FT Rethink
Chemical recycling: the end of plastic waste?
The world is choking on plastic waste. Less than nine per cent of it is recycled, but an emerging industry promises to change all that. The FT’s Charlotte Middlehurst discovers how chemical recycling - separating complex waste back into its original components, to be used over and over again - could create a so-called “circular economy” for plastic.
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More from the FT Rethink channel
Why leather from fishskin and fungi fibres are becoming the height of fashion
Alternative fibres can help to reduce the clothing industry’s huge carbon footprint
Pink rice serves up alternative to carbon-intensive meat
Lab-grown proteins can reduce greenhouse gas emissions but are an expensively acquired taste
Architects take inspiration from nature to build sustainable future
Biomimicry can lessen a structure’s impact on the environment and reverse ecological damage
Is a sustainable electronics industry possible?
Over the past decade, tech has become an indispensable companion in our lives.
Farmbots bring precision to the business of food production
By nurturing crops on a plant by plant basis, new technology can cut chemical use and boost yields
How tech is being used to keep fisheries in line
Pick up an Austral Fisheries toothfish loin in the supermarket, scan the barcode on the back of the packet, and you’ll be able to follow every step in the fish’s journey from deep ocean to shop shelf.
Racing against the clock to decarbonise the planet
Two companies are on a mission in Iceland to find a technological solution to the elusive problem of capturing and storing carbon dioxide.
Can plastic-eating enzymes solve the recycling problem?
Less than 10 per cent of the man-made material is currently reused but a new technology is set to create a more circular economy
How to feed 10bn people in a sustainable way
How to feed 10bn people in a sustainable way
How ‘Fitbits for cows’ can tackle the antibiotic crisis
Monitoring the health of cattle lowers the use of drugs — and the risk of bacterial resistance to them
Saving nature: why 2022 is key for biodiversity
A global effort aims to conserve and harness biodiversity over the next decade
Ukraine crisis leaves Europe at an energy crossroads
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has focused attention on its role as a critical supplier of oil and gas. How will this affect the race to decarbonise?
Towards an end to deforestation
A new global agreement has pledged to end, indeed reverse deforestation by the end of this decade. We've been here before — so what’s different this time?
Ancient seeds are the future for Lebanon's crisis-hit farmers
A sustainable farm is helping to tackle a wheat shortage made worse by war in Ukraine
Decarbonising heavy industries will succeed little by little
Thanks to technological advances, the steel, cement and chemicals sectors are beginning to wean themselves off fossil fuels, but it’s a gradual, uphill process
Biodiversity loss and climate change are two sides of the same coin
As the world sizes up the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss, new approaches are emerging to address both
Precision Agriculture - Farming for the future
Digital solutions could be the key to producing more food while protecting the environment
The Unexpected Portfolio – a holistic approach to investing for net zero
Many of today’s sustainability focused strategies exclude the companies that will ultimately contribute the most to future CO2 reductions
How rewilding the oceans can lead to a prosperous blue economy
Oceans are the source of at least 50 per cent of all oxygen produced on Earth. Yet industrial fishing, offshore oil exploration and using the ocean as the world’s dumping ground for plastics and harmful chemicals have placed this fragile ecosystem...
Can recycling stop the retail waste crisis?
Hundreds of billions of dollars are wasted in customer returns.
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FT Rethink series focuses on the people, technology, strategies and systems moving us from an economy that is wasteful, idle, lopsided and dirty towards one that is circular, lean, inclusive and clean. The channel alternates between independent reporting from FT journalists and business perspectives from Lombard Odier