Circular Economy

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

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Three Years Later, J&J Care to Recycle Campaign Is Paying Off

For many of us, recycling is becoming second nature, but not all packaging is treated equally. While 56 percent of Americans recycle kitchen items, only 14 percent recycle their personal care product bottles and packaging. And according to Johnson &a... View More

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There is No ‘Away’: How Each of Us Can Help Stop Plastic Pollution

Last month, Indonesia pledged to cut plastic pollution by an astounding 70 percent by 2025, in response to the UN Environment Programme’s #CleanSeas campaign. This commitment is a huge step forward in reducing the more than 8 million tons of plasti... View More

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A Circular Economy: You’re Not in It Alone, So Why Go It Alone?

This is the second in a three-part series from The Recycling Partnership on collaborating to drive effective engagement – and action – around recycling. Read part one. Intent vs. action. It’s the difference between buying those new running shoe... View More

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London, Wales Launch Ambitious New Circular Economy Schemes

More and more, circular economic models are providing ways for governments and businesses to increase efficiency, reduce waste and create new jobs. Two new initiatives in the UK reinforce that adopting circular principles presents significant economi... View More

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ING: Circular Solutions to Water Stress Could Save 11% of Global Water Demand

Global fresh water demand is expected to grow by 2 percent yearly over the next several decades. Based on the assumption that water supply will remain relatively stable, demand growth is expected to lead to serious water stress. This is largely the r... View More

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HP Inc. Challenges Tech Industry to Raise the Bar on Electronics Recycling

According to environmental non-profit Basel Action Network (BAN), electronics recycling may not be quite as straightforward as consumers believe. While some electronics are safely dismantled and have their components scrapped or re-used, the recyclin... View More

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Groundbreaking Report Provides Government with Road Map to Cut U.S. Food Waste

While more than 42 million Americans lack access to a sufficient amount of food, a staggering 40 percent of the food produced in the U.S. is uneaten, resulting in at least 62.5 million tons of wasted food annually. Meanwhile, a mere 10 percent of foo... View More

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Would Bill Gates’ Robot Tax Help Create Human Jobs?

As a humanist, Bill Gates has been on something of a roll. Recently, he launched Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $1 billion fund for startups working on promising sustainable energy solutions. This isn’t actually that much money compared to what’... View More

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#BusinessCase: Report Finds 14:1 ROI for Companies That Reduce Food Waste

As has been much discussed here at Sustainable Brands, roughly a third of all food produced in the world is never eaten, which has tremendous economic, social and environmental consequences. ... View More

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New Timberland X Thread Collection Made with 'Most Responsible Fabric on the Planet'

Global outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland has launched the Timberland X Thread collection in partnership with Thread, the Certified B Corporation that transforms plastic bottles from the streets and canals of Haiti into what Thread calls “the most ... View More

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Half of a Half Equals a Whole Lot of Potential

This is the first in a three-part series from The Recycling Partnership on collaborating to drive effective engagement – and action – around recycling. Attention! Recycling needs you. Wait, we’re still talking about recycling? Yep, and here’s... View More

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PepsiCo, Coca-Cola Look to Youth Innovation, Consumers to Make Shift Towards Zero Impact

The use of post-consumer recycled materials as feedstock for new bottles and cans has become common practice for the beverage industry, but there is still more to be done to reduce waste and increase recycling. Industry giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola a... View More

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New Platform Enables Entire Food Value Chain to ‘Takestock,’ Redistribute Would-Be Waste

From 10kg of blueberries to 10-litre tubs of mayonnaise and handmade farmhouse cheese, surplus food is now up for grabs eBay-style, thanks to a new UK-based platform. Using the principles of the infamous auction site, Takestock applies the transactio... View More

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The Vertical Farm: A Chat with Dickson D. Despommier, Ph.D.

By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth’s population will live in urban centers and that number will have increased by about 3 billion people in the interim – a big challenge and opportunity to feed. One emergent model is indoor farming, aka, v... View More

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How Innovation Could Bring Us to Peak Oil by 2020

Energy companies are grossly underestimating low-carbon advances with a business-as-usual approach says a new report co-authored by the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London and the Carbon Tracker Initiative. The report also points to the fal... View More

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Deutsche Bank, World Bank Pull the Plug on Coal Financing

As the Trump administration threatens to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement and double up on efforts to revive a slowing fossil fuels industry, the rest of the world is pulling out of coal projects and redirecting investment towards renewables ... View More

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NGO to European Commission: Your Roadmap for Plastics Leads Nowhere

Less than a week after its release, the European Commission’s new Roadmap for the EU Strategy on Plastics in a Circular Economy is already coming under fire. According to the Break Free From Plastic Movement, the roadmap fails to get to the root of... View More

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More Affordable Devices Lead to Doubling of E-Waste in China Since 2010

The volume of discarded electronics in East and South-East Asia jumped almost two-thirds between 2010 and 2015, and e-waste generation is growing fast in both total volume and per capita measures, according to new research by United Nations Universit... View More

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Phoenix Teams Up with Recyclebank to Tackle Waste and Recycling Goals

The City of Phoenix, AZ and Recyclebank, a company that pioneered and patented an education and incentives platform to help cities encourage residents to make sustainable purchasing and disposal habits, formally announced today that they will be team... View More

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Can We Really Cut Food Waste in Half?

It was disappointing to see recent figures from the United Kingdom showing that household food waste is on the rise again (although per capita waste is still roughly constant). The UK became a world leader in curbing food waste when, from 2007 to 201... View More

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