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Chemistry, Materials & Packaging

The latest developments in safe and sustainable chemicals, new materials, fuels, and more.

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'Put a Box Around It': Helen Sahi on Avery Dennison's Approach to Innovation, Partnerships, Sustainability

Core to Avery Dennison’s long-term success is developing products and solutions that are sustainable for years to come. With the volume of materials it produces, how does the company deliver a positive environmental and social impact for its customers and the communities in which it operates? For Avery Dennison, it’s a core responsibility — and it all starts with sustainability.

Materiality Assessment Finds Materials, Transparency, GHGs Critical Issues for Cleaning Products Industry

The American Cleaning Institute (ACI) released the first-ever industry materiality assessment in its 2015 Sustainability Report on Tuesday. Sustainability analytics firm Framework LLC conducted the assessment using data from across the sector’s value chain to map critical risks and opportunities, and found materials, transparency, and greenhouse gases among the top concerns for the $30 billion cleaning products industry.

Zero Waste Europe: EPR Needs Redesigning to Facilitate Circular Economy

A new study commissioned by Zero Waste Europe has found that the majority of product waste is not covered by current extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes and calls for the redesigning of producer responsibility in order to move towards a circular economy.

Water for Life Launches Campaign to Bring Sustainable Water Filters to Developing Countries

A 2010 report by the World Health Organization and UNICEF estimated that four out of every 10 people in the world, particularly those in Africa and Asia, do not have clean water to drink, and according to Green Cross International, roughly 3,000 children die each day as a result of diseases caused by ingestion of filthy water.

Ford, P&G Looking to Gecko for Adhesive Innovations

Researchers at Ford Motor Company are looking to biomimicry in hopes of improving adhesives and increasing the recyclability of auto parts.Improving the recyclability of auto parts by replacing (or otherwise reducing or eliminating) the glue it uses to adhere foams to plastics and metals could give Ford’s sustainability performance a boost. The adhesives it currently uses make disassembling the parts for recycling nearly impossible. Ford is sharing its research findings in a partnership with Procter & Gamble (P&G) as their teams investigate potential biomimetic business solutions.

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Startup Exploring Multibillion-Dollar Opportunity for Coal Ash

Coal ash is the United States’ second-largest waste stream, after household garbage. It needs to be stored safely to prevent arsenic, lead, mercury and other toxins from leaching into farmlands, rivers, lakes, and other public water sources. Coal-fired power plants in the United States generate 140 million tons of coal ash each year – leaving an estimated 3.5 billion tons which now must be managed. Now a startup from Charlotte, North Carolina thinks it might have a profitable solution to this toxic problem.

Trending: UK Grocers Turning Waste into Packaging

British grocery chains Tesco and Waitrose have added a new facet to their waste-mitigation efforts by launching upcycled packaging.Beginning this month, Tesco shoppers could get their groceries in recycled plastic bags made from back-of-store waste plastic, such as pallet and multi-pack wrapping. Recycling firm Eurokey is collecting and sorting Tesco’s plastic waste, and plastics recycler Papier-Mettier is processing it and turning it into single-use carrier bags.

7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Sweden’s Forest Economy

Sweden is so heavily forested that open areas are the exception.It’s the opposite of continental Europe, where Germany’s well-known Black Forest or France’s Bois Des Landes are deviations in the landscape, which was deforested centuries ago.In Sweden, the slatten, or “plains,” are distinct. They carry geographic names recognizable to the average Swede, such as Uppsala-slätten or Västgöta-slätten.Not surprisingly, the huge swaths of forest in Sweden are central to the culture and economy, both of which have lofty reputations globally for sustainability.Here are six more things that make Sweden’s forest economy unique, according to Iggesund Paperboard.

Berkeley Researchers Developing Artificial Leaves to Produce Carbon-Neutral Fuel

Researchers at UC Berkeley have created a synthetic leaf that uses water, sunlight and carbon dioxide to make liquid fuels such as methane, butane and acetate — and releases oxygen into the air, The Los Angeles Times reports.Lead researcher on the project, Peidong Yang, plans to use a “genius” grant of $625,000 he recently received from the MacArthur Foundation to nurture the artificial leaf technology. Although it is still several years from being commercially viable, it could represent an important step on the road to creating a carbon-neutral and sustainable fuel system.

Target Expands Sustainable Product Index to Include 1,000+ Toxic Chemicals

Target has improved its sustainable product standard by beginning to test category-specific criteria and consider more toxic chemicals. The retailer’s Sustainable Product Index evaluates products based on a points system and the highest-scoring options are promoted under its “Made to Matter” banner.

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Sealed Air Releases 2020 Goals for Its Own Sustainability, Reimagining Customer Solutions for Same

Today, Sealed Air, the packaging solutions company that brought you Bubble Wrap®, released its latest sustainability report. The report outlines new goals for 2020, including reducing operations intensity by 25 percent.

Keurig’s K-Cups Inch Closer to Being 100% Recyclable

Keurig Green Mountain Inc. is making progress towards its goal of making all K-Cups recyclable by 2020. Following successful recycling research trials, the company has unveiled plans to transition the entire product line to polypropylene, according to Plastics News.

Consumers Want Environmental Info on Product Labels: Why Now Is the Time to Act

Package labels that clearly detail food product ingredients have become the norm, thanks in large part to demand from consumers who want to be able to make informed decisions about their purchases. But what about other information related to sustainability and how product packaging is sourced?Current product labels do not offer a sufficient or clear explanation of sourcing and sustainability information. We need to recognize, across all industries, that the materials used to develop the packaging of a product is equally as important as the ingredients that go inside a product. Consumers are demanding greater transparency and it is the responsibility of all of us, including manufacturers, regulators and third-party groups, to fulfill this obligation.

Vegan, Non-Allergenic and GMO-Free, Algae Could Be Our New Sustainable Superfood

As the alternative protein market continues to grow and companies explore the viability of more sustainable sources such as heat-resistant beans and even crickets, microalgae has emerged as another nutritionally rich contender. Solazyme, California-based producer of renewable oil and bio-products, has gotten in on the action with a whole algae protein product now on US grocery shelves and many more partnerships in the works.

Mars, Researchers Reveal Benefits of Cocoa Flavanols, But Not Good News for Chocolate Lovers

The University of Dusseldorf, the University of Reading and Mars, Incorporated have unveiled two new studies revealing that cocoa flavanols can help to keep our hearts healthy. Cocoa flavanols are nutrients found naturally in the cocoa bean.The research, published in the journals Age and the British Journal of Nutrition (BJN), shows that consuming cocoa flavanols can decrease arterial stiffness and increase blood vessel function in healthy people, helping to reduce the risk of heart disease — the number-one cause of deaths worldwide.

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EPA, Unilever Partnering to Advance Non-Animal Methods of Chemical Risk Assessment

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Unilever have announced a research collaboration to develop groundbreaking scientific approaches to better assess the safety of chemicals found in some consumer products without using animal data.The alternative approaches represent the first steps in a paradigm shift for chemical safety testing and risk assessment by making them faster, cheaper and more relevant to humans. These new tools will provide a robust scientific basis for assessing and managing chemical safety and efficiently quantifying human health risks for thousands of chemicals.

Could Sugar-Embedded Products Help Us Survive in a World Ravaged by Drought?

Climate impacts already cost billions in economic damage each year. Global drought losses are expected to surpass $8 billion in 2015 alone. A 2010 study by the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) predicted that extreme drought will threaten large parts of the U.S., Central and South America, and Southern Europe by the 2030s.

Sustainability Mythbusters: Are Bio-Based Products Always Preferable to Oil-Based?

The common viewIn times where concerns over depletion of non-renewable resources and climate change are drastically increasing, it seems easy to accept that bio-based products are without a doubt better than fuel-based products.

Can't Give Up the Bottle? Try Boxed Water

Plastic bottles are some of the worst offenders in packaging waste, but sales of bottled water continue to grow: U.S. bottled water volume apparently rose 7 percent last year.

Trending: 'Freaky Friday' Technologies Grow Metal, Create Batteries from Trees

We know from the emerging discipline of biomimicry that natural systems can stimulate sustainable designs for human use. Two recent innovations use trees for inspiration and materials in unconventional products that may revolutionize very different industries: large-scale metal production, and battery technology to suit cars and wearable devices.

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