{"id":115101,"date":"2022-09-09T07:32:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T05:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=115101"},"modified":"2022-09-05T15:46:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T13:46:00","slug":"research-centre-to-tackle-global-pollution-with-green-plastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/research-centre-to-tackle-global-pollution-with-green-plastic\/","title":{"rendered":"Research centre to tackle global pollution with \u2018green\u2019 plastic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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\"Industry
Industry partners tour the new laboratory facilities in the Andrew N. Liveris building. Image: Anjanette Webb – Capture Studio.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A new University of Queensland-led training centre is set to become a hub for world-leading research in \u2018green\u2019 plastic.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The $13 million Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Bioplastics and Biocomposites<\/a>, based at UQ\u2019s School of Chemical Engineering<\/a>, aims to make large-scale plastic pollution a problem of the past.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Centre director, Associate Professor Steven Pratt<\/a> said scientists will work toward developing bio-derived and bio-degradable plastics that have a minimal environmental impact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery year it\u2019s estimated more than 10 million tonnes of plastic leaks into oceans as part of the almost 400 million tonnes of plastic that\u2019s destined for landfill,\u201d said Dr Pratt<\/strong>.<\/p>

\u201cUrgent change is needed, and biodegradable bioplastics along with their natural fibre composites, will be pivotal. <\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting prospect to work toward manufacturing a commercially-available plastic with exceptional properties but without the legacy of accumulation in the environment.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Dr Pratt said there was a rapidly growing local and international market for better bioplastics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut we need to consider their full life cycle, from the sustainable resources to make them right up to their end of life,\u201d he said. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The training centre is a partnership between The University of Queensland and The Queensland University of Technology, alongside the Queensland Government, Kimberly-Clark Australia, Plantic Technologies, Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, Minderoo Foundation and City of Gold Coast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kimberly-Clark Australia Managing Director Belinda Driscoll said the company had set an ambitious goal to halve its use of fossil fuel-based plastic in the next eight years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis partnership with the University of Queensland takes an important step toward creating more sustainable products and reducing our environmental footprint,\u201d said Ms Driscoll<\/strong>. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Plantic Technologies Chief Technology Officer Nick McCaffrey said the company looked forward to further expanding the science and engineering behind its unique products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe research outcomes could further improve bio-based materials and extend the shelf life of packaged foods,\u201d Mr McCaffrey<\/strong> said. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The training centre will also focus on training to develop industry-ready researchers in chemical and materials engineering, polymer chemistry, environmental science, social science, policy and business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new University of Queensland-led training centre is set to become a hub for world-leading research in \u2018green\u2019 plastic. The $13 million Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Bioplastics and Biocomposites, based at UQ\u2019s School of Chemical Engineering, aims to make large-scale plastic pollution a problem of the past. Centre director, Associate Professor Steven Pratt said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Australian scientists will work toward developing bio-derived and bio-degradable plastics that have a minimal environmental impact to make large-scale plastic pollution a problem of the past","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[11270,5838,5847,11966,5817],"supplier":[20961,20962,3750,20545,537,13511,4219],"class_list":["post-115101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biodegradability","tag-bioeconomy","tag-bioplastics","tag-plastics","tag-research","supplier-australian-packaging-covenant-organisation-apco","supplier-city-of-gold-coast","supplier-kimberly-clark-corporation","supplier-minderoo-foundation","supplier-plantic-technologies-ltd","supplier-queensland-government","supplier-queensland-university-of-technology-qut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115101"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=115101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}