Sustainability in the News

Source: Associated Press, 2/5/26

In February 2026 Malaysia announced 'an immediate and full ban on the importation of electronic waste, as the government vowed the country would not be a “dumping ground” for the world’s waste. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said in a statement late Wednesday that all electronic waste, commonly known as e-waste, would be reclassified under the “absolute prohibition” category effective immediately. This removes the discretionary power previously given to the Department of Environment to grant exemptions for importation of certain e-waste.'

Source: Phys.org, 1/27/26

'Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists have developed a patented breakthrough system that marks a major step forward in insect biomanufacturing, waste reduction and sustainable protein production. The new "Black Soldier Fly Billet" was developed in the lab of Jeffery Tomberlin, Ph.D., a Texas A&M AgriLife Research Fellow, professor in the Texas A&M Department of Entomology and director of the Center for Insect Biomanufacturing and Innovation. It represents the first reliable method for long-term, room-temperature storage of young black soldier fly larvae...Each billet is a pint-sized container engineered with layers of fermented feed, newborn larvae and a dry food "blanket," sealed with a breathable lid that maintains consistent moisture and temperature. The system preserves larval viability far beyond the two-to-four-day window typical under conventional rearing methods. Once opened and emptied onto organic waste, Tomberlin said each unit can generate up to more than 3 pounds of harvestable larvae in as little as seven to 10 days.'

Source: Forbes, 1/17/26

'Switching to a circular electric vehicle (EV) battery economy is essential to meet growing demand and avoid a critical bottleneck in the supply of key minerals, according to a new analysis.

The report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation warns a bottleneck could threaten higher and volatile prices, which in turn could lead to a slower uptake of such vehicles.

It argues only a practical, system-wide circular economy approach can keep pace with market appetite, build resilience in the supply chains, and deliver better value.'

Source: Recycling Today, 12/22/25

'German biotechnology company Bioweg, in partnership with Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin), has secured 1.5 million euros, or $1.76 million, from SPRIND, Germany’s Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation, as part of the Tech Metal Transformation Challenge. The funding will support the development of Bioweg’s platform technology for water-based rare earth element (REE) recovery...The platform technology combines Bioweg's expertise in bioacid production from waste streams for bioleaching with TU Berlin's peptide-based separation technology using column systems. The process operates in water at ambient temperature, applying green-chemistry bioleaching without the use of solvents or high heat, according to a news release Bioweg issues about the grant award. The bio-based acids are generated as a secondary output of Bioweg's fermentation platform, requiring no additional downstream processing, resulting in a low-energy process with a reduced overall CO₂ footprint.' 

Source: Phys.org, 12/17/25

In a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, researchers led by Takuzo Aida at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) in Japan report a new type of plastic made from plant cellulose, the world's most abundant organic compound. The new plastic is strong, flexible, and capable of rapid decomposition in natural environments, setting it apart from other plastics marketed as biodegradable. 

Source: Rutgers University, 11/26/25

Yuwei Gu, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, was hiking through Bear Mountain State Park in New York when inspiration struck.  If nature can build polymers that serve their purpose and then disappear, Gu reasoned, perhaps human-made plastics could be made to do the same. Gu already knew that natural polymers contain tiny helper groups built into their structure that make chemical bonds easier to break when the time is right.  In a study published in Nature Chemistry, Gu and a team of Rutgers scientists have shown that by borrowing this principle from nature, they can create plastics that break down under everyday conditions without heat or harsh chemicals. 

Source: Live Science, 12/8/25

Scientists have converted waste cooking oil into various recyclable plastics with exceptional strength — and some were even durable enough to tow a car. Turning nonedible waste into useful polymers is a sustainable way to create new materials, the researchers said in a new study published Nov. 28 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Source: The Guardian, 12/3/25

The 66m tonnes of pollution from plastic packaging that enters the global environment each year could be almost eliminated by 2040 primarily by reuse and return schemes, significant new research reveals.

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.

Source: The Guardian, 9/7/25

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

Source: University of Dundee, 8/11/25

Arbikie Distillery has partnered with Dr Dongyang Sun, Edinburgh Napier University, and Dr. Wenbin Zhou, University of Dundee, to use mycelium, the root structure of fungi, and distillery by-products like spent grain to create durable, lightweight packaging. The material created is impact-resistant, fire-retardant, and fully compostable, offering an eco-friendly alternative to plastic. Over the next 10 months, the project team will focus on proof of concept, testing the material, and the design. Funded by Scotland Beyond Net Zero – a coalition of leading climate and sustainability experts from Scotland's universities – this project is one of 11 new research collaborations aimed at accelerating Scotland's transition to net zero. Each project involves cross-sector collaborations to address sustainability challenges in energy, finance, food, the built environment, natural systems, and transport.

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.

Source: PV Tech, 8/4/25

US solar PV recycling firm, Solarcycle, has produced a pilot module using 50% recycled glass from other decommissioned panels, which it says matches the performance of entirely new products. The company said that the "mini module", developed in partnership with Arizona State University's (ASU) Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, marks "a critical step toward a closed-loop solar manufacturing process."

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.

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.

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.

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.

Source: MIT, 5/21/25

We’ve all felt the sting of guilt when fruit and vegetables go bad before we could eat them. Now, researchers from MIT and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) have shown they can extend the shelf life of harvested plants by injecting them with melatonin using biodegradable microneedles. Refrigeration is the most common way to preserve foods, but it requires energy and infrastructure that many regions of the world can’t afford or lack access to. The researchers believe their system could offer an alternative or complement to refrigeration. For the open access version of their paper, see https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/159257.

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.

Source: McGill University, 3/19/25

A new discovery about the slime ejected by velvet worms could revolutionize sustainable material design, according to a study by McGill University researchers. Their findings outline how a naturally occurring protein structure, conserved across species from Australia, Singapore and Barbados over nearly 400 million years of evolution, enables the slime’s transformation from liquid to fibre and back again. It’s a discovery that could inspire next-generation recyclable bioplastics. 

Source: École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 5/8/25

An edible robot made by EPFL scientists leverages a combination of biodegradable fuel and surface tension to zip around the water's surface, creating a safe -- and nutritious -- alternative to environmental monitoring devices made from artificial polymers and electronics.

Source: American Libraries, 6/3/24

Summer reading program prizes are a fun way to spark children’s participation. But those prizes often consist of nonrecyclable plastic items that—once the fun has worn off—end up as trash. Montgomery County (Md.) Public Libraries recently chose a greener, more community-focused way to get kids excited about books during their summer break.