Hazardous Waste News

February 24, 2025

Top Headlines

Closing the Recycle Loop: Waste-Derived Nutrients in Liquid Fertilizer

Feb. 20, 2025 — Researchers have succeeded in establishing a method for producing recycled liquid fertilizer that contains high concentrations of ...

Biodiversity in England's Rivers Improved as Metal Pollution Reduced

Feb. 19, 2025 — An improvement in freshwater biodiversity in England's rivers was linked to reductions in pollution of zinc and copper, largely due to the decline of coal burning and heavy industry, say researchers. Invertebrates are used as an important measure of ...

New Environmentally-Friendly Mortar Reduces Heat Loss

Feb. 19, 2025 — A mortar made from recycled plastic and silica aerogel which improves insulation and reduces plastic waste has been ...

A Catalytic Two-Step: Transforming Industrial CO2 Into a Renewable Fuel

Feb. 19, 2025 — Scientists have taken a critical next step in creating a scalable process to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and 'recirculate' it as a renewable fuel. Chemists now describe their latest breakthrough in creating methanol -- a widely used ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:18pm EST

Coffee Grounds and Reishi Mushroom Spores Can Be 3D Printed Into a Compostable Alternative to Plastics

Feb. 18, 2025 — Researchers developed a new system for turning used coffee grounds into a paste, which they use to 3D print objects, such as packing materials and a ...

Solar-Powered Device Captures Carbon Dioxide from Air to Make Sustainable Fuel

Feb. 13, 2025 — Researchers have developed a reactor that pulls carbon dioxide directly from the air and converts it into sustainable fuel, using sunlight as the ...

Recyclable Plastic for the Printer

Feb. 13, 2025 — The possibilities for material design and production of plastic components are being expanded through 3D printing technology. However, there is a shortage of recyclable polymers that meet the ...

Engineered Animals Show New Way to Fight Mercury Pollution

Feb. 12, 2025 — Using genes borrowed from bacteria, researchers have demonstrated fish and flies can be engineered to break down methylmercury and remove it from their bodies as a less harmful gas, offering new ways ...

The Next-Generation Solar Cell Is Fully Recyclable

Feb. 12, 2025 — Researchers developed a method to recycle all parts of a solar cell repeatedly without environmentally hazardous solvents. The recycled solar cell has the same efficiency as the original one. The ...

Turning Car and Helicopter Exhaust Into Thermoelectric Energy

Feb. 11, 2025 — Combustion engines, the engines in gas-powered cars, only use a quarter of the fuel's potential energy while the rest is lost as heat through exhaust. Now, a study demonstrates how to convert exhaust ...

Examining the Potential Environmental Effects of Mining the World's Largest Lithium Deposit

Feb. 10, 2025 — A trove of lithium-rich brine exists underground in Bolivia. Researchers conducted the first comprehensive chemical analysis of wastewater associated ...

Nanomaterials Are Emerging as a Powerful Tool for Coastal Oil Spill Cleanup

Feb. 4, 2025 — Advances in nanotechnology may provide solutions to oil spill cleanups in coastal regions that are more effective, safer and work much faster than current methods, according to a new paper. The paper ...

Tiny Copper 'Flowers' Bloom on Artificial Leaves for Clean Fuel Production

Feb. 3, 2025 — Tiny copper 'nano-flowers' have been attached to an artificial leaf to produce clean fuels and chemicals that are the backbone of modern energy and ...

Building a Circular Future: Study Reveals Key Organizational Capabilities for Sustainability

Feb. 3, 2025 — A recent study by management scholars underscores the importance of organizations' dynamic capabilities for greener business practices. Analyzing ...

Chemical Looping Turns Environmental Waste Into Fuel

Jan. 29, 2025 — Turning environmental waste into useful chemical resources could solve many of the inevitable challenges of our growing amounts of discarded plastics, paper and food waste, according to new ...

Optical Fiber Sensor Provides Simple and Sensitive Detection of Arsenic in Drinking Water

Jan. 29, 2025 — Researchers have developed a new optical sensor that provides a simple way to achieve real-time detection of extremely low levels of arsenic in ...

Common Plastic Pigment Promotes Depolymerization

Jan. 29, 2025 — This startling mechanism for promoting depolymerization relies on an additive that many plastics already contain: a pigment called carbon black that gives plastic its black color. Through a process ...

Study Reveals How Microbes Help Detoxify Our Atmosphere

Jan. 29, 2025 — Researchers have discovered crucial new information about how microbes consume huge amounts of carbon monoxide (CO) and help reduce levels of this deadly ...

Research Leads to Viable Solution for Polycotton Textile Waste Recycling

Jan. 29, 2025 — Researchers present a solution to the challenging problem of recycling poly-cotton textile waste. The process starts with fully removing all cotton from the fabric using superconcentrated ...

Researchers Discover New Way to Store Hydrogen Using Lignin Jet Fuel

Jan. 27, 2025 — An international team of scientists has discovered a way to store and release volatile hydrogen using lignin-based jet fuel that could open new pathways for sustainable energy production. In a new ...

New Weapon Against Harmful Algal Blooms

Jan. 27, 2025 — Effective management of phosphorus is needed to curb the rise of harmful algal blooms. Few studies have explored how algal biomass, especially blue-green algae, can be used to create materials that ...

Bacteria Found to Eat Forever Chemicals -- And Even Some of Their Toxic Byproducts

Jan. 23, 2025 — A team has identified a strain of bacteria that can break down and transform at least three types of PFAS, and, perhaps even more crucially, some of the toxic byproducts of the bond-breaking ...

We Can Make Fertilizer More Efficiently Under the Surface of the Earth

Jan. 21, 2025 — Instead of relying on energy-hungry reactors to generate high temperatures and pressure, researchers are looking underground at Earth's natural heat and forces to cook up ammonia for fertilizer. ...

Thawing Permafrost Threatens Up to Three Million People in Arctic Regions

Jan. 16, 2025 — In an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study, an international team examined the social risks for Arctic regions associated with thawing permafrost. They identified five key risks related to ...

Robots Should Be Repurposed Rather Than Recycled to Combat Rising Scale of E-Waste, Scientists Warn

Jan. 16, 2025 — The robotics industry should be creating robots that could be reprogrammed and repurposed for other tasks once its life span is completed, researchers have ...

Biochar Reduces the Risks of DDT-Contaminated Soil

Jan. 16, 2025 — DDT soil pollution is still a major problem in many parts of the world. Researchers have developed a new method to manage ecological risks from the toxin by binding it with biochar. When they mixed ...

Direct Discharge Electrical Pulses for Carbon Fiber Recycling

Jan. 14, 2025 — Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are used in the aerospace, automotive, and sports equipment industries. However, their recycling remains a major problem. In a recent study, researchers ...

Researchers Unveil 'Surprising' Breakthrough in Carbon Nanotube Recycling, Paving Way for Sustainable Materials

Jan. 13, 2025 — In a significant step toward creating a sustainable and circular economy, researchers have demonstrated that carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers can be fully recycled without any loss in their structure or ...

From Microplastics to Macro-Impact: Plastic Recycling Challenges

Jan. 13, 2025 — The use of plastic has skyrocketed over the past decade. Recent statistics reveal that in 2021, each person in the European Union (EU) generated an average of 36 kg of plastic packaging ...

Storing Carbon in Buildings Could Help Address Climate Change

Jan. 9, 2025 — Construction materials such as concrete and plastic have the potential to lock away billions of tons of carbon dioxide, according to a new study by civil engineers and earth systems scientists. The ...

States Struggle to Curb Food Waste Despite Policies

Jan. 9, 2025 — Current state policies aren't enough to curb food waste. Study shows states are falling short of the reduction goals set by the U.S. Environmental Protection ...

Trash to Treasure: Leveraging Industrial Waste to Store Energy

Jan. 7, 2025 — As more products begin to depend on battery-based energy storage systems, shifting away from metal-based solutions will be critical to facilitating the green energy transition. Now, a team has ...

Method Can Detect Harmful Salts Forming in Nuclear Waste Melters

Jan. 7, 2025 — A new way to identify salts in nuclear waste melters could help improve clean-up technology, including at the Hanford Site, one of the largest, most complex nuclear waste clean-up sites in the world. ...

Big Leap Forward for Environmentally Friendly 'E-Textiles' Technology

Jan. 2, 2025 — A research team has shown wearable electronic textiles (e-textiles) can be both sustainable and ...