PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Sustainable Brands ’16 San Diego is coming up June 6-9, and part of the fun includes this year’s competition for game-changing, purpose-driven startups — the SB Innovation Open, hosted by Target. In part two of our two-part introduction to our inspiring semi-finalists (meet the rest in part one), we meet a soccer ball manufacturer fighting poverty; a truly natural, earth-friendly soap; a clean way to extract copper, and more.
COLLABORATION -
The motor vehicle industry in the United States spends about $3.6 billion on energy annually, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In the U.S., over 70 assembly plants currently produce 13 million cars and trucks each year.
While energy expenditures are a relatively small cost factor in the total production process, energy-efficiency improvements are helping manufacturers gain an edge in an increasingly competitive environment.
CLEANTECH -
As the world’s largest designer, manufacturer and seller of networking equipment, Cisco Systems faces many supply chain sustainability issues, including energy, waste and climate change impacts, among others. To address these challenges, Cisco has worked to improve energy efficiency, implemented circular economic methods to turn waste into resources and recently announced a new goal to avoid one million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain operations by 2020.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative kicks off today with an inaugural workshop that brings together more than 40 leading companies including Amcor, Coca-Cola, The Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, Indorama Ventures, Marks & Spencer, MARS, Natureworks, Novamont, Sealed Air, SUEZ, Unilever
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Now in its 28th year, the DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation are the industry's longest-running, global, independently-judged recognition of innovation and collaboration throughout the packaging value chain. Nearly 200 entries from over 25 countries were evaluated by a panel of experts to determine the winners of the Diamond Award, Gold Awards, Silver Awards – and for the first time – Diamond Finalist awards and a Leadership in Innovation award.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The debates around extended producer responsibility for packaging — an approach whereby consumer goods companies pay some or all of the costs for managing packaging materials — have been raging in the U.S. for more than six years.
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.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Plastic has many benefits ranging from reducing food waste by providing packaging to cutting transport pollution due to its light weight. However, waste plastic is undervalued by the economy due to externalization of environmental costs. In a new discussion paper, Trucost estimates that scaling up companies’ use of sustainable plastic could deliver environmental savings of $3.5 billion.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Ford Motor Company claims to be the first automaker to formulate and test new foam and plastic components using captured carbon dioxide (CO2) as feedstock. Within five years, the company expects to be using the new biomaterials in its vehicles.
Foams formulated with up to 50 percent CO2-based polyols have shown promise in ‘rigorous’ automotive tests, and could be used in seating and under-hood applications. The company claims that the CO2-derived foam will reduce the use of fossil fuels in Ford vehicles – potentially reducing petroleum use by more than 600 million pounds annually. Other plastic materials are currently under development.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Businesses face myriad ongoing challenges: Apart from the day-to-day fluctuations in market dynamics, entrepreneurs must deal with economies of scale, inter- and intra-market competition and regulatory compliance.
Yet some voluntary compliance can unleash a competitive advantage expedites addressing the other challenges. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification is precisely one such step: Especially in a time when consumer interest in sustainable materials continues to grow, FSC-certified wood and paper make sense economically, socially and environmentally.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
A product will go through multiple points of contact in its lifecycle. From the designer to the manufacturer to transport to the consumer and end of life, each component has an impact. Environmentally and socially responsible supply chain management is key to addressing the often disproportionate impacts of manufacturing processes, and balancing ecology with economy in the supply chain process.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
In celebration of Earth Month (shouldn’t every month be Earth Month?), our nonprofit organization Recycle Across America (RAA) hosted an exciting pair of events to discuss the faltering recycling industry and a simple solution that can help begin to make recycling fiscally viable and help it begin to thrive.
Before we talk about the Earth Month events and RAA’s society-wide standardized labeling system for recycling bins, let’s briefly discuss the challenges facing the recycling industry and the ominous signs that suggest we need serious solutions, and fast.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Brussels-based association Zero Waste Europe is developing a project to empower community groups across Europe to challenge wasteful products and facilitate stakeholder collaboration on their redesign. ‘The People’s Design Lab’ is expected to launch in June, but with only one week left in its campaign, Zero Waste Europe has raised just over €4,500 of its €8,000 goal.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The ocean’s value has been estimated as high as $24 trillion, yet despite its inherent connections to the health and well-being of wildlife, humans, and the global economy, it continues to be overexploited and polluted. Scientists have estimated that a minimum of 5.25 trillion plastic particles are in the oceans, and some studies suggest that these contaminants can make their way all the way up the food chain.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Global outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland prides itself on its commitment to innovate and operate in an accountable and responsible manner — in terms of its products, the communities in which it operates, and the outdoors. As part of this commitment, the company today announced the implementation of its rigorous environmental standard — the Timberland Environmental Product Standard (TEPS) — across all of its product categories, beginning with its Spring 2016 collection.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
SustainU, a West Virginia-based leading producer of apparel using fabrics from 100 percent recycled, domestically manufactured materials, this week announced a partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB) to produce licensed apparel for the 2016 season.
PRESS RELEASE -
General Motors is turning its employees’ recycled water bottles into a new life: noise-reducing fabric insulation that covers the Chevrolet Equinox engine. The bottles – collected from five of its Michigan facilities – are also being turned into air filtration components and insulation in coats for the homeless community.
Given its drive to zero waste, all of GM’s global facilities recycle their water bottles. However, the bottles collected at the five locations are now funneled into its “Do Your Part” project, where 11 businesses collaborate to give them a second life.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
As the Official Chemistry Company of the Olympic Games and the Official Carbon Partner of Rio 2016, The Dow Chemical Company has launched a new Microfoaming Technology for the packaging industry in Latin America. The project is part of a comprehensive Dow program focused on mitigating the carbon footprint of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
This year, Fashion Revolution’s annual campaign has expanded into a week-long series of events featuring hundreds of activities, stunts and social experiments across 84 countries worldwide. Throughout Fashion Revolution Week, April 18th to 24th, consumers will demand transparency and raise awareness of exploitation in the fashion supply chain by posting on social media using the hashtag #WhoMadeMyClothes.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Ford Motor Company today announced plans to transform its Dearborn facilities into a modern, sustainable, high-tech campus to foster innovation and help drive the company’s transition beyond mere automaker to a mobility company.
The 10-year transformation of the company’s more than 60-year-old Dearborn facilities will co-locate 30,000 employees from 70 buildings today into primarily two locations — a product campus and a world headquarters campus. More than 7.5 million square feet of workspace will be rebuilt and upgraded into even more technology-enabled and connected facilities.