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
Barely a week in and April could very well shape up to be ‘Zero-Deforestation Month’ if the multi-sector momentum around addressing the issue continues. So far, we’ve seen a new commitment from Yum! ... View More
Rhode Island lawmakers have introduced two bills that could put end-of-life product management duties onto the shoulders of packaging producers. If passed, Rhode Island will become the first state to enact legislation for extended producer responsibi... View More
Patagonia today announced a strategic investment in a chemical company focused on making high-performance textile treatments based on natural raw materials.Beyond Surface Technologies, a Swiss firm, was founded in 2008 by scientists and marketing exp... View More
A common misconception regarding fiber-reinforced plastics is that the material’s performance cannot be predicted, as with steel or aluminum. But BASF says its ULTRASIM® performance-prediction technology routinely delivers 90-95 percent accuracy w... View More
Bioplastics are not a single kind of plastic, but rather a family of materials that vary considerably from one another. There are three groups in the bioplastics family, each with its own individual characteristics: biobased, biodegradable, or both b... View More
The world today has a plastic addiction, a vice that creates major environmental issues by entering waterways and clogging up our landfills and oceans. The problem is that conventional plastics have a half-life (the time it takes for half of the prod... View More
A consortium of companies in the European process industry including biotechnology, renewable resources, chemistry, process engineering, equipment and research organizations launched project PRODIAS (PROcessing Diluted Aqueous Systems) this week. The... View More
This week, Amerplast, one of Europe's largest flexo printers and bag converters, began a supply partnership with Braskem, a global leader in biopolymers, to market Green Polyethylene (Green PE) made from a renewable sugar cane ethanol, to tissue segm... View More
Selling a product in today’s world is not just about quality and price point anymore. Packaging has become a key factor in the way companies sell products, and specifically, how (if at all) they are making packaging more sustainable. What companies... View More
A growing number of companies large and small are finding they can save substantial amounts of money by optimizing various aspects of their operations, thereby proving the previously elusive business case for sustainability. The latest example: ConAg... View More
It’s been 53 years since the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, a shocking exposé of chemical pollutants and their impact on the Earth's ecosystems. ... View More
At the first of three science symposia hosted by BASF in honor of its 150th anniversary, to be held this week in Ludwigshafen, Germany, more than 600 top ranking scientists from academia and business will discuss “Smart Energy for a Sustainable Fut... View More
Dunkin’ Brands, Dunkin’ Donuts’ parent company, has agreed to remove titanium dioxide, a whitening agent that is a common source of nanomaterials, from all powdered sugar used to make the company’s donuts. As a result of this progress, the ad... View More
Waste2Watergy, a Corvallis startup formed at Oregon State University, has secured a $225,000 federal grant to advance technology that cleans organics from brewery wastewater while producing electricity. The company says the technology could revolutio... View More
UK recycled packaging manufacturer Spectra unveiled a number of new concepts emphasizing closure technology this week at an industry event in Birmingham.One of the new closure concepts is a two-piece cap that features an inner screw mechanism, which ... View More
This month, responsible paper company Domtar launched Paper Made Here — a new program that encourages its stakeholders to ask themselves: “Where does my paper come from?”The Paper Made Here program demonstrates why buying North American paper i... View More
Today, the adidas Group announced that in 2014, it sourced more than 30 percent of all of its cotton as Better Cotton, exceeding the originally planned 25 percent target. This marks the sportswear giant’s highest volume of sustainable cotton use to... View More
Last week, Sustainable Brands participated in and helped support an important meeting in Berlin, hosted by BASF, entitled "Steering a Portfolio Toward Sustainability." A gathering of almost 150 chemistry industry stakeholders — including ... View More
Regardless of where we live, we’re neighbors — sharing this grand global space, and thus all of its sustainability challenges and opportunities.Therefore, we believe we also share in the responsibility to develop solutions, and to work togeth... View More
From a human perspective, the earth’s geography changes pretty slowly — it takes thousands of years for a glacier to carve out a valley, for plate tectonics to form mountains and for volcanic eruptions to layer new land masses. But a recent disco... View More