04 July New technology solves the problem of huge amounts of plastic waste, and it’s Open Source
Millions of tons of plastic waste pollute ecosystems and disturb the balance in nature. The biggest pollutants are multinational companies that produce plastic containers for millions of products.
However, there are companies that try to change their business policy and create technological innovation that will reduce the harmful effects of their businesses. One such multinational corporation, Unilever (behind brands such as Dove, Bru, etc.), has devised a process that would help it reclaim all of this waste plastic, and reuse it to package new products that will eventually be sold. In that sense, the company will set up a factory in Indonesia that will use a circular recycle and reuse process from which would not just benefit the environment, but it would also effect in reduce production expenditure as well. Using this technology it is possible to recover six kilos of pure polymers with the same energy effort as the production of one kilo of virgin polymer. Indonesia alone is responsible for producing 64 million tonnes of waste every year, with 1.3 million tonnes of it eventually making its way to the ocean.
Of great significance is that this technology will be open source, which means that this technology will be publicly available to everyone, and that other companies will be able to use it in their businesses for free. The ambitious goal of this company is that by 2025 all plastic packages that it produces are included in the recycling process.
Hopefully, more businesses and companies around the world will adopt a similar approach to save our planet and ecology from unnecessary damage, through the thoughtful use of innovative technologies.