New Zealand: A teenager has mixed magnetite, a mineral found in black-sand beaches, with polystyrene beads to form a magnetic plastic. Liam Henderson’s goal, according to the website Stuff, is to make shopping bags out of the material. Eventually he would like to see ships fish them out of the water with giant magnets.
U.K.: Several media reports on a rise of contamination among curbside recyclables has caused an uproar in the U.K. The BBC, among others, reported an 84 percent increase in recyclables that were rejected due to contamination, but according to MRW, the increase only accounts for 3 percent of collected materials.
Colombia: Conceptos Plásticos was recently awarded a grant for its project that takes discarded plastic and turns it into building blocks. So far, according to The City Paper, Conceptos Plásticos has melted down 300 tons of plastic into blocks and built 42 homes for displaced families.
