Hacker News with Generative AI: Recycling

University of Alabama Engineer Pioneers New Process for Recycling Plastics (news.ua.edu)
Plastic recycling is commonplace but imperfect. Part of the problem, says Dr. Jason Bara, is that current processes yield lower-quality plastics with reduced value and fewer end uses. In a circular plastic economy, any plastic could be broken down to its component parts and then reconstituted into new products with little or no waste.

Engineering, Recycling, Plastics, Materials Science

169 points by thunderbong 13 days ago | 200 comments

Redwood Materials recycled a record 20 GWh of batteries in 2024 (twitter.com)

Recycling, Battery Technology, Sustainability, Environmentalism, Business

3 points by peterisza 15 days ago | 1 comments

Sport produces mountains of high-tech waste. We've New ways to recycle it (theconversation.com)
Sport produces mountains of high-tech waste. We are finding new ways to recycle it

Sports, Technology, Recycling, Sustainability

5 points by gnabgib 18 days ago | 0 comments

Plastic List (plasticlist.org)

Plastic, Recycling, Sustainability

12 points by alphabetting 21 days ago | 1 comments

South Korea's mountain of plastic waste shows limits of recycling (japantimes.co.jp)
South Korea has won international praise for its recycling efforts, but as it prepares to host talks for a global plastic waste agreement, experts say the country's approach highlights its limits.

South Korea, Recycling, Environmental Issues, Plastic Waste, Global Agreements

12 points by PaulHoule 37 days ago | 7 comments

Cups tossed in recycling bins at Starbucks tracked to incinerators and landfill (cbsnews.com)

Environmental Issues, Waste Management, Starbucks, Recycling

31 points by ilamont 42 days ago | 22 comments

Apple's Activation Lock is becoming a barrier to recycling (youtube.com)

Apple, Recycling, Security, Technology

4 points by trinsic2 45 days ago | 1 comments

Black plastics may contain toxic compounds that can leach into food, experts say (cbc.ca)
Takeout containers and utensils made of some recycled black plastics may contain chemicals used in electronics, according to a recently published study.

Food Safety, Plastics, Environment, Recycling, Health

21 points by pseudolus 46 days ago | 4 comments

Bye-bye microplastics: new plastic is recyclable and ocean-degradable (riken.jp)
Researchers led by Takuzo Aida at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) have developed a durable plastic that won’t contribute to microplastic pollution in our oceans.

Plastic Pollution, Materials Science, Environmental Science, Recycling

7 points by JeanKage 52 days ago | 2 comments

A $60B-a-Year Climate Solution Is Sitting in Our Junk Drawers (motherjones.com)
In rich nations, just a fraction of e-waste is mined for critical metals. We’re going to have to up our game.

Climate Change, Sustainability, Recycling, Technology, Resources

4 points by ggm 55 days ago | 0 comments

Pulling gold out of e-waste suddenly becomes super-profitable (newatlas.com)
A new method for recovering high-purity gold from discarded electronics is paying back US$50 for every dollar spent, according to researchers – who found the key gold-filtering substance in cheesemaking, of all places.

Recycling, Materials Science, Technology, Sustainability, Business

8 points by infrml 56 days ago | 2 comments

Mercedes-Benz opens its own recycling facility for EV batteries (arstechnica.com)
Today, Mercedes-Benz opened its first battery-recycling plant in Germany.

Recycling, Electric Vehicles, Sustainability, Germany, Automotive

35 points by PaulHoule 77 days ago | 9 comments

Graphene and chitosan sponge 10x more efficient at removing gold from e-waste (phys.org)
A team of chemists and materials scientists at the National University of Singapore, working with colleagues from Manchester University, in the U.K., and Guangdong University of Technology, in China, has developed a type of sponge made of graphene oxide and chitosan, that can be used to extract gold from electronic waste.

Materials Science, Nanotechnology, Environmental Technology, Recycling

3 points by thebeardisred 80 days ago | 0 comments

Experts say a proposed revamp to the recycling symbol is still deceptive (grist.org)
Experts say a proposed revamp to the recycling symbol is still deceptive — and probably illegal

Recycling, Environmentalism, Consumerism, Sustainability

19 points by everybodyknows 82 days ago | 6 comments

Carbon Sequestration by Recycling Cement, Aggregates, and Concrete (mdpi.com)
As the world’s largest producer of construction waste, China’s recycling and related policies are of the biggest concern to the world.

Recycling, Concrete, Environmental Sustainability, China, Construction

37 points by PaulHoule 87 days ago | 11 comments

Mercedes-Benz battery recycling plant recovers '96%' of materials (electrek.co)
Mercedes-Benz just opened Europe’s first battery recycling plant using an innovative process that the automaker says enables recycling rate to more than 96%, all in-house and ready to be used in future Mercedes EVs.

Sustainability, Electric Vehicles, Automotive, Recycling

33 points by peutetre 88 days ago | 18 comments

Pyrolysis technology for plastic waste recycling: a review (sciencedirect.com)

Waste Management, Recycling, Technology, Environmental Science

5 points by thunderbong 101 days ago | 0 comments

Exxon Mobil's 'Advanced' Technique for Recycling Plastic? Burning It (yahoo.com)
Today's news

Exxon Mobil, Recycling, Plastics, Environmental Issues, Energy

21 points by signa11 110 days ago | 0 comments

I Made a Rubbish Clock (jgc.org)
With separate plastic, metal, paper, and glass recycling, composting, and pick up of all the rest, knowing which days to put out which bins can be complicated. Some have turned to high-tech solutions like Darren Tarbard's wonderful "bindicator".

Creative Projects, Recycling, Technology

124 points by jgrahamc 112 days ago | 40 comments

A national lab retires–and shreds–large computing resources (techxplore.com)
Ever wonder what happens to massive supercomputing systems when they're retired? Surprisingly, when it comes to the data, it's not too different from disposing of old documents—they go straight into a shredder and sent to recycling.

Data Security, Supercomputing, Technology, Recycling

8 points by PaulHoule 115 days ago | 0 comments

California sues ExxonMobil for alleged decades of deception around recycling (cnn.com)

California, Lawsuits, ExxonMobil, Environmental Issues, Recycling

5 points by lhoff 115 days ago | 1 comments

Cal. sues ExxonMobil for alleged decades of deception around plastic recycling (cnn.com)

Environment, Lawsuits, ExxonMobil, Plastic, Recycling

5 points by dylan604 116 days ago | 0 comments

Vaporizing plastics recycles them into nothing but gas (arstechnica.com)
Our planet is choking on plastics. Some of the worst offenders, which can take decades to degrade in landfills, are polypropylene—which is used for things such as food packaging and bumpers—and polyethylene, found in plastic bags, bottles, toys, and even mulch.

Recycling, Plastics, Environmental Science

56 points by bell-cot 119 days ago | 66 comments

Texan used Apple AirTags to discover plastics in Houston aren't being recycled (tomshardware.com)

Environmental Issues, Recycling, Technology, Texas

65 points by dataflow 138 days ago | 60 comments

AirTags key to discovery of Houston's plastic recycling deception (appleinsider.com)

AirTags, Environmental Issues, Crime, Recycling, Houston

148 points by JumpCrisscross 139 days ago | 155 comments

UK Royal Mint mining PCBs for precious metals in e-waste recovery effort (theregister.com)

Recycling, Environment, Electronics, Mining, UK

12 points by ksec 160 days ago | 1 comments

South Korea recycles 98% of its food waste. What can it teach the world? (washingtonpost.com)