Precious Plastic: Providing a solution to plastic waste

There's a lot of plastic out there, and most of it isn't getting properly recycled. Precious Plastic, started by Dave Hakkens in 2012, aims to reduce plastic waste by transforming it into useful items.

Tags:

storyfest2020, plastic, Waste, recycling, innovation, plastic waste, reuse, upcycling

How do you move the Planet Forward? Tweet us @planet_forward or contribute to the conversation with your own story.

Isabella Elmore

George Washington University

Kids can do it too: How a children's book can inspire community-based action for the environment

An illustration of three people bending down near a stream to pick up trash.

(Images from the picture book courtesy of Maria Zaharatos, Shelby Atherton, Ruby Walker)

Maria Zaharatos

The Middlebury Institute of International Studies

Unpacking the packaging potential of mycelium, the mushroom ‘roots’ of many uses

A black jar against a dark grey background rests on two white mycelium blocks

Ecovative's mycelium Mushroom® Packaging for DelOs (Courtesy of Ecovative)

Kala Menchetti Hunter

Northwestern University

Essay | Microplastics: A well-known threat that isn’t so easy to get rid of

A glass of water is filled with multicolored specks of plastic.

Photo of a collection of microplastic pieces floating in a glass of water. (Courtesy of Laura Markley)

Anna Carman

SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Reinventing a sustainable crab fishery

An illustration showing a whale entangled by a crab fishing rope, with a small orange crab on the whale's underside, helping by snipping the rope.

Illustrations by Sachi Kitajima Mulkey.

Sachi Kitajima Mulkey

Planet Forward Correspondent | UC Berkeley

Systems of dignity: How recyclers are making cents of the bottle bill

The New York State Bottle Bill financially incentives collectors to recycle wasted cans and bottles. Westside Value Redemption in Buffalo, NY provides a safe and dignified center for collectors to trade in bottles for compensation. (Eva Sideris)

Eva Kotobuki Sideris

Planet Forward Correspondent | SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry

Thermal cooker helps reduce indoor air pollution, use of wood as fuel

A woman in a pink wrap and head covering looks at a brightly colored, round fabric-covered thermal cooker, with a lidded pot nestled inside. A woman on the right, with long black hair, reaches toward the pot.

Aisata Ibamie, right, a young renewable energy engineer and innovative clean energy activist from Cameroon, demonstrates how her ASAAB Thermal Cooker is used. (Photo courtesy Aisata Ibamie)

Beverly Ndifoin

Mandela Washington Fellow

NelPlast: Transforming plastic waste into low-cost houses in Ghana

A man wearing a blue button-down shirt, with a white mask in his shirt pocket, tan pants, and a bright blue hardhat, stands in front of a large stack of primarily gray plastic bricks.

Nelson Boateng, founder and Chief Executive Officer of NelPlast Eco Ghana Limited, stands in front of some of his award-winning bricks made from recycled plastic. (Photo courtesy Nelson Boateng)

Beverly Ndifoin

Mandela Washington Fellow

The magnetic force uniting two scientists: Finding more than love