WASTE NOT -
South Korea has been using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and a ‘pay-as-you-waste’ system to help cut back on waste. In 2013, the country found that its waste had a particularly high liquid content – about 80 percent – which was leaching into soil and causing outbreaks of insects. Now, South Korea is using technology to both cut back on food waste and divert more of it for processing into animal feed and fertilizer.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The UPS Foundation has partnered with drone manufacturer Zipline and leading vaccine alliance Gavi., to deliver blood, medicines, and vaccines to clinics across Rwanda via a fleet of Zipline drones. Drones can provide a faster, more reliable method of medicine delivery in areas where roads are often impassable, or where products cannot be kept for long without spoiling. The venture is planned as a one-year initiative, with hopes to expand in the future.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
As the pursuit of sustainability in business becomes more mainstream, it is intersecting with burgeoning and cutting-edge technologies that are transforming the way we interact with our planet, our things, our community, and more. Are these technologies just making it easier for us to live, or are they fundamentally shifting the way our lives work — ushering us into a new era of innovation and sustainability? Let’s take a look at six emerging technology trends that are reshaping the world we live in for the better.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The local food movement has thrived in recent years, bolstered by consumers’ growing concerns over what is in their food and where it came from – and startups are jumping at the opportunities it presents. From California to New York, a host of apps and business models are connecting growers, buyers, sellers and eaters. At the same time, many small farmers are still struggling.
PRESS RELEASE -
A second major technology company has confirmed that it is using Duke Energy’s Green Source Rider to provide clean energy for its North Carolina operations.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
For all the talk about the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the truth of the matter is most executives don’t believe it drives direct bottom line business benefit, or that it effectively addresses societal problems.
The authors of Connect: How Companies Succeed by Engaging Radically with Society interviewed 70 CEOs and found that they view CSR as commercially irrelevant, believing it focuses more on boosting employee morale than addressing the way a company engages with society’s concerns.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Food packaging is one of the main generators of packaging waste in developed countries. In 2012, each person in the European Union (EU) countries generated an average of 156.8kg of packaging waste, and plastic containers accounted for 19 percent of it. In total, 15.1 million tons of plastic packaging waste was generated. Of course, many organizations are working on cutting back this waste, and new materials are under development, including biodegradable bioplastics made from renewable materials or even waste.
CLEANTECH -
Label Insight - leading provider of SaaS data solutions providing insights and strengthening the connections between CPG brands, retailers and consumers - announces the launch of its Sustainability SmartSPEC™ solution. The Sustainability SmartSPEC is customizable based on a retailer's unique sustainability initiatives in categories such as environmental impact, animal welfare and farming techniques.
CLEANTECH -
A minimum of 10 billion apparel and footwear products are expected to be produced with unique digital identities and data profiles in the cloud over the next three years through a partnership between packaging materials leader Avery Dennison and Internet of Things (IoT) company Evrythng. The companies believe this to be the largest number of IoT-connected products in a single deal, to date.
PRESS RELEASE -
As the Official Chemistry Company of the Olympic Games and the Official Carbon Partner of Rio 2016, The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) has launched an innovative 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.
"Packaging plays an important role in helping minimize food waste. The leveraging of the Microfoaming technology as one of the Rio 2016 carbon mitigation projects promotes a rational utilization of packaging and showcases how it can help enable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” said Paloma Alonso, Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics Latin America commercial vice president.
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.
CLEANTECH -
The world is picking up on the fight against global warming and more renewable energy capacity is under construction. In this transformation, impressive pieces of cleantech engineering are seeing the light of the day; major wind farms, massive solar panels and intelligent waste-to-energy plants, just to mention a few.
The record-size Hornsea Offshore Wind Farm
In line with these impressive pieces of engineering is the forthcoming Hornsea Project One Offshore Wind Farm, located 120 kilometres off the coast of the UK, built by the market leader within offshore wind construction, DONG Energy.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Every year, April evokes campaigns and initiatives from companies and nonprofits alike in celebration of Earth Day (April 22) or Earth Month.
This year, personal care brand Tom’s of Maine has teamed up with upcycling leader TerraCycle on the#LessWasteChallenge, a stakeholder engagement campaign to reduce waste. Consumers are invited to take an online pledge to reduce their household waste by one pound per week.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
In light of this year’s Flint, Michigan water crisis and massive methane leak in Porter Ranch, California, along with increasing awareness of manmade toxicities in our environment, consumers are looking for better tools to control their health and be better armed for knowing and controlling what goes into their bodies.
Enter MyDx — aka “My Diagnostic” — a portable analyzer that acts like an electronic nose to measure and detect chemical molecules in vapor.
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.
NEW METRICS -
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and other forms of sustainability reporting can be a painful process. Whether you’re a one-person sustainability, health and safety manager or your company has staff around the world who share reporting responsibilities, it can be challenging to effectively collect, assess, and communicate your company’s sustainability metrics.
WASTE NOT -
Fetzer Vineyards, a leader in regenerative winegrowing, is revolutionizing the way U.S. wineries conserve water, announcing today that it will install the BioFiltro BIDA® System at its Mendocino winery. In doing so, Fetzer — a certified B Corp — will become the first American winery to use the closed-loop biological wastewater treatment system to process 100 percent of its winery wastewater.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Are we truly stuffed? Our obsession with ownership means we have become somewhat attracted to clutter. It is estimated that the average US home contains 300,000 items, yet this still isn’t enough for 1 in 10 Americans who have to additionally rent offsite storage.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
In my previous article I examined the challenge of developing our authentic purpose. In this article I would like to explain a little about how we can approach authentic purpose with a view to helping businesses and organisations make the leap from developing sustainable technology to achieving sustainable human evolution.
CLEANTECH -
Telecommunications firm Vodafone and Philips Lighting announced a new partnership earlier this month that will focus on smart street lighting systems.