Found 805 stories. Page 35 of 41.
THE NEXT ECONOMY - More and more companies are looking for ways to adopt circular models for their products, and some of the latest examples have been provided by industry giants. Furniture company IKEA, chemical firm Total, and Inditex - parent company of apparel brands Zara, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti and Bershka - are all working to reduce their environmental footprint by changing how their products are made.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - With the potential to change how businesses think about their waste, circular economy models could be an effective means of emissions reduction towards the commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement in addition to economic benefits, waste reduction, and reduced consumption of virgin materials.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - A key business driver for today’s vehicle manufacturers is to find cost-effective ways to reduce material impact, and weight, in the cars they build. Lighter vehicles result in less fuel consumption – and consequently, fewer emissions.
PRESS RELEASE - BASF is contributing its polymer expertise to the three-year WRAP Consortium project kicked off by the European Commission last year and aimed at developing high-performance sporting goods that can also be recycled. The “Sport Infinity” concept being pursued by cross-industry teams of companies is spearheaded by German sporting goods manufacturer Adidas and is focused in particular on applications in European football, or soccer, as the sport is known in the US.
THE NEXT ECONOMY - Until now, recycling paint has been a laborious, costly process, leading to huge amount of unused paint going to waste and ending up in landfills. Thanks to a collaboration between Dulux-owner AkzoNobel, design and innovation company Seymourpowell, and Newlife Paints, recycling paint may finally be able to become ‘mainstream.’
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - Fashion designers have long asked for a place to find materials they know are healthier for people and the planet — and now they have one. The new Fashion Positive Materials Collection, which debuted this week, includes 39 materials for fashion applications that are Cradle to Cradle Certified or have received a Material Health Certificate, which at higher levels of certification ensures safe materials suitable for circular design.
THE NEXT ECONOMY - This month, countries are beginning to formally ratify commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement, and Environment Ministers from across Europe met to finalize the approval of the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan.
WASTE NOT - Increasing prevention of food waste could save grocery retailers and food manufacturers in the United Kingdom £300 million a year, according to a recent analysis by the waste reduction experts at WRAP, but the task is easier said than done.
THE NEXT ECONOMY - Two new industrial facilities that will bring the circular economy one step closer were officially opened in Europe on Friday: a carbon dioxide-based chemical plant in Germany and a nutrient recovery facility in the Netherlands. The transition from a linear take-make-waste economy to one which keeps materials ‘circulating’ for as long as possible (or, ideally, indefinitely) has been an international priority in the continent.
THE NEXT ECONOMY - Today, more than 25 businesses and organizations announce the launch of the Minnesota Sustainable Growth Coalition, a business-led public-private partnership harnessing their collective expertise to advance the next frontier of corporate sustainability – the circular economy.
THE NEXT ECONOMY - Today, the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute announced the winners of the third Cradle to Cradle Product Design Challenge. The series of six global design challenges running from 2015 through 2017 are presented by the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute and Autodesk, and made possible by the Alcoa Foundation.
CLEANTECH - A new cloud-based platform for supply chain management promises to enhance transparency and help producers transition to circular models, starting with the apparel industry. In collaboration with software provider Improvement IT, Netherlands-based Dutch Awearness has launched an online software tool called the Circular Content Management System (CCMS) to help track and trace garments and their materials.
THE NEXT ECONOMY - A new 18-minute documentary film, Circularity: Preparing for the New Economy, calls for a radical overhaul of current economic systems. Featuring commentary from a number of business analysts, the film provides an overview of what the “circular economy” is and the opportunities for growth that it presents.
WASTE NOT - “It didn’t make sense to me — to make a bunch of products that use a lot of materials, and then throw it away,” Scott Hamlin, co-founder at Looptworks, said during a Tuesday breakout session on partnerships in the circular economy at Sustainable Brands '16 San Diego. What Hamlin saw was a broken apparel industry, which focused on the traditional take-make-waste model. That’s why the social entrepreneur decided to found a company that doesn’t use virgin materials at all — and Looptworks was born. “We are called Looptworks because we are working toward a closed-loop system,” he said.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc. (IFF), a leading producer of “sensory experiences that move the world,” has released its 2015 sustainability results in a report, Creating a Sustainable Future, and announced the launch of a new sustainability strategy centered around circular economic principles applied to three pillars: Positive Principles, Regenerative Products and Sensational People.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - Mention the term “corporate social responsibility” and you might hear something like: “It’s dead.” “CSR has stalled.” “CSR has not fulfilled its potential. It has failed us.” Why? Because even at its best, CSR is only a partial solution with incremental changes that are not putting society and business on a strong footing to enable nine billion people to live well on the planet by 2050. Despite the efforts of the past two decades, CSR is still marginal to corporate strategy — siloed and largely irrelevant to a company and its workforce.
CLEANTECH - As the world’s largest designer, manufacturer and seller of networking equipment, Cisco Systems faces many supply chain sustainability issues, including energy, waste and climate change impacts, among others. To address these challenges, Cisco has worked to improve energy efficiency, implemented circular economic methods to turn waste into resources and recently announced a new goal to avoid one million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain operations by 2020.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative kicks off today with an inaugural workshop that brings together more than 40 leading companies including Amcor, Coca-Cola, The Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, Indorama Ventures, Marks & Spencer, MARS, Natureworks, Novamont, Sealed Air, SUEZ, Unilever
THE NEXT ECONOMY - With dramatically large amounts of clothing and other textiles being thrown out every year – nearly 10 million tonnes in the United States and more than 3 million tonnes in European Union (EU) countries – it is no wonder why designers and companies are increasingly looking to this waste as a potential resource.
CLEANTECH - This week, The Dow Chemical Company launched two new partnerships aimed at advancing two of its seven 2025 Sustainability Goals, launched last year.