Plastics are a problem; they use valuable resources in their manufacture, and they’re a nightmare to recycle into anything useful. Or they were – a company called GRC have developed a type of giant multi-frequency microwave that shakes hydrocarbon plastics apart and turns them back into oil. There’s a bit of a trade-off there, I guess – we need to stop using oil if we possibly can, but equally anything that turns unwanted plastics into something other than landfill has got to be a winner. And it seems that the whole planet is finally waking up to pollution issues – even China intends to start levying higher fees and taxes on companies that fail to curb their emissions.