The constant stream of new models, products and processes that are helping organizations extend the useful life of resources and materials while reducing, repurposing and ultimately eliminating waste in all its forms
Circular principles continue to drive a more sustainable future, as the fashion, carpet and steel industries zero in on resource efficiency and innovative raw materials.
Sustainable Surf, a nonprofit focused on protecting ocean health, has teamed up with Swiss designer Yves Béhar and MAFIA Bags, a Bay Area-based brand making bags and backpacks from upcycled sails, to create an urban adventure bag that supports the local community and diverts valuable resources from landfill.
Households in the UK waste two million tons of food each year simply by not consuming it in time. A third of this food waste is the result of the result of a confusing and counterintuitive labeling system. WRAP, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Defra have teamed up to change the way food is labeled and ultimately tackle the critical issue of food waste.
Sweden is a leader in waste-to-energy generation and earlier this year, the country began powering its incineration plants with trash purchased from neighboring countries. With less than one percent of Swedish household waste sent to landfill since 2011, the country needed to look outside its borders to keep its incineration plants going. Now, news has emerged that some of this waste is discarded clothing from fast fashion giant H&M.
While a recent report from waste management firm Suez has expressed concern about the potential “disastrous” consequences of Brexit on the UK’s already taxed waste infrastructure system, Scotland is forging ahead with its plans to create a Zero Waste future. Late last week, MSP Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, announced the cities chosen for phase two of Zero Waste Scotland’s Zero Waste Towns project.
While coffee cup recycling is just beginning to gather steam, previously hard-to-recycle products such as lead batteries and contacts are demonstrating surprisingly high recycling rates.
Your morning cup of java could be good for more than just a caffeine buzz — Shell and Vancouver-based sustainable clothing company LEZÉ the Label are fueling a sustainable future with the help of waste coffee grounds.
In the face of climate change, embracing new methods of agricultural production, consuming responsibly and adopting circular business models will be critical to forging a sustainable future and achieving both income and food security.
The hotel industry continues to pursue a food waste-free future as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), The Rockefeller Foundation and the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) release a toolkit with strategies to help hotel properties and brands meet measurable, time-bound goals to reduce food waste. The resources are based on the results of a set of projects demonstrating innovative strategies aimed at reducing food waste in the hotel industry.
Extrusion technology is opening new doors for circularity within the food industry, allowing brands to transform food waste into nutritious food products instead of fodder for landfill. Planetarians is one such brand putting the method to the test, creating high-fiber, high-protein snacks that it says can tackle childhood obesity.
Wastewater that’s worth the likes of gold? What would seem like a farfetched concept is reality in Switzerland, where 95 pounds of gold find their way into Swiss sewage each year — the equivalent of US$1,947,925.60. The build up is the result of the country’s iconic watch-making trade, which sees 70 percent of the world’s gold pass through Swiss gold-refining plants each year. So what to do with all this gold?
Thailand has bid the final farewell to its leader of seven decades, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. People throughout the Kingdom, and around the world, have celebrated and commemorated his life in a variety of ways. Ceremonies that have been practiced until perfect are helping convey the gravity of the moment while helping the nation begin to move forward. But when the ceremonies end, people will look for ways to keep the late King's memory alive, as well as to honour his life's work. A great way to do so might be to commit to continue the Sufficiency Economy work that was initiated by His Majesty Rama IX.
Just in time for Thanksgiving, Ad Council and the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) Save the Food national public service campaign have launched a digital portion planning calculator designed to reduce the amount of food, money and resources that go to waste around the holiday.
At some point in the future — and in some ways, we are already seeing this — the amount of physical stuff moving around the world will peak and begin to decline. By “stuff,” I am referring to liquid fuels, coal, containers on ships, food, raw materials, products, etc. New technologies are moving us toward “production-at-the-point-of-consumption” of energy, food and products with reduced reliance on a global supply chain. The trade of physical stuff has been central to globalization as we’ve known it. So, this declining movement of stuff may signal we are approaching “peak globalization.”
Around a third of all food that is produced is lot at some point across the food supply chain. Globally, this equates to around 1.6 gigatons (GT) of food waste, of which 1.3 GT is still edible at the time of disposal. A new technology developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia promises to make food waste a thing of the past, transforming discarded fruits and vegetables into healthy snacks. Researchers at CSIRO’s Food Innovation Centre have developed a method to return lost food-grade biomass to the food supply chain as value-added ingredients and food products.
How a T-Shirt Is Driving a Circular Economy by Melanie Vella In this main stage session, Forum for the Future CEO Sally Uren returned to interview Jeffrey Hogue, Chief Sustainability Officer at C&A, to delve into the organic fibre that made up Sally’s t-shirt, quite literally.
A new series of case studies highlighting the benefits of adopting innovative business models on a large scale has been published by REBus, an EU LIFE+-funded partnership project.
It’s Waste Reduction Week in Canada, and to celebrate, I spoke to some superstar companies reducing waste through product design that are featured in the National Zero Waste Council’s Design Portfolio. Earlier this week, we highlighted food waste solutions from Abeego and Club Coffee.
Think of all the delivery trucks that roam across cities every day. Whether it’s Amazon, moving furniture, even good old snail mail, most of it comes to our homes via dirty, inefficient, diesel- or gasoline-powered trucks that get barely a few miles to the gallon. Factor in both air and noise pollution from these vehicles and you have a major sustainability challenge that, as delivery services grow, is only getting worse.
With millions of disposable coffee cups finding their way into landfill each year, businesses and local authorities across the globe have been searching for ways to increase recycling and recovery of the single-use item. Building on the success of previous in-store cup and pilot recycling schemes, major brands in the UK have launched two permanent solutions for scaling coffee cup recycling.