Many new technologies involving agricultural commodities will not be final consumer products, rather they will be inputs into the manufacture of other products. The new technologies may be new manufacturing processes (to accommodate a new raw material), or intermediate products that will be used in the production of other products (e.g., plastics are used to manufacture final consumer products)...

Material efficiency is one of the major challenges facing our society in the twenty-first century. Research can help to understand how we can make the transition towards a material-efficient society. This study focuses on the role of the government in such transition processes. Use is made of literature in the field of public administration and innovation literature, particularly transition man...

How can we strengthen the science-policy interface for plastics, the environment and human health? In a complex policy area with multiple stakeholders, it is important to clarify the nature of the particular plastics-related issue before trying to understand how to reconcile the supply and demand for evidence in policy. This article proposes a simple problem typology to assess the fundamental c...

Tests of the survival of Candida spp., Aspergillus spp., a Fusarium sp., a Mucor sp., and a Paecilomyces sp. on hospital fabrics and plastics indicated that viability was variable, with most fungi surviving at least 1 day but many living for weeks. These findings reinforce the need for appropriate disinfection and conscientious contact control precautions.

ith more than 8 million tons of plastic entering the ocean each year, humanity must urgently rethink the way we make and use plastics, so that they do not become waste in the first place. Cheap, light, and versatile, plastics are the dominant materials of our modern economy. Their production is expected to double over the next two decades. Yet, only 14% of all plastic packaging is collected for...

It has been proven that polyolefins specially low density polyethylene (LDPE), are resistant against degradation and microorganism attacks; Thus, one of the most important properties of industrial plastics, is their environmental biodegradability. Since plastics are being widely used in agriculture, horticulture and packaging, meeting this requirement becomes increasingly dificult (speciall...

Typically, a switch to single stream recycling is often accompanied by other programmatic or collection process changes such as adding more recyclable materials, moving to Pay-As-YouThrow, or automating collection. Here, all aspects of the Town waste program remained the same except for the mode of recyclables collection (although the definition of recyclable plastic containers was expanded fro...

Plastics have prominent utilization worldwide. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) is one of the major types of plastics that can be found in the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) [1]. MSW contains high proportion of thermoplastic polymers which has been increasing in value. PET is a semi-crystalline thermoplastic polymer, and is considered as polyester material [2]. Large amount of waste PET is being p...

Plastic is readily available and inexpensive, so it is becoming the main material for packaging. Unfortunately plastics do not biodegrade and, if reduced in small pieces, contaminate soil and waterways. In the present work, natural films composed of chitosan, methylcellulose, and silica (SiO(2)) nanoparticles (NPs) were developed as new packaging materials. The effect of the incorporation of NP...