The latest developments in safe and sustainable chemicals, new materials, fuels, and more.
Plastics continue to make headlines as brands uncover new and creative solutions that transform trash into profitable products. Building on its efforts to reinvent how products are designed, manufactured and used, HP Inc. has launched Original HP ink cartridges made from plastic bottles recycled in Haiti.
Viscose continues to dominate the news as brands ramp up efforts to eliminate the destruction of ancient and endangered forests and human rights violations from the viscose supply chain, while others fall behind.
McGill is at it again. Just months after researchers at the Canadian university revealed that metal powders could provide a zero-carbon, closed-loop alternative to traditional fossil fuels, a team of chemists have uncovered a way to produce and refine metals without the aid of toxic solvents or reagents.
Circular initiatives may be on the rise, but an impending commodity crisis for cobalt indicates that we still haven’t learned our lesson as far as resource depletion is concerned. The ferromagnetic metal is primarily used in the preparation of magnetic, wear-resistant and high-performance alloys and is a critical component of batteries designed for electric vehicles, laptops, smartphones and a host of other electronics. And we’re running out.
The launch of two new textile innovations continues to drive the apparel industry towards greater circularity.
This was no introductory workshop. Everyone in attendance on Monday afternoon, day one of SB'17 Detroit, raised their hand when asked if they knew what biomimicry is, and everyone was interested in diving in and learning how to use biomimicry in their own work. Thus, organizers Nicole Hagerman Miller and Dr.
What does it take to achieve the perfect sustainable packaging? This Monday morning workshop offered insights into the question. It’s harder than one might assume. Competing interests between corporations and municipalities, and added complexities given the unique nature of their stakeholders for both businesses and governments, adds to the challenge.
Recycling protocol for consumer products packaged in plastic bottles and tubes is fairly straightforward. But for sachets, it’s a whole other story. To tackle industry-wide sachet waste, Unilever teamed up with the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV in Germany to develop CreaSolv Process, a groundbreaking new technology to recycle sachet waste.
Being dubbed the “Holy Grail” of directories for sustainable paper and packaging, Canopy’s updated Ecopaper Database now features more than 450 printing and writing grade papers, office stationery products and packaging with high recycled, agricultural residue, alternative or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) fiber content.
During the Walmart Sustainability Milestone Summit, eight global brands representing over $72 billion in revenue announced that they will be joining the How2Recycle label program. The program seeks to educate consumers about how to recycle packaging correctly.
Following the announcement of a new partnership in November 2016, UPS and Sealed Air Corporation have opened a Packaging Innovation Center in Louisville, KY on the UPS Supply Chain Solutions campus. The center will focus on creating solutions for packaging and shipping challenges faced by e-commerce retailers and a variety of other sectors by maximizing efficiency, minimizing waste and reducing shipping costs.
Just in time for Fashion Revolution Week, the Fairtrade Foundation and researchers in Finland have revealed new studies and initiatives aimed at driving the fashion industry towards a more sustainable, ethical model.
Just weeks after releasing a new forest products policy, in which it pledges to source all of the wood, paper, paper-based and wood-based fiber used in its brand-owned products from post-consumer recycled materials and credibly certified forests, retail giant Target has announced five new sustainable packaging goals.
The development of innovative packaging solutions continues to help brands reduce impact and drive future growth.
In an effort to help companies optimize their packaging systems, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and the Industry Council for Research on Packaging and the Environment (INCPEN) have teamed up to create a new sustainability checklist.
Nearly half of Americans do not recycle their beauty and personal care products, accounting for a significant amount of landfill waste. Garnier and DoSomething.org are hoping to change that with their new Rinse, Recycle, Repeat campaign and college campus competition, which aims to educate consumers about the importance of recycling beauty product empties.
Food industry giants Danone, Nestlé and Kroger are the latest companies to harness design and circular principles to move the food and beverage industry towards zero waste. Danone and Nestlé Waters, two of the world’s largest bottled water companies, have partnered with California-based startup Origin Materials to form the NaturALL Bottle Alliance. Together, they aim to develop and launch at commercial scale a PET plastic bottle made entirely from bio-based materials.
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, only 2 percent of the 78 million tons of plastic used each year for packaging is actually recycled. The remaining 98 percent finds its way into landfills, incineration plants and the environment. New innovations and initiatives from across the U.S. and Canada, however, are offering new solutions to tackle the ever-growing plastics problem.
Policymakers must limit chemicals entering the material cycle and adapt existing legislation in order to protect human health and the environment from toxic substances in a circular economy, say ClientEarth and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) in a new report. The NGOs indicate that the current legal framework has failed to ensure information about dangerous chemicals is diffused throughout the whole material cycle and potential subsequent lifecycles.
Transport constitutes approximately 20 percent of global energy use — a figure that is set to grow — and a new study published by physicist Jo Hermans in MRS Energy and Sustainability — A Review Journal has identified liquid hydrogen as a realistic option for what can be considered the most problematic modes of transportation in terms of sustainability — air travel. While Professor Hermans of Leiden University’s Huygen’s Laboratory admits that traditional oil-based fuels such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene are both convenient and boast an appealing energy-to-volume ratio, liquid hydrogen could offer a potential solution for sustainable air travel in the future.