Notícias

Please sir, can I have less on my plate so I don t leave so much food to waste. Photo: Aci Helena.

While dining at a local club a few years back, the husband ordered a small-sized version of fish and chips, as offered on the menu.

Imagine his embarrassment and my mirth when the meal arrived in a cute little paper pirate boat that would appeal to any child diner but certainly not to his child within.

I was equally embarrassed at another club when I ordered a seniors’ meal (long before I was “officially” a senior) because it offered a smaller size and I didn’t want a huge lunch.

The thing is, neither of us are big eaters and we don’t like wasting food, especially when we’re paying for others to cook and serve it. We’re not the type of people who order entrees, mains and desserts, because we just don’t have big appetites.

We’ve become experts at shuffling leftovers around on the plate to avoid the withering looks from wait staff, or concerned inquiries about the quality of the food ( beautiful thanks, just too much for me ). We ve mastered the craft of artfully placing a somewhat crushed serviette to cover the half a cow left on our plates. Some venues are happy to supply containers to take home leftovers but in these days of heightened litigation and the fear of diners getting food poisoning, most refuse to offer that option.

Yes, our Italian friends laugh at us while they happily take our leftovers and we re mocked by those in our family with large and extra-large appetites.

But it’s high time that restaurants, clubs and pubs started taking notice of what we’ve been asking for for years smaller portions of adult meals.

We do not want chicken nuggets and chips, or kids’ pasta. We want to order a meal from the adult side of the menu that’s closer to the size of a kids’ meal.

In this day and age, it’s not just an option to suit “fussy” people like us.

Leia a matéria na íntegra:
Big plates, bigger waste: Is it time for restaurants to reduce their serving sizes?

The UAE’s launch of Naseej, the National Initiative for Textile Circularity, will test whether a country known for malls, fast fashion, and high consumption can turn textile waste from an environmental afterthought into part of a working circular system.

The initiative, launched under the directives of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, comes as the UAE is estimated to generate 220,000 metric tons of textile waste each year. It aims to create a more organized national system for collecting, reusing, recycling, and reducing textile waste while linking government agencies, businesses, researchers, recyclers, community organizations, and consumers.

Circular textile systems aim to keep garments and fibers in use for as long as possible through reuse, repair, resale, upcycling, recycling, and reduced waste.

That goal is easy to state and difficult to deliver. Across the UAE’s sustainable fashion and textile recovery ecosystem, business owners and advocates broadly welcome Naseej as an important national step.

But they also warn that recycling alone will not solve the problem unless the country builds accessible collection systems, supports resale and repair, reduces overconsumption, and develops local capacity to handle materials that currently have few viable end-of-life options.

Still, public details released so far leave open major questions: whether Naseej will lead to permanent neighborhood collection points, binding targets, brand obligations, long-term funding, enforcement mechanisms, or large-scale recycling facilities.

Naseej brings together the National Projects Office, the Ministry of Economy and Tourism, Emirates Foundation, Tadweer Group, researchers, businesses, and community partners to work on collection, recycling, consumer behavior, regulation, and circular business models.

In practical terms, the initiative is expected to support national programs, improve collection and recycling infrastructure, advance pilot projects, and help creat…

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UAE launches initiative to fight textile waste, pollution | The Jerusalem Post

Picture a pile of trash the size of Manhattan and taller than one and a half Empire State Buildings. That’s how much plastic waste the world is predicted to be generating every year by 2050 if nothing is done to change course.

It’s easy to think of recycling as the solution, but the vast majority of plastic waste now ends up in landfills, or worse.

A large amount of plastic waste gets shipped overseas. In a new study, my colleague and I analyzed what happens when plastic waste is shipped to lower- and middle-income countries, where open burning is a common way of dealing with excess waste. The result, we found, is pronounced increases in toxic air pollution.

Between 40% and 65% of total municipal solid waste is openly burned in low- and middle-income countries, largely as a result of 2 billion people around the world having no municipal solid waste collection.

Open burning occurs both intentionally and unintentionally, the latter when open dump sites containing organic waste spontaneously combust due to heat generated as the waste degrades.

When plastic burns, it releases particularly toxic air pollutants. Fine particles can penetrate deep into people’s bodies, along with gases that include carbon monoxide, styrene gas and hydrogen cyanide. It also releases persistent organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dioxins. These particles and gases have been linked to health risks ranging from respiratory and cardiovascular disease to cancer and reproductive and neurological disorders.

The ash from open burning can also contaminate soil and groundwater with persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals and other toxicants, creating more chances for people to be exposed to them through food and water.

Large amounts of plastic waste are shipped around the world – some to be recycled and much to simply be disposed of in landfills or incinerated. In 2024, 9.34 million metric tons of plastic waste imports were reported, according to the United Natio…

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A lot of ‘recycled’ plastic is being burned overseas – and causing widespread pollution linked to health problems

Once plastics are released into the marine environment, large pieces choke wildlife and disturb fragile habitats like coral reefs before breaking down into toxic microplastics that poison the food chain. Even when they have fully disintegrated physically, their chemical bonds remain and the impacts persist.

Today, more than 4,000 marine species are known to be affected by plastics, according to the World Ocean Assessment, the only analysis of the world’s ocean across the three pillars – environmental, economic and social – of sustainable development.

Dr Ian Butler, an editor of the 1,600-page report that includes contributions from over 650 experts, said the whole marine system is being affected: “it’s their feeding, their metabolism, their immune function, their growth and reproduction. It weakens and kills them, and changes populations.”

Ahead of World Ocean Day on June 8, here are five things you need to know about ocean plastics:

The amount of plastic in the ocean is still rising, driven by mismanaged waste, littering, microplastic abrasion and marine activities. Plastic waste emissions are estimated at 52.1 million metric tonnes per year.

There are also different regional patterns: littering is described as the largest source of pollution in the Global North, while uncollected waste dominates in the Global South.

These ‘leakages’ are what causes the ocean so much damage. “What our eyes see is the tip of the iceberg,” Dr. Butler warned.

Floating and beach macro- and microplastics account for only three to four per cent of total ocean plastic, meaning much of the problem is dispersed, submerged, fragmented or otherwise hard to recover.

Once plastic reaches the ocean, it is not just confined to beaches or floating garbage patches – microplastics have been found from surface waters to the deepest depths of the ocean.

It is estimated that there are some 24.4 trillion microplastic pieces in the world’s upper oceans. Microplastics are small plastic pieces les…

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Five things you need to know about ocean plastics

The team behind Black Salt in Creve Coeur is developing technology that could transform food storage and help reduce waste worldwide. Author: ksdk …

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St. Louis-area chefs cook up a solution to food waste | ksdk.com

A single construction site can generate a surprising amount of waste long before a building is completed. Broken concrete, steel cuts, timber formworks, plastic wrappings and other excess materials are standard byproducts of any development, often unavoidable.

With plenty of developments currently underway, is Malaysia’s landfill space becoming increasingly constrained? What happens to the debris after it leaves the site is a common question and it is drawing even greater attention as the country keeps building.

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Keeping waste disposal responsible

How this rural Alberta town rescues thousands of dollars in food waste each year

Randy Wheeler takes the CBC s Maggie Kirk on his weekly pickup route for Food Recovery Friday in Hinton. From frozen meat to fresh produce, see how a program born out of a wildfire evacuation is turning grocery store waste into a barrier-free, free shopping experience.

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How this rural Alberta town rescues thousands of dollars in food waste each year

Ana Catalina Suarez Pena, senior director of strategy and innovation at the Global FoodBanking Network, warned on Monday that organic waste generated by food loss is driving greenhouse gas emissions and accelerating global warming, noting that food systems have been included in every COP agenda since COP28.

Speaking to Anadolu at the Zero Waste Forum, Suarez highlighted what she called a stark global paradox. At the same time, 2.5 billion people are facing food insecurity across the globe. There is a paradox — on one hand we are losing and wasting food, on the other, people are facing hunger and food insecurity, she said, noting that food banks serve to interconnect these two urgent conversations.

Suarez noted that around 20 percent of global methane emissions come from organic waste, with approximately 77 percent of that organic waste comprising food waste. She stressed that when a food bank prevents one ton of food from being wasted, it also prevents 2.6 tons of CO2 emissions from being generated. She added that reducing organic waste is the fastest way to meet climate commitments while making food available for people in need.

The senior director said ways to prevent food waste will be addressed at COP31 under the zero waste package. The most important step we need to take is to prevent food loss and waste from the outset, because the best waste is the one you never generate. Our expectation from COP31 is that the waste agenda takes a very important place, she said, explaining that discussions with the COP31 presidency seek to establish incentives and a clear agenda for reduction.

Michael Oko, vice president of communications and marketing at the Global FoodBanking Network, told Anadolu that preventing food waste also prevents the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. He noted that food waste accounts for around 8-10 percent of all emissions, making it a major share of the total, yet only about 4 percent of global climate finance is currently direc…

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Food waste drives methane emissions, experts warn

La localidad zaragozana de Fuentes de Ebro se ha convertido en el nuevo epicentro de la sostenibilidad en la región con la puesta en marcha de una infraestructura de vanguardia que promete dar que hablar. Veolia ha decidido apostar fuerte por este territorio con una instalación que combina el tratamiento de residuos orgánicos y la producción de energía limpia, lo que supone un soplo de aire fresco para la economía circular local que tanto se busca potenciar hoy en día.

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Nueva planta de compostaje y biomasa de Veolia en Zaragoza

Piensa en el último smartphone, tablet o smartwatch que dejaste de usar. Lo más probable es que no esté en un contenedor de reciclaje ni en manos de un nuevo propietario; Está guardado en un cajón.

En nuestra encuesta a 4,000 consumidores estadounidenses, descubrimos que lo más común que hacía la gente con un dispositivo que había terminado era no tener nada en absoluto: el 39% simplemente lo almacenaba. El reciclaje y la reventa, mejores resultados para el medio ambiente, cada uno representaba solo alrededor de 1 de cada 10 dispositivos. Tirar los dispositivos a la basura reclamó otro 9%.

Financiado por la National Science Foundation, nuestro equipo multidisciplinar combinó nuestra experiencia en inferencia causal, sostenibilidad y ciberseguridad para trabajar en la enredada cuestión de qué hacen las personas con sus productos electrónicos de consumo cuando terminan de usarlos. Utilizamos modelos estadísticos para conectar lo que la gente dice —es decir, su conocimiento y actitudes declaradas— con lo que realmente hicieron.

Dos fuerzas principales mantienen los dispositivos en el cajón. La primera es la ansiedad por los datos. Las personas que temían que reciclar o revender un dispositivo comprometiera sus datos tenían un 14% y un 9% más de probabilidades de almacenarlos en su lugar.

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Por qué no podemos dejar atrás nuestros viejos gadgets y cables y qué podemos hacer al respecto