Plastics producers gear up for shift to circular economy

Discover how new technologies can tackle the challenges of the sustainable management of marine ecosystems in this online course from National Oceanography Centre.

The motion, which passed with 574 votes in favour, 22 against and 95 abstentions, urges the European Commission to set binding 2030 targets for materials use and consumption footprint of all products placed on the EU market. It also calls on the EU executive to introduce product-specific standards for recycled materials to be incorporated into new products placed on the EU market. “If we continue to use all these natural resources at this speed by 2050, we won’t need one planet, we’ll need three,” said Jan Huitema, a Dutch liberal MEP who authored the Parliament’s report. “It’s much better to make sure that the waste we would otherwise burn or dump, that we use it as a valuable raw material to make new products,” he said.

As businesses in Victoria, B.C., await the arrival of the first cruise ship in more than two years this weekend, an environmental group is arguing the industry’s economic impact is not worth the damage to the surrounding waters and communities.  An independent report commissioned by Stand.earth and released this week shows tourists arriving in the city from cruise ships spent $137.1 million in 2019, while non-cruise tourism — including those visiting Victoria by car or plane and staying in hotels — totalled $2.94 billion.  “The cruise industry is not the boon to Victoria that they sell themselves as,” said Anna Barford, the Canada shipping campaigner at Stand.earth.  Cruise ships that stop in Victoria are often stopping over on their way to longer-term stops in Alaska, giving passengers less than a day to visit and spend money in the B.C. capital.

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) has awarded Grand Valley a STARS gold rating in recognition of the university’s sustainability efforts.  STARS, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System, gauges the progress of colleges and universities toward sustainability in all sectors, including education and research, innovation, administration and operations.  Grand Valley’s STARS rating this year was 74.9, up from 70.8 in 2019.

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