The latest developments in safe and sustainable chemicals, new materials, fuels, and more.
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.
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.
Ecolab has introduced a breakthrough product to help reduce the risk of foodborne illness outbreaks related to ineffective produce washing in foodservice operations.
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, 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.
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 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 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.
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.
Welcome to Sustainable Brands' Issue in Focus on sustainable packaging!
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 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.
Nike last week partnered with NASA, USAID and the U.S. Department of State to bring together some 150 materials specialists, designers, academics, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and NGOs to catalyze action around one of the world’s biggest challenges — the sustainability of materials and how they are made.
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.
UK grocery chain The Co-operative has just announced significant reductions in the weight of its private label wine bottles. With the help of its supplier, Kingsland Wines and Spirits, the Co-operative achieved reductions that amounted to a savings of 725 metric tons of glass and 556 metrics tons of CO2. Not only does a major reduction such as this use fewer resources and save energy, the biggest reduction comes from having less weight to transport and therefore dramatically lower fuel costs. By the end of 2013, the Co-operative plans to reduce its packaging weights by a further 15% and increase its carrier bag reduction target to 75%.
The Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals is a new worldwide initiative for the standardized classification of hazardous chemicals and a communication system for conveying information regarding their proper use and handling.
Swiss chemical company Clariant has released a series of score cards to demonstrate the percentage savings in water and energy consumption, chemical usage, time, GHG emissions and Biological/Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD/COD) ratio attainable with its technology compared to conventional methods.The company says its One Way sustainability toolbox offers textile mills, manufacturers, brands and retailers facts and measurements to help them select products and processes with both ecology and economy in mind.
There is a clear environmental benefit in using recovered fiber instead of virgin fiber for publication-grade paper, according to a recent study backed by National Geographic, Green America and a number of NGO stakeholders.
The Dow Chemical Company has been selected to help the Olympic Organizing Committee reduce the carbon footprint of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, according to a recent announcement.The company says it will work with local companies and partners to mitigate the direct carbon footprint associated with Sochi 2014 through energy-efficient technologies and improved greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions performance in three key areas; upgrading building infrastructure, optimizing farming practices and enhancing industrial processes.
Cross-Posted from Waste Not. Researchers at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom say they have discovered a way to make a new kind of decomposable and recyclable bioplastic from the thin wrappers found in eggshells.