Stories About Manufacturing
Found 713 stories. Page 33 of 36.
Shareholders Representing $35B Press P&G for Recyclable Packaging
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble has made a qualified commitment that 90 percent of its packaging will be recyclable by 2020. The commitment came the day before an October 14 vote on a shareholder proposal filed by shareholder advocacy group As You Sow asking the company to phase out unrecyclable packaging. The proposal won significant support — 25 percent of shares voted, representing more than $35 billion of investments, according to a P&G filing yesterday with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Lyf Shoes' Cradle-to-Cradle Creations Out to Revolutionize 'Dirty' Industry
THE NEXT ECONOMY - Sustainable footwear is a hotbed of innovation right now for many apparel and lifestyle brands, who are looking to blend ever-smarter manufacturing efficiencies with material optimization techniques. But one enterprising startup is looking to take this to the next level — calling itself a “disruptive digital manufacturing revolution,” Lyf Shoes is looking to capture a slice of the market by handing the creative process back to the consumer.
Goodyear Turning Rice Husk Waste Into Fuel-Efficient Tire Treads
WASTE NOT - The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company announced Monday it will begin using ash left over from the burning of rice husks to produce electricity and an environmentally friendly source of silica for use in its tires.
AkzoNobel, Photanol Developing Bio-Based Chemical Compounds Through Photosynthesis
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - AkzoNobel is on a roll: In the last two months, the paint, coatings and specialty chemical company has expanded its partnership with Solazyme for the joint development of Tailored™ algal oils, launched its new EvCote™ Water Barrier 3000 paper cup coating technology for the first fully compostable and recyclable paper cup, and last week was ranked number one in its sector by the DJSI for the third year in a
From chemical detoxifiers to sustainable biorefineries: new materials derived from or inspired by biology
PRESS RELEASE - Following biological clues to better materialsMIT Professor Brad Olsen creates bioinspired and biofunctional materials for widely diverse applications.
New Research Explores Whether Consumers Appreciate Disruptive Innovation in Sustainable Packaging
THE NEXT ECONOMY - Novelis, a global leader in rolled aluminum products, is in the process of shifting its entire business model from a traditional linear model to a closed-loop or circular model. The company is embracing an entirely new way of thinking and operating in order to radically transform itself — and, in the process, reap the brand value associated with being a clear leader on that front in its industry.In 2013, Novelis introduced evercan™, the first independently certified, high-recycled-content (currently 90 percent, with a goal of 100 percent) aluminum beverage can sheet, while committing to making it available at no extra cost.
Tetra Pak's Sustainability Update Highlights Its Progress on 'Protecting What's Good'
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - Tetra Pak‘s just-released 2014 Sustainability Update highlights the processing and packaging giant's 2013 progress in a variety of areas.
Ford Achieves Zero Waste in Canada
WASTE NOT - Ford’s Oakville Assembly plant now sends no operational waste-to-landfill, an achievement that gives Ford Motor Company the distinction of becoming landfill-free at all its manufacturing facilities in Canada.Oakville Assembly is the first Ford assembly plant in North America to achieve this environmental designation.The Essex Engine Plant received landfill-free status in 2012 and Windsor Engine Plant in 2013. A total of 21 Ford facilities around the globe maintain zero waste-to-landfill status. By Ford’s definition, this means that those facilities do not send any operational waste to a landfill.
Turlington to Fashion Industry: 'One Preventable Death Is a Death Too Many'
BEHAVIOR CHANGE - When over 1,100 garment workers died in the Rana Plaza factory collapse in April 2013, it shined an unflinching light on the untenable conditions that many in the industry have long been forced to endure. Since then, consumers, activists and other stakeholders around the world have demanded that brands take immediate action to ensure that workers are not only safe, but paid fairly while they’re constructing the clothing we wear every day.
Primark Joins Host of Fashion Brands, Retailers Committing to Detox
SUPPLY CHAIN - Irish retail giant Primark, which operates across the UK and across Western Europe, today joined the growing number of brands committing to eliminate all hazardous chemicals from its supply chain as part of Greenpeace’s global Detox campaign.
Drilling Company Wants to Build Roads From Fracking Waste
WASTE NOT - In an interesting "band-aid" proposition, oil and gas exploration and production company Range Resources recently announced it would like to start using the waste rock material brought to the surface at fracking sites — known as gas well drilling “cuttings” — as a paving material.
Umicore: How Sustainability-Driven Innovation Transformed a Failing Mining Company Into a Materials Tech Power Player
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - Umicore’s ranking as #1 on the 2013 Global 100 index of most sustainable companies was met with healthy skepticism by social justice advocates and environmental purists. The company’s history as Union Minière du Haut Katanga created devastation that Umicore will need to continue to remedy at a hefty price tag.
Interface Europe Achieves 90% Carbon Reduction
CLEANTECH - Interface announced this week it has reached a series of major sustainability milestones at its European manufacturing facility in Scherpenzeel, The Netherlands. As of January 2014 the plant has been operating with 100 percent renewable energy, using virtually zero water in its manufacturing processes and has attained zero waste to landfill. This is a key achievement for the facility and a significant step forward for the company as it strives towards Mission Zero — Interface’s pledge to eliminate any negative impact it has on the environment by 2020 and by doing so, become a restorative enterprise.
Volvo Production Plant Achieves Carbon Neutrality
CLEANTECH - Volvo Construction Equipment’s Braås site in southern Sweden has become its first carbon-neutral facility and is claimed to be the first construction equipment production plant in the world run entirely on renewables.The 45,000 m2 site, which specializes in the design and manufacture of articulated haulers, is now powered entirely by renewable energy sources — including wind, biomass and hydropower.The move follows in the footsteps of sister company Volvo Trucks, whose Ghent facility set the standard for emissions-free industrial manufacturing in 2007.
Creating Sustainable Apparel Value Chains, Part I: Transforming the Industry
SUPPLY CHAIN - This post first appeared on CSRwire's TalkBack blog on December 17, 2013.The ubiquity of the apparel industry is staggering. Everyone wears clothes. The manufacturing of apparel triggers national development and industrialization, jobs and forms of commerce for the sellers of it, and cover and satisfaction for consumers. At three trillion and counting, the global garment and textile industry is responsible for a great deal of progress throughout the world.
Thai Pulp Company Creating High-Quality Paper from Palm Oil Waste
WASTE NOT - Pulp Green Tech Holding (PGT), an R&D-focused company that owns Thai Gorilla Pulp Ltd., announced this week that it has successfully achieved a high-grade paper pulp made from empty palm fruit bunches, which are most often treated as waste material from the palm oil extraction process.The company estimates that roughly 95 percent, or 300 million tons, of this raw material is currently discarded per year.PGT says the process is highly cost-efficient and will enable investors, palm oil producers and paper pulp mills to achieve ROI of over 100% in the first year of operation, assuming the pulp is sold at a price of comparable non-wood materials.
Walmart Launching $10 Million Fund For US Manufacturing Innovation
SUPPLY CHAIN - On Thursday at the US Conference of Mayors Meeting in Washington, D.C., Walmart US President and CEO Bill Simon announced a new fund for innovation in US manufacturing.Walmart and the Walmart Foundation will fund the five-year program and launch it in March in collaboration with the US Conference of Mayors. The fund will provide grants to innovators in the manufacturing sector and seeks to create new processes, ideas and jobs that support the country’s growing manufacturing footprint.
New Partnership Streamlines Environmental Reporting in Sea Freight Supply Chain
SUPPLY CHAIN - Sustainable supply-chain management company EcoVadis and BSR’s Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG) have announced a partnership aimed at standardizing sustainability reporting requests for the sea freight supply chain.Under this partnership EcoVadis will align its environmental assessment questionnaires for sea carriers with the Clean Cargo Environmental Performance Survey framework. Clean Cargo members also will have the opportunity to leverage the EcoVadis online collaboration platform to access sustainability scorecards on their partners’ performance.
Intel CEO Challenges Entire Electronics Industry to Become 'Conflict-Free'
SUPPLY CHAIN - In his pre-show keynote at the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas yesterday, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich outlined a range of the company’s new products, initiatives and strategic relationships aimed at accelerating innovation across a range of mobile and wearable devices, and challenged the entire electronics industry to join Intel in becoming “conflict-free.”
Not Magic, Science: Startup Creating Plastic Out of Thin Air
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - We’re hearing more and more often about inventive new ways companies are turning waste into valuable resources — from turning everything from CO2 and methane gases to human and food waste into fuels, and plastic into bacteria-battling “
