Titled Patents for tomorrow's plastics: Global innovation trends in recycling, circular design and alternative sources, the study presents a comprehensive analysis of the innovation trends for the period 2010 to 2019 that are driving the transition to a circular economy for plastics – | Epo.org
" While plastics are essential to the economy, plastic pollution is threatening ecosystems all over the planet," said EPO President António Campinos. "The good news is that innovation can help us to address this challenge by enabling the transition to a fully circular model. This study offers key insights into a range of promising new technologies that foster the reusability, recyclability and bio-degradability of plastic products. It highlights Europe's contribution to innovation in this sector, but shows that much more can be done to turn pioneering European research into inventions and to bring them to market."
More at link.
If they had thought about a circular model before creating the problem in the first place, the world wouldn't have been trashed in the first place. Seems like they only decided to do this because China stopped taking the world's trash.
China wasn't the only dumping ground – Why some countries are shipping back plastic waste
The Philippines has just shipped back tonnes of rubbish to Canada that it said was falsely labelled as plastic recycling in 2013 and 2014.
This month Malaysia sent back five containers of plastic waste to Spain after it was found to be contaminated.
Malaysia says up to 3,000 tonnes of rubbish will soon be returned to the UK, US, Japan, China, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Norway and France.
There were reports of plastic waste ready for export piling up, and some was diverted to other countries.
Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, Turkey, India and Poland all took up the slack.