MARKETING AND COMMS -
We shouldn’t lure people into buying more than they need; but rather, help people make it all add up to a more meaningful life. Brands might be able to keep afloat on a short-term strategy and hide behind a cloak of innocence, but every dinosaur step is one closer to extinction.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
While a circular economy will present huge challenges to most brands' conventional business models, there are huge opportunities for those who embrace and adapt to this change — while those who drag their heels with incremental changes will undoubtedly fall behind.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
To paraphrase Voltaire: “With great market power comes great responsibility.” Retail market leaders are setting the pace in the transition to safer chemistry in their products and packaging. Their actions add up to saying, “Forever
chemicals no more.”
WASTE NOT -
Consumers appreciate recycled packaging as long as it doesn’t affect the quality, functionality and price of the product. But how do brands remain competitive in view of added costs for high-quality recycling and the low price of virgin plastics?
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
As retail sales reportedly fell for the first time in 25 years, with particularly weak holiday sales, new research reveals that a new conscientiousness may be a central cause — with sustainability-concerned consumers buying less.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
We know, of course, that no matter how many bold ambitions a company has, it cannot change the world alone. But through collaborative effort, the impact companies can make is multiplied, often many times over.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
With higher-priced products, “sustainability” can still be seen as a privilege. It is time for brands to empower consumers by offering them accessible choices that are better for them, for the planet and for generations to come.
WASTE NOT -
What better way to celebrate and participate in the season of giving than with gifts that truly keep on giving? Here are just a few of our favorite discoveries this year of products we'd be thrilled to give and receive.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
With goals to achieve carbon-neutral factories by 2030, to reduce CO2 emissions in its supply chain, combat deforestation and step up its efforts to tackle littering, PMI is working to reduce its environmental impacts, end to end.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
'Period poverty' — in which women and girls struggle to access and afford menstrual products — is particularly bad in sub-Saharan Africa. That’s why a new initiative in Tanzania is taking a 21st-century, FMCG approach to a centuries-old problem.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Brands that are committed to sustainability could conduct efficient, cost-effective research to show that their products help reduce exposure to harmful substances, leveraging their commitment to sustainability and expanding it to a commitment to consumer health.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Sustainability experts for decades have been exhorting managers to focus more on the function their products deliver and less on the product itself. Biosphere Rule #5, Function Over Form, is focused on fulfilling customers’ functional needs in ways that sustain the value cycle.
WASTE NOT -
The waste we produce in our daily lives is just one small portion of the total waste stream. Public Thread and Rewilder, two winners of the recently
announced Upcyclers Network Annual Product Awards, are putting non-household waste streams to creative use.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Child labor and other labor abuses are recurring problems characteristic to tobacco-growing and other agricultural communities in countries such as India. But Philip Morris International’s Agricultural Labor Practices is creating a step change.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
The US’ biggest beverage companies have invested into ensuring they get ‘Every Bottle Back’ for recycling; Bluewater is helping Londoners ditch single-use bottles; and SC Johnson and Plastic Bank are broadening the Social Plastic ecosystem.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Algramo’s unique, refillable packaging system allows customers to buy as much or as little of a product as they want, in reusable containers, with no difference in the price per gram — then recycles all packaging at the end of its life.
WASTE NOT -
By 2025, the CPG giant says it will eliminate more than 100K tonnes of plastic packaging, and collect and process more plastic packaging than it sells. This makes Unilever the first global CPG company to commit to an absolute plastics reduction across its portfolio.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Ideally, Western companies should adopt an attitude of Ask First, Give Second. We’d all benefit if we empowered those who will receive the donations to
determine what they need most, rather than making that decision for them.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
How much plastic recycling is enough to save our seas? It might be time to do the math and set forth quantifiable expectations and accountabilities for plastic production, use and recovery, as we’ve started to do with emissions.
PRESS RELEASE -
Organic Waste Systems and TÜV confirm fiber biodegradability also in fresh water
All white LENZING™ Viscose, Modal and Lyocell fibers are now certified for all environments
Global legislators aim at limiting plastic waste persisting in the environment for centuries
EU Single-Use Plastics Directive partly regulates usage of plastic products
Biodegradable materials such as wood-based fibers are the best alternative to single-use plastics