This Week in Waste: Top Stories April 15 – April 18, 2024

#5 - Legal Cannabis Needs ‘Greener’ Packaging to Nip Waste in the Bud

The legal cannabis market is growing nearly 14% a year. This is providing many new opportunities for retailers, but competition is also fierce. That means that successful retailers will need to stand out from the crowd, not just with their products and value, but also with their packaging. Often the first things consumers see, packaging can indeed influence purchase decisions.

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#4 - Emerging Contaminant Concerns Drive Changes in Sludge Management

About 50 percent of sludge has been land applied in the U.S. historically, though now states and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are starting to scrutinize this practice as per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), microplastics, and other emerging contaminants hit the radar. The concern is that these toxins will leak into groundwater, streams, and rivers; but needing to find alternative management methods is not without challenges.

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#3 - Food Rescue Experts Pool Resources to Build Recovery Infrastructure

Los Angeles has the largest food-insecure population in the nation with approximately 30 percent of Angelenos in need, according to a University of Southern California study. Yet, the county discards billions of pounds of good food every year, punctuating a need for systemic changes in the food system.

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#2 - How Materials Science Fuels Circularity

Transforming plastic waste and renewable waste (like used cooking oil and inedible plant waste) requires stakeholders across waste management, recycling, design, manufacturing, retail, brand ownership, public policy and consumer segments to work together. This web of interrelated services, technologies and products that transform plastic waste and renewable waste into useful materials is what we call the materials ecosystem.

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#1 - The Art of Reuse: TRASHION Hits the Runway

Fast fashion describes the propensity with which clothing flies off retail shelves. Styles change, but the volume of textile waste continues to burden landfill operators and their surrounding communities. About 85 percent of textile waste in the United States goes to either landfill or incineration, with a fraction of a percent ending up in the textile recycling supply chain.

Read the full article here.