Researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in the US are working to develop environmentally friendly plastics, which can literally disappear within four months of being discarded. What the research team is constructing is a new breed of biodegradable and bioavailable plastics in an effort to reduce the tonnes of plastic waste that ends up in America's landfills each year. Bioavailable plastics contain substances that can be absorbed by living systems during their normal physiological functions.

IN THE 1967 film The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman's character, Benjamin Braddock, receives a single word of advice about his future from a well-meaning friend of his parents: "Plastics." Our fearless, environment-saving duo of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Environment Minister Peter Garrett were 10 and 14 respectively when the film came out, and it seems plausible that they sucked this message in with their generational DNA but were too young to recognise its satirical intent.

Green Works is attempting to save the world through office furniture. Its formula for social betterment might start with a nondescript conference table. On reaching the end of its useful life with a FTSE 100 company, Green Works will take it, save it from the landfill and help the environment. The company will then sell it at a discount to any number of charities, materially aiding their operations, or will dismantle it and recycle its components.

The Excel group is changing with the times. The agro-chemicals leader has taken a lead in the country to develop biopesticides and manage solid waste by converting it into organic compost. The company CMD, Ashwin C Shroff, spoke to FE on the sidelines of the recently concluded Ficci Environment Conclave to emphasise upon the need to have an integrated approach to sustainable waste management. Shroff is also chairman of the Ficci environment committee. Excerpts: How big is the environment technology market in India?

Where do you go when the burning rubbish dump near you emits the smell of burning plastic and you know it is toxic? Close the windows perhaps and wait till the wind has blown it away or just get used to it?

The Victorian Government has been accused of letting industry decide environment policy after replacing a promised compulsory plastic bags levy with a system run voluntarily by retailers. Victorian Environment Minister Gavin Jennings this week announced a pilot scheme by the Australian National Retailers Association representing major supermarket chains that will charge up to 25 cents a bag at the checkout. This followed federal and state environment ministers failing to agree on a national scheme to phase out plastic bags by the end of the year.

The dustbins at different parts of the Chittagong city have been overflowing with rubbish due to lack of proper supervision by the Chittagong City Corporation, posing threat to public health and environment. According to the CCC sources, there are 1,243 dustbins and 36 containers in 41 wards under the corporation with 1,855 cleaners and 103 vehicles engaged in removing the garbage.

A typical product on a supermarket shelf will have had about one hundred times its own volume of waste created before it reaches the consumer, according to Forum for the Future, an environmental charity. Meeting the demand for food, water, timber and fuel has caused a terrifying spike in the amount of waste produced around the world. The UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has estimated that over half of the country's household waste comes from retail and almost 30 per cent of landfill can be traced back to the five leading supermarket chains.

Nalgene, the brand that popularized water bottles made from hard, clear and nearly unbreakable polycarbonate, will stop using the plastic because of growing concern over one of its ingredients. The decision by Nalgene Outdoor Products, a unit of Thermo Fisher Scientific, based in Rochester, came after reports that the Canadian government would declare the chemical bisphenol-a, or BPA, toxic. Some animal studies have linked the chemical to changes in the hormonal system.

The civic body has announced an ambitious plan to give away prizes to clean wards in the city. FPJ treks down to the dirtiest areas in the city to listen to citizens' woes on reasons for the filth. Zeenat Nagree reports.