The founders of Belgium's Studio Plastique explain how their research-based projects and material investigations aim to position design as "a tool for a world that is in transition" in this interview as part of our VDF x Alcova collaboration.
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Manufacturing company Ecopixel is showcasing its contribution towards a circular economy as part of the VDF x Ventura Projects collaboration. More
Hola Studio is introducing three 3D-printed lamps at VDF's collaboration with Ventura Projects that are designed to be playful and emotive. More
Recycling initiative Precious Plastic's open-source machines are being used to recycle plastic and turn it into face shields, respirator masks and hands-free door handles to fight coronavirus. More
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have begun mass-producing disposable face shields for medical workers fighting Covid-19, which come flat-packed and can be folded into shape. More
Australian studio Heliograf's Light Soy lamps are designed to emulate the fish-shaped soy sauce bottles found in sushi shops, as a comment on the damaging effects of single-use plastic. More
Brooklyn artist Robin Frohardt has used old plastic bags to create foods such as tomatoes and sushi rolls for an installation in New York's Times Square. More
Sushi wrapped in shopping bags and beer frothing with styrofoam bubbles are among the unappetising images in Sweet Sneak Studio's Microplastic Photo Series that explore the impacts of plastic pollution. More
A new range of facade cladding tiles made of recycled PVC construction waste, designed by Dutch studios Overtreders W and Bureau SLA, has been used on a permanent building for the first time. More
Dutch designers Iris van Daalen and Ruben Thier's The Plastic Mine is a series of home accessories made from plastic clumps gathered from a factory floor. More
Designers disagreed about whether we can live without plastic at the inaugural Dezeen Day conference, with architect Arthur Mamou-Mani saying "we still need" the material and designer Nienke Hoogvliet arguing that "we shouldn't produce any more". More
Most ocean plastic starts off in rivers. From bubble curtains to googly-eyed trash wheels, here are four technologies designed to intercept river plastic before it gets to the sea. More
Kazakhstani designer Enis Akiev has developed a method for turning single-use plastic packaging into tiles, by emulating the organic process of rock formation. More
An easily biodegradable material that could be "part of a global answer" to single-use plastic pollution has won its inventor, British designer Lucy Hughes, the international James Dyson Award. More
New York designer Charlotte McCurdy has fashioned a water-resistant jacket from a plastic made of algae, which captures existing CO2 from the atmosphere. More
Dutch designer Richard Hutten clashed with the CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation at the Dezeen Day conference last week, with the two speakers disagreeing over the role of plastic in the circular economy. More
Dutch non-profit The Ocean Cleanup has launched the Interceptor, an autonomous system for collecting plastic pollution from rivers before it reaches the sea. More
French designer Dorian Renard has applied traditional glassblowing techniques to a series of plastic furniture and sculptural pieces, in a bid to present the maligned material in a new light. More
Amsterdam-based Studio Drift has created an installation of 3,000 blue blocks, which each represent the plastic used to make an individual supermarket bag, at the Van Abbemuseum for Dutch Design Week. More
The UK government has called for experts to help it develop standards for bioplastics and biodegradable plastics, amid rising concern over greenwashing. More
