Chemistry, Materials & Packaging
The latest developments in safe and sustainable chemicals, new materials, fuels, and more.
How Plastics Packaging Can Exemplify Sustainability
The rapid adoption of plastics in innumerable applications over the years stems from their overall benefits versus other materials; in particular, their reliability, ease of manufacturing, lighter weight and affordability.
Sustainable Packaging Innovation Case Study: Pfeiffer Lab Wine Packaging
Today there are three ways to ship wine in the mail: cardboard, molded pulp or expanded polystyrene (EPS). Pfeiffer Lab, a Bay Area design firm, has been working on a design strategy project to re-envision wine packaging using new bio-based materials developed by Malama C
Crowdsourcing a Sustainable Packaging Strategy: Learning from Unilever's Sustainable Living Lab
Companies crowdsourcing their sustainability strategies is a growing trend, and I was lucky enough to experience this first-hand last month, through a Unilever Sustainable Living Lab session, as a guest speaker discussing sustainable packaging design (interest declared: they’re a Seymourpowell cl
'Fresher for Longer' Campaign Hopes To Reduce UK Food Waste by Highlighting Importance of Packaging
Cross-Posted from Waste Not. In a recent report from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), researchers determined that consumer attitudes and behaviors surrounding food packaging could help reduce household food waste.
DuPont and EOS Climate Commence CFC Buyback Program
DuPont Refrigerants and EOS Climate have announced a new buyback program to incentivize the return of recovered chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerants by paying contractors and business owners for the safe disposal of polluting substances.
GE Introduces New Membrane To Purify Tough-to-Treat Water
GE has developed a new membrane to purify tough-to-treat water such as wastewater from industrial processes that can reduce time between cleanings by as much as 50 percent.
Refrigerant Revolution: EOS Climate Turning GHGs from Liabilities to Assets
Each week leading up to the Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SBIO) finals on June 5th, where the runner-up will be decided via live online public vote, we will feature articles introducing our semi-finalists. This week, meet EOS Climate.Joe Madden, Todd English and Jeff Cohen met at graduate school in 2009, and created their company EOS Climate with the objective of tackling climate change by managing greenhouse gases with market-based approaches.
Reusable Transport Packaging: Good for the Planet, Operational Efficiency and Brand Protection
Packaging. The term evokes images of wrappers, tubs, pouches and other types of product encasements we see on store shelves every day. Meanwhile, transport packaging such as pallets, cardboard boxes and plastic stretch wrap remain largely hidden from shoppers’ view.
Bridgestone Americas and Yulex Develop Renewable Alternative to Rubber
A little-known perennial shrub called guayule (pronounced why-u-lee), native to the Southwestern United States, has been tapped as a potential alternative natural source for rubber by Bridgestone Americas and agricultural-based biomaterials company, Yulex.
Producing Steel Without GHGs? And That's Not Even the Cool Part
In easily my favorite sustainability story of the week, researchers at MIT have developed a process to manufacture steel without any greenhouse gas (GHG) byproducts.
BASF Licenses Genomatica Process for Creating BDO from Renewable Feedstock
Chemical technology company Genomatica has announced a new partnership with BASF. The chemical giant has licensed Genomatica’s patented new manufacturing process for a renewable form of the organic compound 1,4-butanediol, more commonly known as BDO.BDO and its many derivatives are used for the production of plastics, solvents, electronic chemicals and elastic fibers.
BASF, DuPont Commit to Increased Product Safety Standards
BASF, DuPont, Honeywell, Dow and other members of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) this week launched a new Responsible Care Product Safety Code to increase chemical safety standards beyond regulatory requirements.
Dell's Cube, Content, Curb Approach to Packaging
If you’re a long-time Dell customer, you’ve probably noticed that our packaging looks far different than it did just a few years ago. It’s smaller, easier to recycle, and may even contain some materials you’re more likely to associate with your garden than your computer.
What Is the Role of Packaging in a Sustainable Product System?
What is the appropriate role for packaging in a product system? As a product designer, I ask myself this question often. As a design professor, I ask my students what role packaging should play in a particular product system ... now, in the future, within compromised systems and within idyllic systems. What would an ideal product system even look like?
Waitrose To Cut Packaging in Half By 2016
Waitrose last week pledged to slash its packaging in half by 2016, announcing three major changes to its product ranges that will help achieve this target and altogether save nearly 100 tons of packaging each year.
Sustainable Packaging: A Call for Better Design
One of the things I love about the Sustainable Brands community is its diverse mix of sustainability experts, designers, innovators and entrepreneurs coupled with brand and marketing specialists. It makes for a heady mix of often differing views on related sustainability challenges.
What Is Sustainable Packaging?
Welcome to Sustainable Brands' Issue in Focus on sustainable packaging!
Monadnock Develops Eco-Friendly Label for Craft Beers
Monadnock Paper Mills, which manufactures technical and specialty printing and packaging papers, recently announced the availability of an uncoated product designed specifically for craft beer made from 100 percent FSC-certified, post-consumer waste fibers.Made in New England, home to many iconic craft brews, Monadnock says its Envi Label offers American brewers a home-grown source for label stock that upholds brewers’ commitments to quality and sustainability with no compromises in performance or aesthetics.
Rennovia Develops Process To Produce 100% Bio-Based Nylon
Rennovia last week announced that it has created a process to make bio-based nylon materials that are nearly 25 percent cheaper to produce and emit half as much greenhouse gas emissions as conventional petroleum-derived substances.
The New Three Rs: Reuse, Recycle, Radiation?
The question of what to do with nuclear waste is as old as our ability to harness nuclear energy. Up until now, all nuclear byproducts have just been placed in storage facilities that will slowly decay over the next few hundred thousand years. Now it seems we are starting to make some progress.
