PRESS RELEASE -
Imagine you have landed in 2030. You walk into your usual grocery store. Only this time, every product sports a label to help you make your purchasing decision based not only on price, or calories, but also on environmental impact.
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Maybe you remember visiting a post office to pick up one of your online purchases and seeing the hundreds, even thousands, of packages going to other shoppers — to be used once and thrown away.
Sure, online purchases need to be individually labelled and protected for transport, so some form of packaging is necessary. But shouldn’t we as environmentally conscious purchasers have a say in how our goods are packaged? And shouldn't sustainably minded brands be able to offer their customers a choice in this matter? Because surely shoppers and brands would choose a returnable, recyclable package for transporting online purchases — especially if it made economic sense.
This is where RePack comes in.
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“To sustain their business, companies need to better understand the costs and opportunities of effective water resource management”, stresses Quantis water expert Jean-Baptiste Bayart. Ahead of the AWS Global Water Stewardship Forum, Quantis shares its experience working with major industrial players over the last 10 years, laying out key hurdles and potential solutions for companies to adopt water stewardship.
PRESS RELEASE -
#MeToo is exposing the scale of sexual assault and harassment for women worldwide, prompting parents to bring up tough subjects with their children. The Health Alliance on Alcohol (HAA) has been working with Dr.
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Good for your health, good for the environment, good for the future. These common themes have consumers embracing trends toward products that are responsibly sourced and manufactured.
As with many things, consumers hold the key. And for products derived from the forest, the reality is no different.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
North Americans love to celebrate Halloween — from trick-or-treating to costume parties to haunted houses, there is no doubt a Halloween frenzy takes over even before October hits. In fact, 50 percent of Americans report Halloween is their favorite holiday. However, purchasing new costumes, candy and décorations for the whole family can quickly add up. The National Retail Federation reported that in 2017, Americans are predicted to spend an average $86.13 each on Halloween costumes, décor and candy, collectively spending $9.1 billion on Halloween-related purchases.
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New insights from WRAP’s annual recycling tracker have revealed that over half the UK population wants to know more about what happens to their recycling beyond the bin. The results of the organization’s survey have shaped the theme of this year’s Recycle Week; ‘Recycling — it’s worth it.’
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The Carlsberg Group, together with business partners and social organisations today celebrates the third annual Global Beer Responsibility Day (GBRD) - a worldwide effort to promote the responsible consumption of beer.
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Further establishing itself as a strong proponent of increasing the supply of sustainable cotton, denim brand Wrangler has joined Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture as an associate member. The multi-stakeholder initiative is working to unite the agricultural supply chain in defining, measuring and advancing the sustainability of food, fiber and fuel production in the United States.
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Four years after the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in which 1,134 people were killed, Fashion Revolution has released its 2017 Fashion Transparency Index, which ranks 100 of the biggest fashion companies on their social and environmental policies, practices and impacts.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Seventy-five million people work directly in the fashion and textiles industry. Many are subject to exploitation; verbal and physical abuse, unsafe working conditions and poor pay. While some progress has been made since the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in 2013, which killed 1,138 people, there is still a lot to be done.
PRESS RELEASE -
It’s spring cleaning time—is your old car seat on the toss list? Maybe your little one’s outgrown it, or perhaps you want an upgrade. Whatever the case, we’ll trade ya! April 17–30, bring your used car seat to Target stores nationwide and trade it in for a coupon for 20% off any car seat in our stores or at Target.com, good through May 31.
What happens to all those car seats we collect? We’re teaming up with our friends at TerraCycle to make sure they get recycled, or upcycled into new products. Through the partnership, we expect to keep more than 700,000 pounds of car seat materials out of landfills.
PRESS RELEASE -
While global outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland has an ongoing commitment to protect the outdoors, Earth Day season brings with it a range of initiatives to engage employees in the company’s environmental agenda. This year, beyond hosting Earth Day service events worldwide for employee volunteers, Timberland’s global headquarters in Stratham, New Hampshire will launch its second annual Earth Week, April 17-21. This five day effort encourages employees to reduce their individual and collective environmental footprints.
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In support of Alcohol Awareness Month, HEINEKEN USA (headquartered in White Plains, NY) announced April 4 various programs and initiatives that promote responsible drinking and moderate alcohol consumption.
Every April since 1987, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (NCADD) has sponsored Alcohol Awareness Month to increase public awareness and understanding, reduce stigma, and encourage local communities to focus on alcoholism and alcohol-related issues.
Heineken® is an industry leader in this space and was the first brand to include responsibility messaging on its packaging. HEINEKEN USA is continuing this commitment with the following initiatives:
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Many businesses measure growth by selling more stuff to more people, and consumer markets are expected to expand in the decades ahead. The world is on pace to exceed 9.5 billion people by 2050, with far fewer living in poverty than today. Thanks to the rapid industrialization of developing countries including China, Brazil and India, 3 billion people are projected to join the global middle class in the next 15 years alone. These demographic shifts represent both a human development victory and an enormous business opportunity for those companies positioning to meet the needs of added consumers.
WASTE NOT -
Last month, Indonesia pledged to cut plastic pollution by an astounding 70 percent by 2025, in response to the UN Environment Programme’s #CleanSeas campaign. This commitment is a huge step forward in reducing the more than 8 million tons of plastic going into our oceans every year.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
The business case for sustainability, particularly the circular economy, is a strong one, and more and more researching is backing it up. A recent report by the Business & Sustainable Development Commission pointed to sustainable business models as the key to unlocking trillions of dollars in economic opportunities, and WRAP revealed that brands across the UK saved over £100 million simply by reducing food waste.
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Moving the needle on consumer behavior remains a monumental task - but a necessary one if we are to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With household consumption accounting for nearly 70 percent of economic activity in the United States, consumers’ choices can make a real difference. At the same time, consumers are faced with so many decisions in their day-to-day lives that “decision fatigue” is commonplace. We cannot expect consumers to weigh the environmental and social implications of each of their actions and purchases.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
IKEA has been quietly piloting various initiatives across its European stores to see how it can build circularity into its service offering for customers. It’s a bold move, given that consumer-facing circular economy business models are still relatively embryonic, particularly in the retail market.
“Over the coming years, we will support customers to care and repair, rent, share, bring back, and resell their IKEA products to prolong product life,” IKEA’s sustainability manager Jonas Engberg told me in a recent interview.
PRESS RELEASE -
A long-time advocate of sustainability, Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials is stepping up its efforts to raise the sustainability bar. The company is inspiring converters, brands and thought leaders to work together to increase sustainability awareness, choices and collaboration to solve some of the industry's most difficult problems.
Launching this month is a multifaceted initiative to engage, educate and motivate businesses and people alike, while building its sustainability leadership brand. The initiative embraces: