ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
60 members of the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles have revealed concrete action plans to ensure humane working conditions, greater environmental protection and fair wages in their own companies and in their suppliers’ production facilities. The Partnership — a multi-stakeholder coalition made up of companies, associations, NGOs, trade unions, standards organisations and the Federal German Government, formed in 2014 with the aim of making improvements along the entire textile supply chain —considers this a major step forward, as it means that many members agree on revealing even sensible information for the first time.
PRESS RELEASE -
Some 10,000 yards of nylon signage from this year’s AT&T Byron Nelson tournament have gone from the clubhouse to schoolhouses in Dallas and Houston.
Using a process known as “upcycling,” AT&T worked with a vendor to transform tournament signs into 1,000 student backpacks.
“This brings together several key aspects of our corporate responsibility work,” said Nicole Anderson, associate vice president-AT&T Corporate Responsibility. “Our commitment to environmentally friendly practices, employee volunteerism and our continued long-term investment in supporting students and education.”
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Earlier this month, adidas by Stella McCartney launched its Fall/Winter 2018 sustainable women’s activewear collection, paying tribute to the power of nature. Designed to equip female athletes whatever the weather, the animal-inspired pieces serve as a reminder that everyone can do their part to protect the world around them. The campaign features supermodel Ming Xi as its new global ambassador who is charged with bringing the brand’s continued mission of LESS IMPACT = MORE POWER to life.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
It is often said that transitioning towards a circular economy requires a number of changes in the way businesses operate. For example, the linear supply chain will need to be re-organised into a circular ecosystem, which decouples growth from the use of virgin raw materials and resources.
WASTE NOT -
Have you been busy shedding paper weight? Do you know someone who’s lost pounds of plastic, aluminum and glass? Is your business slimming down sustainably? Rubicon Global — a leader in providing waste, recycling, and smart city solutions to businesses and governments — is on the hunt for the leaders who are shaping up their organization’s sustainability plans by slimming down on waste.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Grocery stores, restaurants and coffee shops have wholeheartedly embraced the slow food movement, with phrases such as "certified organic," "fair-trade" and "all-natural" plastered across product packaging and menus. While each of these designations means something specific, in the eyes of many along the supply chain including the end user, they all can deliver a similar message of high quality.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
It’s estimated that nearly 8 million tons of plastic flow into our oceans every year; even more goes into landfills. While there are many great companies focused on recovering this plastic, there is one developing a plan for what to do with those millions of tons after the cleanup is done.
PRESS RELEASE -
The PepsiCo Foundation, the philanthropic arm of one of the world's leading food and beverage companies, and national nonprofit The Recycling Partnership today announced the launch of "All In On Recycling," the largest ever industry-wide residential recycling challenge to make recycling easier for 25 million families across the country – providing them with the resources they need to recycle more and recycle better.
WASTE NOT -
It’s time to face the facts. By 2030, we will consume 102 million tons of apparel per year, an increase of 63 percent from 2017. And by 2050, the global-fashion industry will consume a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget — which represents the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions that can be emitted to keep climate change “tolerable.”
PRESS RELEASE -
Loop Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq:LOOP), a global leader in sustainable packaging innovation, announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent with L’Oréal Group, the global leader in the beauty industry setting the stage for L’Oréal to become the first major cosmetics company in the world to close the loop on their PET plastic packaging by incorporating Loop™ PET.
This collaboration between L’Oréal Group and Loop will further accelerate the transition to the circular plastic economy. Thanks to Loop’s breakthrough technology, waste PET plastic and polyester fiber that once made its way to landfills, incinerators and our shared natural areas, rivers and oceans can now be diverted and converted into Loop™ PET to be endlessly upcycled.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Coca-Cola Great Britain and Coca-Cola European Partners have partnered with Merlin Entertainments to offer 50 percent discounts at some of the UK’s best-known attractions in exchange for empty plastic drink bottles. Specially created reverse vending machines will be on-site at four of Merlin’s leading attractions and will instantly reward those who deposit their used bottles between July 25th and October 19th, 2018.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Amazon has launched a new challenge to reward developers of Alexa skills that have a positive impact on the environment, local communities and the world.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Can market solutions and innovative technologies help the world solve its growing ocean crisis? That’s what the nonprofit Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) hopes, as it recently launched a new startup incubator program in Silicon Valley, the Ocean Solutions Accelerator, with five companies in the initial cohort.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
A process that turns wood pulp into yarn and a vegan wool alternative made from hemp and coconut fibers have respectively earned a spot in Fashion for Good’s Scaling Programme and a prize in the 2018 Biodesign Challenge.
PRESS RELEASE -
In November of 2017, we announced our support of a student-led competition inspired by Paul Hawken’s Project Drawdown, which identifies 100 of the most substantive solutions to reverse global warming.
BUSINESS CASE -
China and the European Union have jointly expressed their commitment to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Circular Economy at the 20th EU-China Summit taking place today and tomorrow in Beijing. Both governments stand to gain from aligning on policies that support the transition to a circular economy, which can unlock new sources of economic growth and innovation while benefiting people and the environment, for example by reducing pollution and congestion.
NEW METRICS -
Scotland remains one of the world’s leading nations on circular economy thinking — this year Glasgow will host the Circular Economy Hotspot, an international event and trade mission that will showcase the country’s progressive approach to materials and resource use.
COLLABORATION -
Fashion for Good and PVH Corp., one of the largest apparel companies in the world that owns brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, today announced their partnership to accelerate the transition towards a good fashion industry.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Increasing circularity in the apparel sector will require a variety of initiatives and some of the most valuable ways to bridge the implementation gap will be to provide funding, design new products with closed-loop design and launch take-back programs for would-be-waste items. Announcements on Monday revealed that these are exactly the contributions being made by the C&A Foundation, Looptworks and John Lewis.
PRESS RELEASE -
Unique biotechnological procedure for using gaseous waste as a source for raw materials
Technology with potential for applications in the chemical industry
BASF Venture Capital GmbH is to invest in LanzaTech, a biotech company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Using special microbes, LanzaTech has developed a technology for gas fermentation that first enables ethanol to be produced from residual gases containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen. By re-using waste streams instead of incinerating them, industrial companies can reduce carbon dioxide emissions.