A waste management system for plastic or other material floating on the surface and in the subsurface of a body of water. A shredding device will reduce the size of the particles of waste. Ocean water is removed by a drying device. The dried waste material is frozen to a temperature at or below minus fifty degrees Fahrenheit, using liquid nitrogen or other suitable means. The frozen waste material is then pulverized and ground into a powder. The powder may then be sprayed into a gas-filled chamber and heated. Temperature, pressure and humidity are maintained within the chamber for more than one minute. Microwave or other radiation and catalysts may be used to enhance the process of extraction. The processed material is then removed from the chamber. Carbon may be recycled or used as fuel by the ship. Water may be used by the ship or returned to the ocean.

A method of separating constituent layers from a paper-plastic laminate material includes disposing a sheet of a paper-plastic laminate material on a first surface. The paper-plastic laminate material includes a paper layer on a first side and a plastic layer on a second side. The method also includes moving an abrasive second surface over the paper layer on the first side to contact the paper layer and separate portions of the paper layer from the plastic layer. The method further includes collecting the separated portions of the paper layer and providing the separated portions of the paper layer as input to a paper recycling process, and collecting the plastic layer and providing the plastic layer as input to a plastic recycling process. The method may help increase recycling rates of paper and plastic, reduce raw material harvesting, reduce pollution and habitat destruction, and improve the quality of recycled material.

Clean, safe, and efficient methods, systems, and processes for utilizing thermolysis methods to processes to convert various waste sources into a Clean Fuel Gas, Char, and Biochar are provided. The process further converts the Clean Fuel Gas into both a purified hydrogen source for green ammonia production and natural gas. The methods process waste sources to effectively separate, neutralize and/or destroy halogens and other hazardous components to provide a Clean Fuel Gas, Char and/or Biochar, which can then further be processed to extract and purify hydrogen for green ammonia production from the Clean Fuel Gas and thereby provide natural gas. The Clean Fuel Gas is a natural and renewable natural gas as it is continually produced and further available for use to provide energy and new products.

The invention relates to a method and system for the elimination of odours in recycled plastic materials, which comprises the steps of: separating and conditioning the plastic; shredding the plastic by means of a bladed shredded, which reduces the plastic into powder-sized particles; chemically washing with a surfactant, which is carried out in a stirring tank; rinsing the plastic material to eliminate dirt and the chemicals used, which is carried out in a rinsing reactor; mechanically drying the clean material in a dryer; and deodorising the plastic, wherein volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are removed from the clean, dry material by means of steam distillation, deodorisation being performed in a steam distillation column, the VOC-free plastic exiting through the bottom part of the column.

The present disclosure relates to the production of biomass from at least one plastic polymer. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to use of a feed for production of biomass, wherein larvae of the family Pyralidae or of the family Tenebrionidae are fed on a feed comprising at least one plastic polymer, a related use of increasing pupation in a population of larva.

The present invention relates to a method for treatment of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) containing post-consumer product, the method comprising contacting a post-consumer product with a polypeptide that can catalyze degradation of the PHA, the contact taking place at a temperature at least 45 C. In a specific embodiment, the poly peptide is a wild-type PHA depolymerase expressed by a thermophilic microorganism or a modified PHA depolymerase that includes one or more single-site mutations as compared to the wild-type PHA depolymerase. In another specific embodiment, the polypeptide comprising a modified poly hydroxy butyrate (PHB) depolymerase comprising one or more single-site mutations as compared to SEQ ID NO: 1, and the modified PHB depolymerase having an optimum temperature of at least 45 C. The present invention also relates to a host cell transformed to express a polypeptide that catalyzes degradation of a PHA, the polypeptide having an optimum temperature for the degradation reaction of at least 45 C., wherein the host cell is selected from an E. coli cell or a thermophilic microorganism.