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Materials & Packaging

The latest developments in materials, feedstocks and processes that are transforming the way many conventional products are made and packaged — and eliminating their negative impacts

Article
University of Nebraska Engineers Creating Textiles from Corn Husks

Corn may soon join the ranks of cotton and wool in the natural fiber world: A team at the University of Nebraska's Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design is busy at work developing textiles from corn husks. On a recent segment of QU... View More

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Ecover Using Algal Oil to Develop First Palm Oil-Free Laundry Liquid

Sustainable cleaning products giant Ecover announced this week it is developing an algae-based laundry liquid as part of its goal to cut the use of palm oil in all of its products.Palm oil has become a huge topic of concern for NGOs, brands and consu... View More

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Clariant Joins BASF, AkzoNobel in Chem Industry Sustainability Initiative

On Thursday, Swiss specialty chemicals giant Clariant announced it is the newest member of “Together for Sustainability” (TfS), a chemical industry initiative founded in 2011 aimed at improving sustainability practices within its supply chains. ... View More

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Greif Jerry Can Wins Manufacturing Leadership Sustainability Award

Industrial packaging products and services firm Greif has received the 2014 Manufacturing Leadership Award (ML Award) in Sustainability for its DoubleGreen™ COEX 10-liter plastic jerry can. This is one of the first sustainable multilayer 10-liter p... View More

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McDonald's USA Becomes First Restaurant Chain to Join GreenBlue's How2Recycle Label Program

GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) announced this week that McDonald’s USA is the newest participant in its How2Recycle Label Program. A member of the SPC since 2005, McDonald’s is the first national restaurant chain to join How2... View More

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How AkzoNobel Is Using Open Innovation to Drive Change in Transportation

The movement of people and goods is crucial to the world economy. Globally, the transportation sector is expected to continue growing, with a geographic shift of demand and manufacturing to the developing economies. But with this growth, environmenta... View More

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LAUNCH Nordic Enlists IKEA, Novozymes in Quest for Sustainable Materials

LAUNCH — the strategic collaboration between NASA, NIKE, Inc., the US Department of State and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) — announced Friday it has added the expertise of a host of Scandinavian innovators in its continued ... View More

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DTSC Challenging Manufacturers to Make Products Safer

On Thursday, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) challenged manufacturers to make their products safer and dramatically change the way consumers are protected from potential toxic harm.As a key step in its Safer Consumer Prod... View More

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New Food and Beverage Industry Group Aims to Boost Packaging Recycling in Scotland

A group of food, beverage and packaging giants has come together to collaborate with the Scottish government to help boost packaging recycling and provide partnership support for waste reduction and anti-littering programs. The Packaging Recycling Gr... View More

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HP's New Packaging Partnership Aims to Turn Straw Into Savings

Hewlett-Packard has teamed up with global packaging company YFY Jupiter for a new initiative that will use straw waste to create packaging material for its products. The program will create multifold benefits for HP — reduced costs, better protecti... View More

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Walmart Implements Policy to Remove Harmful Chemicals from Consumer Products

Walmart has informed dozens of product manufacturers throughout its supply chain that it is now implementing its new policy to phase out hazardous chemicals from its consumer products, announced late last year. ... View More

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LEGO Seeking Sustainable Alternative to Its Trademark Brick Material

LEGO told Plastics News this week that it is looking for a sustainable alternative to Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), the plastic resin used in its signature bricks, by 2030.LEGO’s senior project manager Allan Rasmussen told PN that, not onl... View More

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Testing the 'CVS Effect' on Microbeads: Could L'Oréal & Unilever Be Bolder?

Recent commitments from L'Oréal, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and P&G to phase microbeads out of their products by (or before) 2017 is laudable and a good step forward. This news responds to scientific research linking the tiny, polystyrene b... View More

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EU Initiative Developing Plastic Packaging Made from Wastewater

An EU-funded program is developing a method for making plastic packaging from the fermented wastewater of processed juice, which could save the beverage industry millions while tapping into growing consumer demand for eco-friendly products.Through th... View More

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Sustainable Packaging Market to Hit $244 Billion by 2018

Consumer demand, government legislation and technology advances will propel sustainable packaging to a $244 billion market by 2018, according to a new report by Smithers Para.The Future of Sustainable Packaging to 2018 details market sizes, projectio... View More

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Beer Store Recycles More Packaging Than It Sells, Saves Ontarians $40M

The Beer Store, a privately owned chain of retail outlets selling beer and other malt beverages across Ontario, Canada has announced that it has saved the province $40 million in the last year, thanks to its bottle recycling system and the cooperatio... View More

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American Cleaning Institute Rolls Out Sustainable Products Initiative

The American Cleaning Institute (ACI), the nonprofit trade association representing over 120 companies in the US cleaning products industry — including BASF, Clorox, Dow, Novozymes, Method, Seventh Generation, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever, to nam... View More

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P&G Removing Phosphates from All Detergents by End of 2015

Procter & Gamble announced this week that it will eliminate phosphates from all of its laundry detergents — which include brands such as Tide, Ariel, Cheer, Gain, Ace and Bold — by the end of 2015. The company says the goal of the change is t... View More

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Chemicals in Consumer Products: New Progress in Transparency

The states of Washington and California are breaking new ground by providing consumers with information on potentially harmful chemicals in the products they buy and use on a daily basis. Washington’s focus is on products meant for children; Califo... View More

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Carlsberg Partners With Suppliers to Embrace Packaging Upcycling

Carlsberg has joined with a group of global suppliers to develop the next generation of packaging products that are optimized for recycling and reuse, otherwise known as “upcycling.”The term, popularized by William McDonough & Michael Braunga... View More

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