Maine Becomes First State In America To Ban Single-Use Styrofoam Containers

Dr. Zaid, Secretary General of Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation, and Dr Sandra Piesik, Founder of 3 Ideas B.V, say as we rebuild our economies, grow our societies and look to protect the planet, everything must ‘link back to nature’. Here, they look at the potential of the date palm in creating a bio-circular economy. 2021 marks the beginning of a new era for sustainability. It’s the year that the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) has begun. It’s the year where climate change returned to the agenda for America, with Joe Biden sworn in as President. And, with a degree of hopefulness, it’s the year where countries around the world could emerge from the pandemic. The final point is perhaps the most important. It’s been spoken about a lot and even branded as ‘The Great Reset’ by the World Economic Forum. As countries begin to open up again, there’s a great opportunity for the world to build back better and with a green recovery in mind.

As the 2030 Agenda targets loom, environmental service companies are increasingly incorporating in their business plans investments in recycling facilities capable of bringing us closer to the zero waste goal by turning it into secondary raw materials that can be returned to the commercial cycle with minimal waste.  With this aim, G.A.I.A. Spa and Iren Ambiente (which holds 45% ownership of G.A.I.A. and provides environmental services to a population of more than 3 million) called on STADLER, the German company specialized in the planning, production and assembly of turnkey recycling and sorting plants, to design and build new recycling plants in Asti and Parma.  The requirements for the two plants were different: sorting of plastic packaging from separate collection in Asti, and sorting of plastic and paper/cardboard in Parma.