Students Meet Industry Experts At Sustainability Careers Reception

A nationwide post-lockdown buying spree for electrical goods has seen the country’s largest recycling scheme record the biggest month in its 15-year history. WEEE Ireland recovered 3,763 tonnes of electrical waste in July – the equivalent of 12,800 fridges or 1.7 million small appliances – resulting in a new national monthly e-waste record. 58% (2,200 tonnes) of large and small items came back through free collection points at retailers, which saw an 18% annual increase on last year, attributed mainly to a rapid rise in sales of electrical goods.

Plastic Free July starts today. Even if you only reduce your reliance on single-use plastics this month, it’s an opportunity to reduce plastic pollution, CO2 emissions related to plastic production, and toxins from your life. Simple steps applied every day in your shopping and dining decisions can make a huge difference to the world and its environment. The plastic-free movement has helped people around the world reduce their plastic consumption by 1.8 billion pounds. Created by the Plastic Free Foundation in Australia, Plastic Free July offers guidance for eliminating single-use plastic from your life as well as examples of what others have done. The organization, which was founded in 2011, got an estimated 326 million people involved globally in 2020. This is a movement with momentum. You can be good at plastic elimination, better, or best, based on your preference. The point is to improve and July is the month to get started — if you haven’t already. Do you need some motivation? Check out EcoWatch’s explanation about the volume of plastic in our oceans and its consequences for animal and human life.

No one was saying it in so many words, but the report that the United Nations Global Compact and Russell Reynolds Associates released last year was aimed at nothing less than helping to save the world. Six years ago, leaders from 193 nations at an historic UN summit adopted 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) that involved everything from eradicating hunger to taking urgent action to overcome climate change. They were big, tough, imposing goals, with a deadline of 2030. With but nine years to go, the world remains far from meeting these objectives.

The Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE) Secretariat has released five publications that outline how the electronics, textiles, food, plastics, and capital equipment sectors can increase their circularity. Comprising the ‘Circular Economy Action Agenda,’ the reports serve as a rallying call for businesses, governments, researchers, consumers, and civil society to work together. Each publication outlines the objective for a circular economy and what circularity in that particular sector looks like, the impact on people and the planet if those objectives were to be achieved, the barriers that stand to hinder implementation, and actions that can optimize the sector’s transition towards a more circular economy.