A good grilling

As they reopen after lockdown, many restaurants are firing up their barbecues. Diners appreciate food grilled over glowing charcoal embers, but the 【小题1】 residents often do not. Pollution levels near restaurants can be 【小题2】 higher than average, because of emissions from kitchens. With the increasing popularity of indoor barbecuing, it is a problem that is set to get worse.

The researchers tested a commercial grill, 【小题3】 with the sort of multistage filtering system used in many — though by no means all — restaurants. Apart from typical pollutants and particulate matter, they also discovered polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (多环芳烃). These cancer-causing chemicals are mainly produced by the incomplete combustion (燃烧) of 【小题4】 and oil-based sauces. The researchers estimated that if their half-a-square-metre grill was used for nine hours a day, it would release between 400 and 500 kilograms of fine and ultrafine particulate matter into the air every year. With many restaurants using 2.5-square-metre grills 16 hours a day, the level of pollution from most commercial【小题5】 would be much higher.

The researchers are investigating which extraction systems best protect all the people 【小题6】 such as the restaurant employees. Taller chimneys are one option. But Dr Aleysa, an expert in combustion technology, suspects they would just 【小题7】 the pollution elsewhere. The results of these tests will be published next year.

Meanwhile, Dr Aleysa’s team have come up with their own solution: a new kind of grill, which they reckon can cut pollutants by 90%. Dr Aleysa is reluctant to go into 【小题8】. But the basic idea is that before being released to the outside, the fumes are sucked back down through the embers and into a combustion zone, where hydrocarbons and odour compounds are fully burnt. That lessens the need for expensive extraction systems and fiddly filters that must be 【小题9】 cleaned.

An industrial partner is keen to put the grill into production. It could go on sale by the middle of next year. It will cost a bit more than a standard grill, says Dr Aleysa. But he believes that would be offset by lower 【小题10】 costs. Better air quality around restaurants would be welcome. But the big test will be whether chefs believe the new grill can produce that same barbecue flavour.

Go Recycling

No one looking at the state of Earth in 2023 can be in any doubt that we are facing three serious environmental problems: climate problem, loss of biodiversity (生物多样性) and pollution of air, soil and water. To solve the problems, we increase the use of electric cars, 【小题1】 greener eating and reduce plastic use. However, sometimes these solutions can be opposite to the expected goals. For instance, creating space for biofuel crops to give off fewer pollutants and greenhouse gases can, in fact, 【小题2】 increase the cutting down of trees. That means in most cases solutions aiming at one problem each time are 【小题3】 to be effective. And, what is perhaps lacking is a(n) 【小题4】 of how interlinked these problems are.

We should realize that a key 【小题5】 linking all the three problems is waste. The root cause of global warming is CO₂, a waste gas. The seas are polluted by plastic and other waste products. We 【小题6】 forests, among other things, to grow more food — much of which goes to waste.

A shocking figure lies at the heart of our special report on our world — of the more than 100 billion tons of things that humans use each year, hardly 10% is recycled. That makes it obvious a full-range war on waste should be paid 【小题7】 attention. The situation requires our speedy moving away from the way of thinking — “take, make, throw” — towards a more recyclable one, which means we should begin 【小题8】 the products and when they reach the end of their useful lives, they can be recycled.

Solving the three problems calls for a huge transition with joint efforts. Governments must take the lead by introducing laws with the purpose of rewarding green practices, such as the 【小题9】 of waste. Industries can reduce, re-use and recycle wherever possible, and 【小题10】 themselves with suppliers and the like-minded to realize recyclable business models.

Lego: One Step Closer to Being Sustainable

The Lego Group is one step closer to reaching its goal of making all its products from sustainable materials by 2030.

The Danish toymaker revealed a prototype (雏形) brick made from 【小题1】 plastic. In a news release, Lego said the PET plastic from 【小题2】 bottles makes up the first brick to meet the company’s “strict quality and safety requirements.” One way the company 【小题3】 safety is by sourcing materials from suppliers that use processes approved by the US Food & Drug Administration and European Food Safety Authority.

“The biggest 【小题4】 on our sustainability journey is rethinking and innovating new materials that are as long-lasting, strong and high quality as our existing bricks—and fit with LEGO elements made over the past 60 years,” Lego Group Vice President of Environmental Responsibility Tim Brooks said. “With this prototype we’re able to【小题5】 the progress we’re making to the public.”

It will be “some time” before bricks made from used materials can be 【小题6】, Lego said. The company will continue to test and develop the PET formulation (配方) and decide whether to move to the 【小题7】 production phase, which is expected to take at least a year. One factor the company is testing is how the material can be 【小题8】.

“Experimentation and failing is an important part of learning and 【小题9】. Just as kids build, unbuild and rebuild with LEGO bricks at home, we’re doing the same in our lab,” Brooks said.

The move follows last year’s announcement that the company was making a $400 million investment over three years into sustainability 【小题10】. It included phasing out the single-use plastic bags from its boxes and instead using recyclable paper for its packaging.