WASTE NOT -
Existing EPR systems limit electronics producers’ responsibility to national jurisdictions, not to the countries to which we export our electronics waste, and neither lead to multiple product use cycles nor to safe e-waste management.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
In this excerpt from his new book, Honor Thy Label, Dr. Bronner's Gero Leson shares the company's years-long journey to establishing a stable supply chain for fair trade, organic palm oil.
CLEANTECH -
The ReLieVe project will develop and scale the process and structuring of an integrated industrial sector — from collection and recycling of end-of-life batteries, to the manufacturing of new electrode materials.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
We hear a lot about the use and alternatives of single-use plastic these days. But another type of plastic is embracing a new ambitious business model: Vinyl.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Continuing this year’s wave of near-constant innovations aimed at responsible management of post-consumer plastics are new advancements from both the private and public sector.
BASF making products with chemically recycled plastics
BASF announced it has broken new ground in plastic waste recycling with its ChemCycling project. Chemical recycling provides an innovative way to reutilize currently unrecyclable plastic waste, such as mixed or uncleaned plastics. Depending on the region, such waste is usually sent to landfill or burned with energy recovery.
WASTE NOT -
New initiatives from both the private and public sector aim to further chip away at the UK’s food waste issue, as the nation attempts to rebound from being designated Europe’s biggest food waster in 2015.
Kellogg's Cornflakes adding sweet touch to Throw Away IPA
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
This week, more momentum on the anti-plastic front: Unilever will develop a crowdsourced, plastic-free laundry solution to combat single-use sachets; while Stora Enso and Sulapac are developing renewable drinking straws.
Unilever to invest €100K in crowdsourced alternative to plastic packaging
CPG giant Unilever has announced that it will invest €100,000 in a new, plastic-free laundry tablet — a crowdsourced innovation that has the potential to replace single-use sachets of laundry powder, a popular format for laundry detergents in the developing world that is problematic in terms of plastic waste.
CLEANTECH -
Next week, at the COP24 climate summit in Poland, a Swedish startup is set to unveil what it hails as the world's first carbon-negative fuel.
NextFuel briquettes
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
US-based multinational 3M launches approximately 1,000 new products each year; starting in 2019, 100 percent of them will have sustainability built in: Today, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24), 3M announced its first formal requirement that, beginning in 2019, all new products will include a Sustainability Value Commitment that demonstrates how they drive impact for the greater good.
BUSINESS CASE -
Nearly three-quarters of organisations surveyed (72 percent) mention the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their annual corporate or sustainability reports — an increase of 10 percent on last year, according to a new study by PwC. But concrete measures and integration remain elusive for many as organisations struggle to identify actions beyond business-as-usual targets.
PRESS RELEASE -
Information and communications technologies (ICT) have revolutionized the way we communicate, collaborate and work. Now, they’re emerging as a critical tool for slashing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by helping companies and consumers consume energy in a more intelligent and efficient way. While ICT is being used to shape smarter cities, transportation systems, industrial processes and more, the industry is also a net source of GHG emissions.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Let me tell you a few things about failure — a subject on which I’m something of an expert.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
WWF Germany recently published a report, Boom in Raw Materials: Between Profits and Losses, which offers one of the first concrete rebuttals from a major environmental group against the notion that industry actions alone are enough to move the global industrial mining sector towards greater responsibility.
PRESS RELEASE -
BASF was honored with a BMW Supplier Innovation Award 2018 as the winner in the Sustainability category. BMW Group said BASF achieved the best performance in CO2 emissions in the report published by the non-governmental organization CDP. BASF’s anchoring of the fight against climate change within the company were cited as another reason for the decision.
In addition, BASF develops solutions that help its customers reduce CO2 emissions. One example for the automotive industry is the innovative integrated coating process, which considerably reduces energy consumption by eliminating one entire coating and curing step.
PRESS RELEASE -
DuPont Sustainable Solutions (DSS) today announced the launch of a new global Innovation Management consulting practice that is specifically designed to enable B2B clients to bring more high value-added products and business models to market, profitably.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Kickstarter PBC and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today unveiled new features on Kickstarter aimed at helping innovators evaluate and reduce the environmental impact of their products from the concept stage.
Kickstarter and EDF worked together to develop an information hub called the Environmental Resource Center, as well as a space where project creators are asked to publicly commit to environmental practices. These features will help thousands of people create sustainable products by embedding environmental considerations into the early planning stages.
PRESS RELEASE -
Ørsted, one of the world’s largest green energy developers, is named Sector Leader in the 2018 GRESB Infrastructure Assessment, for significant steps taken to incorporate sustainability into operations and communicate performance to investors.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
On Friday, Montreal’s McGill University announced the opening of the Bensadoun School of Retail Management (BSRM) — a hub for students, researchers and practitioners to work collaboratively towards bringing retailers into the 21st century. An interdisciplinary, forward-looking school dedicated to all facets of the retail industry, its research and programming will focus on fostering sustainable consumption and healthy societies.