Alain Chateau, Director, Centre of Excellence – Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur discusses how the IRIS European Project is helping Nice’s smart city endeavors.
Source: inform.tmforum.org
Electronic waste, known as e-waste, is an ever-increasing problem worldwide. Levels of electronics consumption are high in both developed and developing countries, and many consumer electronics are designed with short life spans. Once an electronic item has reached its end of use, what happens? While some electronics are recycled, many are discarded in landfills. Even those that are recycled face a dubious fate. Who is ultimately responsible for fixing our e-waste problem? Electronics are filled with chemicals and substances that are harmful to human health and the environment, including toxic metals, flame retardants, and persistent organic pollutants. If not recycled, these chemicals can contaminate landfills and enter the water supply through leachate. Even the recycling of e-waste is problematic.
As the European Union votes to ban single-use plastics by 2021, one small island in the Adriatic Sea is already making good progress. The Croatian island of Zlarin is on a mission to become the Adriatic Sea’s first plastic-free destination.
The Welsh Minister for Environment, Hannah Blythyn, will today (8 August) visit the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff to see first-hand the actions being taken to help reduce waste on the ‘Maes’.
As governments step up to address the most pressing issues, they must set a clear direction that enables private sector circular innovation.
There’s some progress, but it’s mostly on the margins.
This morning, French President Emmanuel Macron and Eastman (NYSE:EMN) Board Chair and CEO Mark Costa will jointly announce Eastman’s plan to invest up to $1 billion in a material-to-material molecular recycling facility in France. This facility would use Eastman’s polyester renewal technology to recycle up to 160,000 metric tonnes annually of hard-to-recycle plastic waste that is currently being incinerated.
The investment would recycle enough plastic waste annually to fill Stade de France national football stadium 2.5 times, while also creating virgin-quality material with a significantly lower carbon footprint. Eastman is the largest investor at this year’s “Choose France” event, which is focused on attracting foreign investment to France.
This multi-phase project includes units that would prepare mixed plastic waste for processing, a methanolysis unit to depolymerize the waste, and polymer lines to create a variety of first-quality materials for specialty, packaging, and textile applications. Eastman also plans to establish an innovation center for molecular recycling that would enable France to sustain a leadership role in the circular economy.