Author Archives: Jack Cooper

On​​ October 13, 2020, EPA announced that the President has signed an Executive Order ​establishing “… a Water Subcabinet of senior Federal agency officials to facilitate efficient and effective management and modernization of our water supplies and systems while also eliminating duplication between agencies​ … the Water Subcabinet will:​ Promote effective and efficient water resources management … between FederalContinue reading “Water Subcabinet Established by Presidential Order”

According to an October 6, 2020 National Geographic article “… Correcting our plastic waste problem requires a fundamental change in thinking about how plastics are made, used, and discarded, two new studies say … The global campaign to gain control of plastic waste is one of the fastest-growing environmental causes ever mounted. Yet it hasn’t been enoughContinue reading “Plastic Waste Reduction Requires Fundamental Change in the way Plastic is Produced, Used and Discarded”

According to an October 6, 2020 Resource-Recycling.com story “… The Recycling Partnership on Sept. 29 released “Accelerating Recycling” a policy document outlining a proposal that includes fees paid by brands and packaging producers … [and which] goes into details on a per-ton disposal fee that could be required at landfills, incinerators and waste-to-energy plants, with theContinue reading “Packaging Fees Proposed for Residential Recycling Infrastructure and Education”

According to a report published October 5, 2020 in Frontiers in Marine Science by researchers with the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization and others “…we still know relatively little about how much plastic pollution has found its way into the deeper areas of the world’s oceans … we quantified microplastics in deep-sea sedimentsContinue reading “Microplastics (MPs) – Concentration in World Ocean Sediment Estimated at 14 Million Tons”

According to a study published August 25, 2020 in Environmental Research Letters by researchers with the University of Michigan “… plastics are accumulating in landfills and natural environments, impacting resource utilization and ecosystem function … we offer the first contemporary plastics material flow by resin type through the US economy … This roadmap … providesContinue reading “Plastic – Production, Markets and End of Life”

According to analysis of a report led by researchers with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, published September 28, 2020 in Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/09/23/2006753117 “… The recent discovery of a two-enzyme system for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) deconstruction … suggests that nature may be evolving similar deconstruction strategies for syntheticContinue reading “Enzymatic Deconstruction of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)”