CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Protein Evolution’s technology can turn unused polyester and nylon fabrics from Stella McCartney’s previous collections into good-as-new, infinitely recyclable fibers — and could present a new circular solution for the fashion industry.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
As always, the goal of our gift guide is to encourage a more conscious approach to gift-giving by highlighting products, services and experiences that create value and benefits beyond short-term gratification for the recipient. Here’s this year’s list of some of the many companies, platforms and products that we’d be happy to support anytime.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
80M tons of plastic waste will end up in the environment just in the next 10 years. Without voluntary, global producer responsibility programs to unlock capital towards infrastructure and bridge the policy vacuum, how else do polluters suggest for us to tackle this massive financing gap in the meantime?
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The new startup offers a regenerative ‘tree burial’ service that reimagines cemeteries as forests — enabling the dearly departed to truly give back to the land and encouraging younger generations to think about death in new ways.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Tesco Exchange, aka ‘Tesco Tinder,’ matches suppliers who have too much of a product — for example, crops, byproducts, ingredients or packaging — with other Tesco suppliers that can put it to use.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Orange Fiber and Keel Labs are platforms for exploration and innovation that can reverberate across the fashion industry and prove that sustainable feedstocks and production processes can create both financial and planetary prosperity.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Developing and optimizing a fully circular plastics value chain is a complex challenge that can’t be achieved with any single solution. We challenge our peers and other key stakeholders to be courageous and take risks, to explore new possibilities and partnerships, and persist until we have solutions.
WASTE NOT -
Whether making a widget or a culinary treat, prioritizing a circular life cycle for products helps keep them out of waste streams until they are negligible — or better yet, they never land there.
FROM PURPOSE TO ACTION: BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE TOGETHER -
While flexible packaging plays an important role in keeping food fresher longer, it has long been difficult to recycle. Designing more recyclable flexible packaging from the start and determining a better end-of-life process for current materials is a vital step in reducing food waste.
COLLABORATION -
The joint effort from WM and Dow aims to provide a solution to make it easier for households to recycle the film while the companies explore new options to
reuse it. When fully implemented, the program is expected to prevent 120,000 tons of plastic film from reaching landfills each year.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
As seen in ongoing incidents of greenwashing and a new Greenpeace report, the onus is on consumer product manufacturers to take more comprehensive approaches to stemming their flow of plastic into the world — and turning the tide of public opinion.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
A new study examines the waste challenges companies are facing due to the global supply chain crisis and how they are being tackled, and how consumer priorities impact waste — they now report prioritizing product durability and transparency over
sustainability.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
As US consumers report more conservative gifting plans due to money worries, alternatives such as Freitag’s S.W.A.P. events and Poshmark’s Secondhand Sunday meet the downshift in enthusiasm for the Black Friday shopping frenzy.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The Brazilian cookware giant released its first comprehensive sustainability and environmental impact review, detailing its progress toward and ongoing pursuit of sustainability.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Men’s apparel startup HyperNatural is aiming to subvert the industry’s reliance on synthetic materials with its unique fabric made from a blend of recycled and organic waste streams. While it’s still ironing out circularity kinks, the brand is determined to not make perfection the enemy of progress.
WASTE NOT -
Key recommendations failed to understand plastic pollution from a holistic perspective — placing too much blame on the five most impacted Asian countries and suggesting carbon-heavy options for disposal.