The latest developments in safe and sustainable chemicals, new materials, fuels, and more.
Microplastics — extremely small pieces (less than 5 mm) of plastic debris resulting from the disposal and breakdown of consumer products and industrial waste — have been found in tap water around the globe, according to a new report by Orb Media, a D.C.-based nonprofit digital newsroom. The discovery has led to a call from the scientific community for urgent research on microplastics’ implications for human health.
While the textile industry presents endless opportunities to significantly reduce global environmental impacts, progressing towards sustainability and circularity continues to be an uphill battle. As a new technology is revealed to be instrumental in reducing the carbon footprint of textile coatings, a new ban on scrap textile imports in China could curb global textile recycling progress.
Ohio-based Buckhorn manufactures different types of heavy-duty, reusable plastic packaging for the food processing, automotive, manufacturing, distribution, bakery and agriculture industries, with a focus on improving companies’ supply chain performance by reducing product waste and material handling costs. The company is also dedicated to keeping its own impacts in check by buying back end-of-life containers for recycling; the company then incorporates ground-up recycled materials, called ‘regrind,’ into the next generation of containers. We spoke with president Ken Kozicki to learn more about Buckhorn’s commitment to eliminating waste throughout its value chain.
As consumer demand for product transparency grows, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to disclose information about the ingredients that go into to their products. Following this call to action, Procter & Gamble (P&G) has unveiled plans to list all fragrance ingredients down to 0.01 percent for its entire product portfolio in the US and Canada by the end of 2019.
There was the agrarian revolution, followed by the industrial revolution and now the digital revolution. With each came efficiency and added value. But with each also came a loss of jobs and painful adjustments. Currently, the world straddles two distinctly different ways of life: On one side sits the taxi cab and newspaper users among us; on the other, the Uber and Twitter devotees. These distinctly different worlds lead many businesses to a fork in the road where the path toward survival and long-term growth is often complex and unclear.
The market for sustainable packaging is expected to reach $440.3 billion over the next decade and businesses that hop on the bandwagon early are expected to reap economic benefits as well as increased consumer satisfaction and a lower environmental footprint. Two industry giants are riding the wave of change with the help of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and the roll out of new sustainable packaging initiatives.
Johnson & Johnson is on a mission to improve the sustainability of its products by sourcing solutions from within the company through its Earthwards® program. In June, the program became 100 products strong; J&J’s aim is for the Earthwards® portfolio to represent 20 percent of its revenue by 2020. We spoke with Paulette Frank, J&J’s Worldwide VP of Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability, to learn more about the internal and external benefits of designing in sustainability.
As determined stakeholders continue to innovate proposed 2019 expedition has its sights set on the coast of Papua New Guinea, where if all goes according to plan, three 200-ton machines will troll the bottom of the Bismarck Sea for deposits of copper and gold, for Canadian mining company Nautilus Minerals. The remote-controlled robots will use enormous, spiked-covered bulk cutters to churn and grind the ocean floor, to reach as yet untouched reserves of deep-ocean minerals formed over millions of years.
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.
The Chemical Footprint Project — an initiative driving the effective management of chemicals in products and supply chains — has released its second annual report, which measures corporate chemicals management performance through a 20-question survey that evaluates companies on management strategy, chemical inventory, footprint measurement and public disclosure and verification.
Packaging continues to provide a significant challenge to companies looking to cut back on their environmental impacts, but new achievements in the tech and food industries indicate that progress is being made. Two years after launching its forestry program, tech giant Apple has announced that 320,000 acres of forest in China are now certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and that it has enough sustainable working forest to cover the paper used in packaging for all of its products.
Working with sustainable print partners and using environmental papers is becoming increasingly important for brands working to meet their own sustainability targets. Environmental nonprofit Canopy has released the 2017 update to its Blueline Ranking — a tool profiling the sustainability performance of North America’s largest printers. Printers analyzed in this year’s assessment represent $34 billion in annual sales.
With greater focus being placed on the fashion industry’s environmental impacts, efforts are emerging almost daily in an effort to help the sector shed its unsustainable rep.
Packaging remains a significant challenge for companies aiming to reduce the environmental footprint of their operations, but two new packaging innovations from industry giants in Scandinavia may be the solution. First, BillerudKorsnäs and Bosch Packaging Technology have scored a 2017 Sustainability Award in the Bio-Based Packaging category for their new Sealed Paper Packaging.
Fashion continues to make headlines, with news emerging about a new textile breakthrough and shifting attitudes towards clothing across the UK that are helping drive down the industry’s environmental impact.
Packaging innovation offers an important tool to help companies achieve their sustainability goals. Two recent advances could hold promise for tackling food waste, reducing CO2 emissions and reliance on virgin materials. UK grocer Sainsbury’s is pushing the envelope on packaging to kick food waste to the curb. The company is rolling out a new “smart” packaging label on its own-brand ham that signals to consumers when the product is about to expire.
For companies and brands today, more sustainable production methods are topping lists of things to do. The uncertainty of material and vendor prices, the need to comply with a growing number of regulations and mounting evidence of environmental impacts increasingly drive change. More and more manufacturers are investing time, energy and money to fix infrastructures and further optimize supply and production chains. They have to, after increasingly finding themselves at risk for not putting forth the resources necessary to make their processes more sustainable.
Fashion is slowly shedding its negative rep as brands continue to embrace circular and forward-thinking practices that drive innovation and product durability. Only weeks after announcing a new partnership with Parley for the Oceans, luxury label Stella McCartney has made yet another push to keep the world’s oceans waste-free. The brand has revealed that its Autumn 2017 collection of Falabella GO bags will be made with yarn derived from converted ocean waste.
The sourcing and manufacturing of materials are two of the most environmentally impactful aspects of the fashion industry. In an effort to shift the sector to a more sustainable model, key industry players have revved up efforts to move sustainable materials to the mainstream.
A new partnership between Braskem, the largest thermoplastics resins producer in the Americas and a leading biopolymers producer, Sealed Air Corporation, a packaging, cleaning and hygiene solutions company, and Naturepedic, a manufacturer of certified organic mattresses and bedding, is aiming to help consumers lead a more sustainable lifestyle even in their sleep. Together, the partners have developed a first-of-its-kind formula for renewable polyethylene foam.