Fibre Arts Shed is a small, family-owned business on the NSW Central Coast Hinterland that sells raw materials and tools to fibre artists. Their aim is to to set up a new-to-us mini-mill which will enable them to process Aussie-grown wool and alpaca fibre straight from the farm and manufacture beautiful yarn for knitting, instead of shipping it overseas for processing. Not only will this keep more wool and alpaca in Australia, it will also help local wool growers and alpaca breeders to create a product that is 100% traceable and 100% Australian. To know more - https://readyfundgo.com/project/fibreartsshed/
A 2023 start-up aiming to make recycling convenient and accessible to all is about to go national. The aim is to provide people with a home pick-up option for some of the "trickier" items the normal recycling bins can't handle - including soft plastics. https://wastemanagementreview.com.au/recyclesmart-goes-national/
A Kyushu University study (2021) estimated there were 24.4 trillion pieces of microplastics in the world's upper oceans or roughly 30 billion 500-ml plastic water bottles. Microplastics are tiny, toxic and very hard to remove from the environment. But researchers in the US have discovered that some Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES) can attract and bind microplastics, making it easier to remove them from the environment. And the N in NADES is key - natural - in this instance, think extracts from plants. https://www.research.uky.edu/news/researchers-develop-eco-friendly-magnet-battle-microplastics
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Maria MacNamara
Jonathan Chrimes