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
When Patagonia launched its Responsible Economy campaign last fall, VP of Environmental Initiatives Rick Ridgeway eloquently summed up the ‘elephant in the room’ of capitalism: Growth is not sustainable. Ridgeway accepts that evolving from our current economic system will be especially challenging for larger companies with insatiable IPOs, but I’d like to share some ways it not only can be done but is being done.1. CSRCorporate social responsibility has been a fantastic gateway for newcomers to sustainable business values, allowing a brand to better understand its impacts and act as a baseline to refer back to over time.
Arizona State University (ASU) and the Dutch Municipality of Haarlemmermeer, along with private partners in the Haarlemmermeer region, have come together to create the world’s first regional plan based on the principles of a circular economy.The project, “Haarlemmermeer Beyond Sustainability,” will be coordinated by the Global Sustainability Solutions Center (GSSC) at Haarlemmermeer, a program within the Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives at ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability. The center will partner with the municipality, Park 20I20 and SADC (Schiphol Area Development Company) to create a regional visioning and planning strategy that will close resource loops in the most efficient, economical and sustainable manner possible.
European food-waste prevention project FUSIONS (Food Use for Social Innovation by Optimizing Waste-Prevention Strategies) — a four-year project (July 2012 – August 2016) funded by the European Commission framework program 7 — is working towards achieving a more resource-efficient Europe by significantly reducing food waste. Along with UK partner WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), FUSIONS has launched a series of feasibility studies around using social innovation to tackle food waste.
No one can deny that the emergence of circular economy thinking is throwing up some fascinating dynamics right now. This urgent need for systems-level redesign requires an experimental cocktail of innovation and imagination, not to mention open platform dialogue and collaboration. Increasingly, brands are realising that is it no longer sufficient to be wedded to sustainable ideals; they need to be prepared to disrupt their business models from within.
In celebration of World Water Day (March 22), Levi Strauss has released new stats about how much water can be saved by changing the way it makes its products: A new infographic illustrates the amount of water the company has saved through the production of its Water<Less jeans collection — designed to reduce the water used in the finishing process by up to 96 percent — and its 100% recycled water standard, a first for the apparel industry.
The fact that palm oil production — as the biggest driver of deforestation in Southeast Asia and parts of Africa and South America — is responsible for the rampant release of carbon emissions and the destruction of vital habitats for endangered species such as orangutans and the Sumatran tiger is more than enough cause to drive NGOs into action against the culprits. But now researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder (CUB) have discovered yet another reason to be concerned about palm oil’s environmental impact.
The Hershey Company today announced it has surpassed its water consumption target three years early and its zero waste to landfill (ZWL) and recycling targets two years early. Last year, the chocolate maker announced that it was on track to do just that.The company says that by the end of 2013, it had converted six of its manufacturing facilities to ZWL, surpassing its 2015 goal of five; achieved a recycling rate of 86.6 percent, beating its 2015 goal of 85 percent; and reduced water consumption per pound of product by 58 percent by the end of 2012, far exceeding its 2015 goal of 10 percent.
Crowd Companies, a brand council primarily focusing on the collaborative economy movement, and Vision Critical, a consultancy that specializes in helping companies glean pertinent stakeholders insights, have partnered on a new report, Sharing Is the New Buying: How to Win in the Collaborative Economy, which for the first time maps the size and characteristics of the movement.
The city of Phoenix has partnered with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Republic Services and Salt River Fields at Talking Stick to host Arizona’s first zero-waste Spring Training event as part of an effort to bring awareness to recycling and composting.The one-day event challenges fans to recycle or compost the solid and food wastes they generate during the game instead of sending them to the landfill. The idea for the event was generated by Phoenix’s new long-term sustainability initiative called "Reimagine Phoenix," which encourages residents and businesses to view trash as resources.
Imagine a future where there is no such thing as trash — there are only resources. Where residents of a large metropolitan region routinely reduce, reuse, recycle and reconsider their consumption patterns by imagining the opportunities that come from making wiser choices. Achieving that ambition may be a long way off, but if the City of Phoenix has anything to do with it, that future begins now — with a multi-pronged citywide strategy based on forming unique private-public partnerships and cross-sector collaboration.
Cross-Posted from Innovation & Technology. Wrinkled veggies. Rotting fruit. Containers that you wouldn’t dare open because of the smells that might escape. How many times have you cleaned out your refrigerator and been dismayed at how much food has spoiled? Every year, billions of dollars are wasted because of food spoilage. In fact, the EPA notes that “in 2011 alone, more than 36 million tons of food waste was generated, with only four percent of food waste generated diverted from landfills and incinerators for composting.” Meanwhile, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) paints a wider picture by noting that one-third of food produced for human consumption is wasted, which translates into 1.3 billion metric tons of food per year.
Music producer and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams announced last weekend at New York Fashion Week a new partnership with denim label G-Star Raw to create a line of jeans made with plastic collected from the oceans. "The oceans need us now," Williams said as he announced the collaboration between G-Star and his textile company, Bionic Yarn, which Williams co-founded in 2010 to produce fabric from recycled plastic. The new collection, "Raw for the Oceans," which will be the first denim collection to incorporate marine plastic, will debut in stores and online on August 15.
Japanese multinational corporation Sumitomo has developed and installed the world's first large-scale power storage system that utilizes used electric-vehicle (EV) batteries. Built on Yume-shima Island, Osaka, the commercial scale storage system will begin operating later this month.Over the next three years, the system will measure the smoothing effect of energy output fluctuation from the nearby Hikari-no-mori solar farm, and will aim to establish a large-scale power storage technology by safely and effectively utilizing the huge quantities of discarded used EV batteries which will become available in the future.
In an interesting "band-aid" proposition, oil and gas exploration and production company Range Resources recently announced it would like to start using the waste rock material brought to the surface at fracking sites — known as gas well drilling “cuttings” — as a paving material.
Pulp Green Tech Holding (PGT), an R&D-focused company that owns Thai Gorilla Pulp Ltd., announced this week that it has successfully achieved a high-grade paper pulp made from empty palm fruit bunches, which are most often treated as waste material from the palm oil extraction process.The company estimates that roughly 95 percent, or 300 million tons, of this raw material is currently discarded per year.PGT says the process is highly cost-efficient and will enable investors, palm oil producers and paper pulp mills to achieve ROI of over 100% in the first year of operation, assuming the pulp is sold at a price of comparable non-wood materials.
The sharing economy is a multibillion-dollar industry that's making big brands feel uneasy. Also known as the collaborative economy, borrowing, lending, reusing, and reselling is moving full speed ahead, and in 2014, large companies and organizations will struggle if they don’t do a few key things to adapt.Sharing as a business model is on the rise, with more than 200 companies already part of the movement. Look no further than million dollar businesses such as Airbnb, Lyft or LendingClub as examples. The numbers tells us that people want to rent out their apartment when they’re out of town, share a ride, and loan money to people in need.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the traditional view of business existing purely to maximise profit for shareholders is not so much wrong as built for another time. Businesses have been slowly moving towards a model that recognises the impact they have on society and the environment, putting increasing amounts of budget and resources towards mitigating that impact. But just minimising the amount of environmental damage a business does is no longer enough.Nor is it sufficient to rely predominantly on CSR to create a good impression. Information is becoming ever more accessible, which means that businesses are subject to greater levels of scrutiny than ever before.
A new report released Friday by the World Economic Forum (WEF) at its annual meeting in Davos, in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), contends that over US$1 trillion a year could be generated for the global economy by 2025 and 100,000 new jobs created within the next five years if companies focused on building circular supply chains to increase the rate of recycling, reuse and remanufacture.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) announced today from the World Economic Forum in Davos that Unilever has joined Cisco, Kingfisher, Philips and Renault as the EMF’s latest Global Partner. The partnership will find the Foundation supporting Unilever as a pathfinder in unlocking the value of the circular economy within the FMCG industry. Unilever CEO Paul Polman has long viewed the circular economy model as a key opportunity for business development. In his foreword for the Foundation's second economic report, he stated:
It was almost one year ago that H&M launched its garment recycling initiative, and now the eco-friendly Swedish retailer plans to launch a new denim line made from recycled fibers at the end of February. The range of jeans, vests and jackets will all contain 20 percent recycled cotton, which is the maximum amount that can be used without compromising the quality. As the company puts its, this new project will “close the loop” on their recycling initiative.