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Domestic paper industry frets as imports zoom 43%

25 Dec 2023
Grania Jain

Import of paper and paperboard continues unabated. After a 25 per cent jump in FY23 in volume terms, paper imports have further risen by 43 per cent in the first half of FY24, according to DGCI&S data.

The surge in imports is mainly due to a 257 per cent growth in import of paper and paperboard from the ASEAN region at zero import duty under a free trade agreement.

In H1 FY24, import of paper and paperboard increased to 9.59 lakh tonnes from 6.72 lakh tonnes in H1 FY23. Imports from ASEAN grew from 81,000 tonnes in H1 FY23 to 2.88 lakh tonnes in H1 FY24.

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Pile of plastic 'poop' parked on Bondi Beach

24 Dec 2023
Grania Jain

Bondi residents were greeted with a powerful message this morning after a four-metre-high plastic ‘poop emoji’, representing the amount of waste (7.5 tonnes) that enters the world’s oceans every 30 seconds, was installed on Bondi Beach.

B-Corp-certified sustainable packaging company, Better Packaging Co., commissioned and strategically placed the striking sculpture* on Bondi Beach to coincide with World Environment Day (5 June).

The theme of this year's United Nations global program is #BeatPlasticPollution, with over 100 initiatives taking place worldwide.

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WestRock and ENGIE sign agreement to add renewable energy to U.S. grid

24 Dec 2023
Grania Jain

The agreements support two of ENGIE’s solar projects – Bernard Creek located in Wharton County, Texas and Chillingham Solar located in Bell County, Texas – for an aggregate of 282 megawatts (MW).

The new projects comprise one element of WestRock’s strategy to pursue a science-based target (SBT) to reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 27.5% by 2030. Schneider Electric provided advisory services and strategy management for the WestRock and ENGIE agreements.

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Mondi collaborates with partners to replace PolyStyrene (EPS) and lead the change on white goods packaging

24 Dec 2023
Grania Jain

Bans on EPS packaging have gained tremendous momentum recently, particularly in the European Union and the wider Caribbean region. Legislation banning the use of EPS packaging has also been introduced in Fiji, the Philipines, and regions in the United States, just to name a few.

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Polyethylene waste could be a thing of the past

24 Dec 2023
Grania Jain

The University of Adelaide’s Professor Shizhang Qiao, Chair of Nanotechnology, and Director, Centre for Materials in Energy and Catalysis, at the School of Chemical Engineering, led the team which published their findings in the journal Science Advances.

“We have upcycled polyethylene plastic waste into ethylene and propionic acid with high selectivity using atomically dispersed metal catalysts,” said Professor Qiao.

“An oxidation-coupled room-temperature photocatalysis method was used to convert the waste into valuable products with high selectivity.

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Falconer craft luxurious gift set carton for Kindrid Spirits

24 Dec 2023
Grania Jain

Cumbria-based Kindred Spirits collaborates with craft British distillers to introduce a diverse array of gin, rum, vodka, and whisky to consumers unfamiliar with these unique brands. The distiller discovered Falconer at a packaging trade event, where the carton manufacturer’s playful and innovative packaging solutions caught their attention. From this initial encounter, it took 5 months to bring the gift set to fruition.

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Refillable Skincare Package Driven by Consumer Preferences

24 Dec 2023
Grania Jain

Founded by CEO Kyle Jiang in 2018 with a commitment to keep sustainability at the core of every skincare product it creates, the Junoco brand embodies the “skinmalism” trend of “less is more,” identified several years ago in the beauty products industry. Junoco’s products contain minimal, clean ingredients and promote a simple skincare routine.

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Romania launches “world’s largest centralized DRS”

23 Dec 2023
Grania Jain

The Romanian DRS system uses a software solution from Sensoneo, a technology company based in Slovakia. The software forms the backbone of the entire system, says Sensoneo, as it integrates all stakeholders and gathers data from all sources within the process chain. Deposit Return Schemes increase the purity of material collected, leading to materials’ circularity and reduction of CO2 emissions. The Romanian scheme will cover plastic, glass, and metal beverage containers ranging from 0.1 to 3 Liters. The deposit per bottle will be 0.5 Romanian lei (approximately 0.1 €).

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