Polyolefin plastics in commodity packaging are the major source of land pollution. Waste plastic on land undergoes weathering degradation, normally generating microplastics, with subsequent soil biodegradation, depending on environmental conditions.
The past year has been unprecedented, with Covid-19 having an immediate impact on all aspects of the energy sector. Despite the consequences for the global economy, the energy transition will be accelerated by several years. Read more in C&I magazine.
Cannabidiol, more commonly known as CBD, has proven medicinal effects and is one of the major chemical constituents of the cannabis plant. A 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) report declared CBD to have ‘no effects indicative of any abuse or dependence potential…[and]…no evidence of recreational use of CBD or any public health-related problems associated with the use of pure CBD. Read the article in C&I Magazine.
The majority of skilled and senior roles in chemical and pharmaceutical organisations require STEM (Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics) skills and qualifications. Frustratingly, however, all too often businesses in these sectors are struggling to recruit candidates with the necessary STEM expertise. Read the comment in C&I magazine.
A new Lux report: The digital transformation of chemicals and materials, has outlined use cases already in practice in facets of the industry and a vision for how digital technologies will reshape the chemicals and materials landscape in the coming decades. Read more in C&I magazine.
As the environmental testing market continues to grow, laboratories will need to make suitable technological upgrades to meet this huge wave of demand.
Few people could have anticipated the impact of Covid-19. Apart from the economic and health impacts, the working environment has completely changed. Governments advised people to work from home and left business leaders worried about the impact on their organisations.
Selenium is an essential micronutrient and has been included in animal feed since the 1960s to help prevent white muscle disease in livestock. However, it is not essential for crops, which probably led to it being omitted from the European Fertiliser Directive’s list of micronutrients.
Solutions to the issue of sustainability will involve many competing factors. For example, in food packaging, plastic is often used to increase the shelf life of a food and can reduce the weight of the product leading to a reduced carbon footprint for transport.
In a 2019 survey by YouGov, nearly 60% of British respondents said the best way to tackle the surfeit of plastics waste in the world’s oceans would be to ban single-use polymers. The best place to start, they added, is in supermarkets, where plastics are ubiquitous.