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As Levi’s VP of Social and Environmental Sustainability, Michael Kobori, said last year in a blog post, along with a long-standing partnership with Goodwill to divert clothing from landfill and take-back programs for apparel for recycling into everything from building insulation to cushioning material, Levi Strauss’ circular economy ambitions include establishing an infrastructure that support
COLLABORATION -
In February, the U.K.-based Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) announced the launch of a U.S. network to run in parallel with the Foundation’s successful international Circular Economy 100 (CE100) programme. Today, the CE100 USA network of business leaders, academics, innovators, policymakers and city authorities who aim to develop and act on circular economy opportunities held their launch workshop in San Francisco.
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Logistics Are Critical to Implementing a Sustainable Circular Strategy
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With the opportunity to curb over $80 billion in annual industry losses, a circular economy for plastics seems pretty appealing. Several projects in Europe are working to make this happen: Earlier this month, Sustainable Brands covered a collaborative effort between the cities of London, Amsterdam and Copenhagen to improve plastics capture, but companies, non-profits and research centres are also working together to improve traceability and create new materials to help facilitate the transition to a circular economy for plastics.
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The UK is the epicenter of the circular economy movement, with both the public and private sectors making sweeping commitments and headway toward eliminating waste of all kinds throughout its economy.
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The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) has launched a U.S. chapter of its Circular Economy 100 (CE100) program, which brings together leading organizations with the objective of innovating, developing and implementing circular economy opportunities.
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Food waste has been one of the trendiest topics in sustainability of late, as more and more people have become aware that as much as one third of the world’s food is being wasted. The UN set a target to halve global food waste as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which the CEOs of Nestlé, Tesco, Unilever, and other leaders formed Champions 12.3 to pursue.
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Novelis, world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, has partnered with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to supply aluminum sheet for the recently launched Jaguar XE — “Jaguar’s most advanced sports saloon.”The REALCAR (REcycled ALuminium CAR) project, aimed at creating a closed-loop value chain to recycle vehicles at the end of their useful lives, was launched by JLR in 2008 and funded by Innovate UK.
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More and more, circular economic business models are proving ways to cut costs and increase efficiency. A new report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Corporate Citizenship Center (CCC) reinforces that turning waste into resources presents economic opportunities for American businesses.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Last month, IKEA’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Steve Howard, raised eyebrows at a panel debate by suggesting that in some parts of the world we have reached the point of ‘peak stuff’, a comment that was interpreted by some as a warning that consumer appetite for home furnishings had reached a crucial turning point.
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While waste reduction charity WRAP calls on stakeholders to do their part to help improve recycling consistency and efficiency in England, three companies in France have partnered on a circular economy initiative for small household appliances.
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Unilever today announced a new industry-leading achievement of sending zero non-hazardous waste to landfill across more than 600 sites, in 70 countries, including factories, warehouses, distribution centers and offices. Having identified the different non-hazardous waste streams in its operations, Unilever has now found alternative routes for the waste from these sites.
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The prospects of linear models in Europe are slowly diminishing. European experts have concluded that the current cradle-to-grave way of life – exploiting resources, processing them, using them, and discarding them – has no future.
CLEANTECH -
With up to 50 billion connected devices predicted by 2020, a pervasive digital transformation is reshaping the economy. Will this ‘fourth industrial revolution’ lead to an acceleration of the extractive, ‘linear’ economy of today, or will it enable the transition towards a society in which value creation is increasingly decoupled from finite resource consumption?
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According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the US alone generates an estimated 24 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste (PCTW), which ends up in landfills each year — the equivalent of about 70 pounds of textiles per person.
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Following the adoption of the European Commission’s Circular Economy Package and the announcement of a €24B fund to support circular economy projects and businesses, several organizations have released research reports and tools to aid the transition.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Following the recent announcement of a €24 billion EU Circular Economy Package, leading sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future has today launched two free tools, developed together with partners Unilever and Novelis, that empower businesses and designers to make decisions that accelerate the shift towards a more circular economy.
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Circular and sharing economy models are the latest trend in sustainable fashion – it seems there are new initiatives popping up all the time! Just last week, we covered startups reKindness and Hubbub, which are making clothes swapping easier in the U.S. and U.K., respectively.
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Dell and actor Adrian Grenier have announced the “Legacy of Good” short documentary film contest, aimed at creating compelling stories to raise awareness around the circular economy movement and the role of technology in creating a better future. As the Dell Social Good Advocate, Grenier will work directly with the winning filmmaker to develop and promote the film.
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On Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 30 CEOs, government ministers, global institution executives, and civil society leaders announced the launch of the latest full-scale attack on global food waste: an all-sector collaboration aimed at increasing political and social momentum to achieve Target 12.3 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).