It's become clear that retailers and manufacturers across many industries - from food and beverage and pharmaceutical to consumer products - are seeking to innovate while incorporating associated sustainability implications. So what are the four rising trends in sustainable packaging?

Queensland Urban Utilities has launched a new trial which uses floating wetlands to purify wastewater at the Forest Hill Sewage Treatment Plant, near Laidley. The project involves growing wetlands on specially engineered plastic mattresses, which are then floated on purpose-built lagoons. [ + ]

Hurll Nu-Way offers efficient solutions for turning liquid waste (sludge) into electricity by anaerobic digestion.

Researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet München (LMU) have developed a process which will greatly simplify the process of sorting plastics in recycling plants. Their method enables the automated identification of polymers. [ + ]

Sweden's 32 waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration plants can handle even more waste than is produced domestically. So when it runs out of its own garbage, it offers a service to the rest of Europe: importing excess waste from other countries. [ + ]

What has been the challenge for the development of wave technology and what's on the horizon for the future? [ + ]

Physicists from The Australian National University (ANU) have created a tractor beam on water, which they can use to manipulate floating objects at will. [ + ]

​Non-for-profit company Brown Coal Innovation Australia (BCIA) has announced $650,000 in funding for a research and development project which will target significantly reduced carbon emissions from brown coal power generation. [ + ]

Two Atlas Copco ZS 55+ oil-free screw blowers with variable speed drive (VSD) are supplying energy-efficient compressed air to process sewage at a treatment plant in Versmold, Germany. [ + ]

Power system manufacturer Magellan Power has delivered a state-of-the-art energy storage system to TransGrid, the owner and operator of one of the largest high-voltage transmission networks in Australia. [ + ]

Tyre manufacturer Continental is working with the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME) with the objective of using latex from the roots of the dandelion as a commercially viable substitute for natural latex from rainforest plantations. [ + ]

According to a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the use of new nanomaterials in tyre production could help foster the sustainability of the tyre industry and reduce the environmental impact of vehicles - so long as the potential environmental, health and safety risks of the technology are managed carefully. [ + ]

The sewage treatment plant in the city of Gütersloh, Germany, treats an average of between 6.5 and 7 million m³ of sewage water. Up until recently, three Atlas Copco ZB 130 VSD centrifugal compressors and two older single-stage screw compressors supplied the compressed air for the biological process that occurs in the plant’s exceptionally deep sedimentation tanks. [ + ]

SolarMax has provided its grid-connected solar inverters to Bird Munchies, a manufacturer of birdseed products, through its installation partner Ygrene Energy. [ + ]

When it comes to carbon pricing from waste, you would be excused if you find it hard to tell the truth from the erroneous. It is pretty easy to miss the big picture behind the headline-grabbing estimate or to just feel lost because you went away for a few days! [ + ]