Lead singer of Irish rock band U2 Paul David Hewson, better known as Bono, has invested in Israeli recycling company UBQ Materials that converts waste into a recyclable plastic substitute.

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On Wednesday, UBQ Materials announced a $170 million funding round led by TPG Rise, TPG investment firm's global impact investing platform.

The investment was made through TPG Rise Climate, the firm's dedicated climate investing fund, and The Rise Funds, its longstanding, multi-sector impact investing fund. Bono is on The Rise Funds board of directors.

UBQ Materials turns landfill-destined municipal solid waste, into a climate-positive, cost-competitive, and fully recyclable plastic substitute.

A sustainable replacement to plastic, wood, or concrete, it can be used both on its own and in conjunction with conventional oil-based resins to offset the overall carbon footprint of end-products in industries including construction, automotive, logistics, retail, and even 3D printing.

The investment will fund UBQ's global expansion to meet growing demand, beginning with a large-scale facility in the Netherlands to be operational by the end of 2022. Funds will also go into UBQ's continued research to advance certifications, research, and development of new products.

"As countries and industries converged in Glasgow at COP26, negotiating the urgent benchmarks we must hit in lowering greenhouse gas emissions, this investment could not come at a more apt time," Albert Douer, chairman and co-CEO of UBQ Materials said. "Through the prevention of landfill-related methane emissions and the replacement of carbon-intensive raw materials, UBQ can support governments, brands and major manufacturers in achieving their sustainable development goals."

According to UBQ Materials, over 2 billion tons of municipal solid waste are produced annually around the world, more than 70% of which end up in landfills or is openly dumped. Landfills are the third-largest human source of methane, a greenhouse gas emission 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over 20 years.

"Waste is not the end, it is only the beginning," Jack Bigio, co-founder, and co-CEO of UBQ Materials said. "This financing round enables us to widen the reach of our patented conversion technology and novel material, bringing us closer to a functioning circular economy worldwide."

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As a model of creative recycling in one of the most densely populated places on earth, a Gaza Strip cafe is serving up a healthy dose of environmentalism alongside its signature morning coffee.

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The beachside venue is part of the "Sea is Ours" co-operative, a complex built of reused wooden poles, plastic jugs, tires and broken bricks by local playwright Ali Mhana and a group of friends.

"My mother wanted me to become a physician," said Mhana, whose office there features a door off a refrigerator and windows that used to be washing machine doors.

Video: Reuters

"I don't have to be a doctor for humans. I can be the doctor of the sea, a doctor of the community that suffers several illnesses."

Dressed in a blue uniform, Mhana aims to ease at least some of those conditions through activities at a site that also houses a library, theatre and open event spaces where young and old can learn about conserving the environment.

"Jeans became plant vessels and a fan became a light decoration," said mother-of-four Haneen Assamak after learning how things she used to throw out can be reused.

"We planted in empty jars, and the bottles were filled with sand and lights," said Assamak, who now has a corner at home where she collects objects to be brought to Mhana for recycling.

"To me, this is happiness," she told Reuters, sitting on a colorful chair made of car tires.

Mhana said children visiting the site, which was provided by the Gaza municipality, instinctively understood the need to protect the environment.

"The recipe comes from them. When I ask what we can do to treat the sea, they say we can have a cleaning campaign, hold signs and go down and talk to people," he told Reuters.

A well as bringing in other material for recycling in lieu of payment, customers seeking to rent an open space for an event can also volunteer an hour of their time to help pick up litter at the beach.

A Gaza Environment Quality Authority official said 2,000 tons of solid waste is collected in the Gaza Strip every day. Over half of it comes from homes, and thousands of Palestinians earn money selling material to recycling factories.

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As part of its vision to reduce plastics, McDonald's largest independent franchise has announced that it will be replacing its standard plastic food trays with a more sustainable, recycled plastic produced by Israeli cleantech startup UBQ Materials.

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Since launching its plastics reduction program in 2018, Arcos Dorados, which operates McDonald's restaurants in Latin America and the Caribbean, has removed over 1,300 tons of single-use plastic from its outlets.

UBQ Materials converts household waste into a climate-positive, biobased, thermoplastic. In contrast to standard recycling procedures, UBQ's technology takes all types of landfill- waste – food leftovers, paper, cardboard, and mixed plastics – and converts it all into a single composite thermoplastic material compatible with industry machinery and manufacturing standards.

In the first phase of the partnership, 30 restaurants operated by McDonald's Brazil replaced 7,200 serving trays with new ones from UBQ. The plan is to extend the model to all McDonald's outlets in Brazil. Another 11,000 trays are already in production, and the new trays will keep over 1,200 kg of waste out of landfills.

According to UBQ, every ton of its bio-based thermoplastic keeps nearly 12 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent prevents nearly 12 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent out of the environment. According to Quantis, a firm that assesses environmental impact, this metric makes UBQ the most climate-positive thermoplastic on the market.

The new trays are produced by the Brazilian company Semaza, whose plant is in Santana de Parnaíba, in the Greater São Paulo region. The introduction of trays made with UBQ will be gradually extended to the other units in the chain, while old tray models withdrawn from the restaurants will be used in the circular economy projects promoted by Arcos Dorados.

"We as a company are fully committed to the environment and are doing everything possible to reduce the impact of our operation by means of our Recipe for the Future platform. The partnership with UBQ is yet another step towards introducing more and more innovative solutions to improve the world around us, and we are proud to take this first step, supporting a technology that will transform the way society recycles its organic waste," said Gabriel Serber, director of sustainable development and social impact at Arcos Dorados.

Executive chairman of UBQ Materials Albert Douer said that "UBQ has the potential to revolutionize the way we view waste. The market at large is demanding sustainable solutions and the fast-food industry is no exception. UBQ enables manufacturers to create products that positively impact our world, without compromising on profitability – the solution is as simple as implementation."

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BGN Technologies, the technology transfer company of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, has signed a research collaboration agreement with Portugal's ECOIBÉRIA in the field of plastic recycling by bacteria, the university announced Wednesday.

The project is based on research by Professor Ariel Kushmaro and ProfessorAlex Sivan, both from the Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology and Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering at BGU.

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Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the most abundantly used polymer in the world, with multiple applications in the textile industry as well as in food and beverage packaging. An estimated 56 million tons of PET are produced yearly worldwide, mostly as single-use packaging.

Kushmaro, Sivan and their team have been studying plastic biodegradation and have discovered several bacteria species that are able to biodegrade polyethylene, which was previously considered a non-biodegradable plastic.

Based on these findings, the research collaboration project will assess PET biodegradation by previously identified bacteria as well as novel ones, with the aim of developing an efficient biodegradation process of PET. Byproducts of the process would be used to make recycled PET.

Products that contain plastic are cone of the "biggest environmental challenges facing modern society," Kushmaro said, calling bacterial degradation of PET into recyclable materials a "promising strategy that can have a global environmental and economic impact."

ECOIBÉRIA CEO Jorge Lemos said that his company's mission was to guarantee the sustainability of the production and consumption models and "assist in the transition from the linear economy to the circular economy."

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Set to receive an investment of 30 million shekels (around $8.6 million), the CIRCLE consortium will enable companies in the recycling sector or plastic and polymer manufacturers, as well as academic and research institutes in the field to develop innovative technologies to give Israeli industry an edge in international markets. The technologies developed in the consortium will allow for the expansion of the range of recycled materials and their applications.

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The consortium's establishment is aimed at leveraging Israel's academic and industrial capabilities in order to close the existing technological gap and situate Israel's plastics industry as a leader in the field of plastic waste management.

It will operate within Israel Innovation Authority's MAGNET consortium, a nonprofit association of industrial firms and academic research institutes for the research and development of cutting-edge technologies.

"The world is moving toward a responsible industry and economy through the use of recycled or innovative materials for the sake of environmental protection," noted Economy and Industry Minister Eli Cohen.

Meanwhile, a new project in cooperation with Rotem Energy Mineral in the Negev in Israel's south is in development that is expected to create some 2,000 jobs and convert hundreds of thousands of tons of urban plastic waste that is currently buried in the Ef'eh landfill into electricity and fuel.

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A group of students from the Reut Elementary School in the Menashe Regional Council in northern Israel won first place in their category for their film, "One meal, a lot of garbage!" The film focuses on the issue of wasteful food packaging and what people can do to help reduce it.

In addition to making the film, the producers showed it in all the classrooms at their school in an attempt to educate the rest of the students. To encourage reduced food packaging waste, the students also announced they would be holding an annual competition to track the amount of food packaging thrown into classroom recycling receptacles. The classes with the least amount of wasteful packaging will earn points toward a prize.

The students learned on Sunday that they had won first prize in their category.

Yonatan Ben Lulu said, "It's an excellent feeling. All through the process, we felt like we had an influence and we were creating change."

Ofer Shai, who also helped create the film, added, "We learned to work together. When they told us we won, I was really happy."

Head of the Menashe Regional Council Ilan Sadeh said in response to the students' achievement that "environmentalism and sustainability are central principles in our council – and for us, teaching that starts in nursery schools and continues through elementary school. … It's no coincidence our council is the greenest, most sustainable, and even leads in recycling, in Israel."

The students campaigning against wasteful food packaging were not the only Israeli entrants to place high in this year's YRE competition.

Students from Darca Ramon High School in Gedera won second place in the reportage video category (age 15-18) for their film "Wise man – wise consumer."

Students from the same school also won second place in the campaign video competition for their film "What do you do with your e-waste?"

An Israeli-Portuguese collaboration titled "Red meat consumption – an international collaborative research" won second place in the international collaboration category for entrants age 15-18, and a film by students at Rimon Middle School titled "Dumped from home" won third place in the competition's Litter Less category for ages 11-14. "Brown is the New Green," by students at Ramon High School in Gedera, won second place in the same category for entrants age 15-18.

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