lab conditions – a crucial first step in developing real-world water purification or green chemical processing technologies. 

• Long-term exposure to outdoor air pollution linked to increased risk of dementia

  Aug 6, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Cambridge, 7/27/25

  An analysis of studies incorporating data from almost 30 million people has highlighted the role that air pollution – including that coming from car exhaust emissions – plays in increased risk of dementia...In a paper published in The Lancet Planetary Health, a team led by researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing scientific literature to examine this link further. This approach allowed them to bring together studies that on their own may not provide sufficient evidence, and which sometimes disagree with each other, to provide more robust overarching conclusions. In total, the researchers included 51 studies, including data from more than 29 million participants who had been exposed to air pollutants for at least one year, mostly from high-income countries. Of these, 34 papers were included in the meta-analysis: 15 originated in North America, 10 in Europe, seven in Asia, and two in Australia. The researchers found a positive and statistically-significant association between 3 types of air pollutant and dementia.

• How Ben & Jerry’s is recycling food waste into energy

  Aug 5, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: PBS News Hour, 7/28/25

  It may sound like the stuff of sci-fi movies, but diverting food waste from the landfill and converting it into electricity has become a real thing. William Brangham visited Ben & Jerry's Vermont ice cream factory and the operations next door to find out how it works.

• Indoor air contains thousands of microplastics small enough to penetrate deep into our lungs, study finds

  Aug 4, 2025 9:00 am

  CNN, 7/30/25

  Thousands of microplastics so small they can penetrate deep into the lungs are in the air you breathe in your home and car, a new study has found.
  
  The particles are likely the result of the degradation of plastic-filled objects such as carpet, curtains, furniture and textiles and the plastic parts of car interiors, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.

• Canadian researchers harness genetic mushroom variations to create packaging material

  Jul 31, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Packaging Insights, 6/11/25

  Researchers at McMaster University in Canada have cultivated a mushroom species that can be used to produce a biodegradable material suitable for use in packaging.

• This Illinois startup turns steel and aluminum waste into usable metals

  Jul 28, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Canary Media, 6/9/25

  Chicago-area Sun Metalon removes gunk and grime from metal slivers normally thrown away, helping to reduce emissions from aluminum and steel production.

• Microplastic contamination detected in milk and cheese raises food safety concerns

  Jul 25, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: AZO Cleantech, 7/18/25

  A recent study, published in npj Science of Food, investigated microplastic contamination in milk, fresh cheese, and ripened cheese, providing one of the most detailed assessments yet of plastics in dairy products. The research team used advanced spectroscopic techniques to analyze the size, shape, colour, and concentration of microplastics in these widely consumed foods. 

• Microplastics can cause malignant changes in lung cells

  Jul 24, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Medical University of Vienna, 7/15/25

  Although the respiratory system is one of the main entry points for microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) from the air into the body, little is known about the effects of these tiny particles on the lungs. Researchers at MedUni Vienna have now demonstrated for the first time that MNPs can trigger malignant changes in lung cells that are associated with the development of cancer. The findings were published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials and once again underline the urgent need for action to reduce plastic waste.

• New cooling tech could curb data centers’ rising energy demands

  Jul 23, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of California San Diego, 6/13/25

  As artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing continue to expand, the demand for data processing—and the heat it generates—is skyrocketing. Currently, cooling accounts for up to 40% of a data center’s total energy use. If trends continue, global energy use for cooling could more than double by 2030. Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new cooling technology that could significantly improve the energy efficiency of data centers and high-powered electronics. The technology features a specially engineered fiber membrane that passively removes heat through evaporation. It offers a promising alternative to traditional cooling systems like fans, heat sinks and liquid pumps. It could also reduce the water use associated with many current cooling systems.

  The advance is detailed in a paper published on June 13 in the journal Joule.

• Golden opportunity to reduce toxic waste

  Jul 10, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Flinders University, 6/27/25

  A major discovery by an interdisciplinary team of experts in green chemistry, engineering and physics at Flinders University in Australia has found a safer and more sustainable approach to extract and recover gold from ore and electronic waste. The glistening gold-extraction technique, unveiled in the leading global journal Nature Sustainability, promises to reduce levels of toxic waste from mining and shows that high purity gold can be recovered from recycling valuable components in printed circuit boards in discarded computers. 

  The new process uses a low-cost and benign compound to extract the gold. This reagent (trichloroisocyanuric acid) is widely used in water sanitation and disinfection. When activated by salt water, the reagent can dissolve gold. Next, the gold can be selectively bound to a novel sulfur-rich polymer developed by the Flinders team. The selectivity of the polymer allows gold recovery even in highly complex mixtures. The gold can then be recovered by triggering the polymer to “un-make” itself and convert back to monomer. This allows the gold to be recovered and the polymer to be recycled and reused.

• Biobased lignin gels offer sustainable alternative for hair conditioning

  Jun 26, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Stockholm University, 2/21/25

  Hair conditioners typically contain 20–30 ingredients, many derived from petroleum and oleochemicals, raising concerns about sustainability and environmental impact. A new study published in Science Advances, demonstrates that micellar lignin gels can effectively stabilize emulsions with natural oils, reducing the need for synthetic surfactants and complex stabilizers commonly used in commercial formulations. The research team, led by Mika Sipponen at Stockholm University, sought to explore lignin, a common and renewable component in wood biomass, as a multifunctional component for hair conditioning.

• Recycled cements drive down emissions without slacking on strength

  Jun 25, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Princeton University, 3/18/25

  Giving a second life to construction materials after demolition, engineers at the University of São Paulo and Princeton have developed an approach for recycling cement waste into a sustainable, low-carbon alternative that is comparable in performance to the industry standard. In addition to lowering the carbon intensity of the cement and concrete industry, the process could enable new uses for construction and demolition waste, of which concrete is a significant component. In 2018 in the United States, the total amount of construction and demolition waste was more than twice that of household waste. In their paper, published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, the researchers demonstrated that mixtures containing up to 80% of this recycled cement were just as strong as conventional Portland cement by itself while generating a fraction of the carbon emissions.

• PFAS could be replaced with safe graphene oxide solution

  Jun 20, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Northwestern University, 5/29/25

  Current food packaging often relies on plastics and toxic PFAS coatings, which pose environmental and health risks and are difficult to recycle or compost. Current food packaging often relies on plastics and toxic PFAS coatings, which pose environmental and health risks and are difficult to recycle or compost. This innovation offers a scalable, sustainable alternative to harmful materials, enabling safer, stronger, and more eco-friendly food packaging that meets growing regulatory and consumer demands.

• Industry’s Path to a Greener Future: A Perspective on Current Sustainable Practices and Areas of Opportunity

  Jun 19, 2025 9:00 am

  Lozano-Onrubia, G., Castillo-Pazos, D. J., Grieger, K., Wheeler, M., Grignon, E., Pazoki, F., Gallenstein, R., Castilla-Acevedo, S. F., Fan, F., Musa, E. N., Beena, N. C., Ahuja, H., Popoola, O., Battaglia, A. M., Kaur, G., Alahakoon, I., Chipangura, Y. E., Aransiola, E., Moumbogno Tchodimo, F. C., … Moores, A. (2025). Industry’s Path to a Greener Future: A Perspective on Current Sustainable Practices and Areas of Opportunity. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 13(19), 6849–6874. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.5c00741

  Abstract: Chemistry is directly and indirectly related to some of the most polluting industries, making it exceptionally critical for chemists to act and develop novel solutions toward more sustainable industrial practices. In this perspective, participants of the 2023 ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry & Sustainable Energy describe state-of-the-art developments that the chemical industry has spearheaded to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contribute toward achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Herein, we illustrate a variety of methods that the chemical industry has employed, ranging from technological factors, such as using catalysis, implementing AI to reduce energy-intensive processes, and developing carbon capture technology and sustainable fuels, to socioeconomic factors─incorporating circularity, society targeted innovation and education, and developing successful collaborations between the private and public sectors. This perspective aims to trigger discussions and highlight how multifaceted approaches are necessary to support the transition to a greener industrial sector.

• Plant-based plastics could help reduce the millions of tonnes of medical waste hospitals generate each year

  Jun 4, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Conversation, 3/13/25

  There’s a growing push to find eco-friendly alternatives to traditional plastics. Bioplastics, such polylactic acid (PLA), may be promising alternatives to the plastics used in medical products.

• Behind Keurig’s bid to make coffee pods without plastic

  Jun 2, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Trellis, 4/30/25

  Years of persistence and experimentation led to a biodegradable coffee pod that improves brewing performance. Keurig Dr Pepper backed the innovation once it proved both sustainable and appealing to consumers. Collaborating with customers and potential competitors were key for development.

• Breakthrough in fuel cell recycling turns ‘forever chemicals’ into renewable resources

  May 29, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Leicester, 5/2/25

  A new technique that uses soundwaves to separate materials for recycling could help prevent potentially harmful chemicals leaching into the environment.  Researchers at the University of Leicester have achieved a major milestone in fuel cell recycling, advancing techniques to efficiently separate valuable catalyst materials and fluorinated polymer membranes (PFAS) from catalyst-coated membranes (CCMs). 

• Stained, warped and terroir rich: the global and shockingly sustainable lives of wine barrels

  May 23, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Guardian, 5/12/25

  In the alcohol industry, when ageing liquor can easily take decades, the vessels that house them can also become more covetable over the years. In an age of disposable materials and dire news of plastics polluting our environment, reused wooden barrels exist in stark contrast. The lives of barrels are long, shockingly sustainable and currently imperiled by trade war.

• Universities turn to My Green Lab to cut energy, waste in research facilities

  May 22, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: E+E Leader, 4/22/25

  Laboratories are hubs of scientific discovery—but they are also resource-intensive spaces, consuming as much as 10 times more electricity and four times more water than typical academic buildings, according to Georgia Tech. With nearly 900,000 square feet of lab space on campus, the university faced a challenge shared by many research institutions: how to reconcile innovation with environmental responsibility.

• Cancer-causing chemicals are in many beauty products women use, a study finds

  May 16, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: NPR, 5/8/25

  More than half of Black and Latina women in Los Angeles who participated in a new study regularly used personal-care products containing a known carcinogen. Study participants photographed the ingredient lists of all the products they used at home over the course of a week. The journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters published the study Wednesday.

  Of 64 women, researchers found that 53% reported using soap, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, skin lightener, eyeliner, eyelash glue and other beauty products that contained formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives — toxins found to cause cancer in humans.

• Ultrasound unlocks a safer, greener way to make hydrogels

  May 14, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: McGill University, 5/8/25

  Researchers at McGill University, in collaboration with Polytechnique Montréal, pioneered a new way to create hydrogels using ultrasound, eliminating the need for toxic chemical initiators. This breakthrough offers a faster, cleaner and more sustainable approach to hydrogel fabrication, and produces hydrogels that are stronger, more flexible and highly resistant to freezing and dehydration. The new method also promises to facilitate advances in tissue engineering, bioadhesives and 3D bioprinting. Hydrogels are gels composed of polymers that can absorb and retain large amounts of water.  They are widely used in wound dressings, drug delivery, tissue engineering, soft robotics, soft contact lenses and more. 

• Scientists create tiny, water-based reactors for green chemistry

  Feb 20, 2025 3:15 pm

  Source: Rice University, 2/10/25

  Researchers at Rice University have developed a new method for performing chemical reactions using water instead of toxic solvents. The scientists created microscopic reactors capable of driving light-powered chemical processes by designing metal complex surfactants (MeCSs) that self-assemble into nanoscale spheres called micelles. This innovation could drastically reduce pollution in industries including pharmaceuticals and materials science, where harmful organic solvents are often necessary. 

• New water purification technology helps turn seawater into drinking water without tons of chemicals

  Feb 7, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Michigan, 1/20/25
  
  Water desalination plants could replace expensive chemicals with new carbon cloth electrodes that remove boron from seawater, an important step of turning seawater into safe drinking water. A study describing the new technology has been published in Nature Water by engineers at the University of Michigan and Rice University.