CLEANTECH -
Information and communications technology (ICT) is expected to play an influential role in the future of agriculture. News this month provides some insight into just how significant it could be: Bayer and DuPont have joined what Reuters is calling an “ag-tech investment boom,” while the startup creating artificial intelligence-based solutions for farms that supply Walmart and other major retailers has completed a $7 million Series A funding round.
WASTE NOT -
In this week's roundup, UK-based organizations continue to lead the charge against food and beverage-related waste.
First, grocery giant Asda has revealed the results of a customer-focused behavior change campaign; Frugalpac launched a new hot beverage cup that is made from recycled paper and can be recycled in any normal paper or cardboard facility; and egg processing plant Just Egg found a way to redirect its eggshell waste.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
In 2015, Target wrapped up its five-year goals and built the foundation for the future of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practice, which is to make wellness a way of life; pursue sustainability for products and business operations; champion a more inclusive society; and invest and engage in their communities. Summarizing their progress and capturing important projects and milestones, Target’s 2015 Corporate Social Responsibility Report was released this week.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Since the “Detox My Fashion” campaign launched in 2011, 76 fashion brands, retailers and suppliers have committed to remove toxic chemicals from their supply chains by 2020, accounting for a combined 15 percent of global textile production.
WASTE NOT -
More than half of the United States isn’t recycling, and PepsiCo is setting out to help change that with a brand new ad. Designed to motivate people to recycle, the ad depicts a series of humorous examples of people doing activities halfway — like dog-grooming, running a race and mowing the lawn — as a way to remind them to take the extra step to recycle.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Mr. Potato Head was first manufactured back in 1952 as a bundle of plastic parts and pushpins, the idea being that you would stick them into a real potato that would serve as the toy’s head. The first toy ever advertised on television, Mr. Potato Head would rely on root vegetables from family kitchens until 1964, when rotting vegetables were replaced with everlasting plastic shells. Despite the strange practice of storing spare face parts in his butt, Mr. Potato Head has remained a childhood favorite, now marketed under the Playskool brand owned by toy giant Hasbro.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Kingfisher — parent company of European home-improvement chains B&Q, Castorama, Brico Depot, Screwfix and Koçtaş — has published its Sustainability Report 2015/16, which details its progress towards becoming a restorative, Net Positive business.
NEW METRICS -
Yesterday, Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture announced the launch of a new Science Advisory Council focused on informing the membership-based organization’s “science-based approach to delivering sustainable outcomes at the field and landscape levels.” Comprised of 12 experts, the Council is being asked to develop a sustainability standard for commodity crop production in the United States that “helps catalyze continuous improvement in environmental outcomes.”
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.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Following a competitive search for the world’s top 50 marketing technology startups, Unilever announced its 2016 Foundry 50 on June 8th. Selected from 4,500 startups Unilever has reviewed over the past two years, the finalists are distributed across five innovation areas: Brand and Content Innovation; Data, Insights and Personalization; Engaging Millennials; Social Impact; and the Future of Retail.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Technology is exponentially accelerating, creating a future that is difficult to imagine and one that impacts communities on a systems level. It is Robert Suarez’s job to think way, way outside of the box and design for that exponential future. Whether helping to put a 3D printer and recycler in space or creating a virtual holographic room with Lowe’s, Suarez dreams big and designs for exponential impact. As the Managing Director of Innovation and Design for Singularity University, he tackles large social and environmental issues.
PRESS RELEASE -
thinkstep Strengthens Sales and Customer Focus with the Appointments of new Directors of Consumer Goods and Product Stewardship
SUPPLY CHAIN -
As a creative guy sitting between the manager of recycling for a major retailer and a supply chain expert for a large clothing brand, I certainly feel like I am bringing the knife to the metrics gunfight in this session.
But the sheer corporate heft The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) carries makes learning more about its systems and metrics pretty important for anyone working in the field.
TSC CEO Sheila Bonini starts us off with an introduction to the staggering impacts of consumer goods: they are linked to more than 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, some two thirds of deforestation and 75 percent of forced and child labor issues.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Leading seafood brands, major UK retail chains and some of the world’s largest fishing companies have struck a groundbreaking deal to protect a key Arctic region from industrial fishing for cod.
WASTE NOT -
France and the United Kingdom have been leaders in the fight against food waste: French retailer Intermarché’s “Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables” campaign paved the way for “ugly” produce around the globe, including UK grocery giant Asda’s successful “Wonky Veg” campaign, for example.
WASTE NOT -
The most in-depth examination of the grocery supply chain in the United Kingdom was released yesterday by the waste reduction experts at WRAP. The organization estimates that 1.9 million tonnes of food is wasted by UK grocery retailers and food manufacturers every year, and for the first time, broke down the overall avoidable food waste figures into manufacturing sub-sectors such as meat and dairy. According to the report, action to increase prevention of food waste could save businesses £300 million a year.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Waitrose has joined Tesco as the latest UK retailer to take seafood giant John West to task over its fishing practices, threatening to remove its canned tuna from store shelves if it does not follow through on its promise to improve.
The decision will pile pressure on the embattled tuna company — which is Britain’s most popular tuna brand, accounting for a third of the UK market — following last week’s announcement by Tesco that John West would be banned if it continued using harmful fishing practices.
CLEANTECH -
Label Insight - leading provider of SaaS data solutions providing insights and strengthening the connections between CPG brands, retailers and consumers - announces the launch of its Sustainability SmartSPEC™ solution. The Sustainability SmartSPEC is customizable based on a retailer's unique sustainability initiatives in categories such as environmental impact, animal welfare and farming techniques.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Following the success of grocery stores such as in.gredients in Austin, TX, and day by day in locations across France, other shops focused on eliminating packaging waste from their shelves have been popping up around the world. Opening this year: new locations in Copenhagen, Vancouver, and Brooklyn.
COLLABORATION -
A coalition of a dozen major food brands and retailers (and Patagonia!) have asked federal regulators not to back down on reducing trucking emissions and increasing fuel economy.