Materials & Packaging
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
UPSTREAM Hands State Officials Model Legislation for Optimizing Packaging Recycling
Today, environmental advocacy organization UPSTREAM announced the release of model legislation that state legislatures can adopt to optimize recycling, address litter and create jobs through shared responsibility for packaging. The model legislation ... View More
Biome Bioplastics Leading £3M Program to Develop, Scale Plant-Based Chemical Feedstocks
Biome Bioplastics, one of the UK’s leading developers of bio-based alternatives to petroleum-based plastics, has begun a major development program to progress successful bio-based chemicals research through to industrial scale production. The proje... View More
Trending: Plastic Hotel Sheets and a Dress Made from Beer … the Latest in Sustainable Textiles
This week, W Hotels Worldwide, part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, became the latest company to jump on the plastic-waste-to-fabric train when it announced a new partnership with global music artist and entrepreneur will.i.am and The Coc... View More
#BusinessCase: Gap, H&M, Levi's, Target Mills Save $14.7M Through NRDC's Clean by Design Program
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) this week announced the stunning latest results of its Clean by Design program, a global model for sustainable manufacturing that is working with multinational apparel brand partners Target, Gap, Levi Stra... View More
Hawkins: Dow Is 'All In' to Help Business Community Solve Global Sustainability Challenges
On Wednesday, Dow Chemical Company announced an ambitious set of 2025 Sustainability Goals, which it said were designed to redefine the role of business in society. Among the new commitments: developing breakthrough product innovations, positively im... View More
Trending: NGOs, Brands, Suppliers Making Deforestation-Free Plantations, Packaging a Reality
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 Considering Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging
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 Invests in Natural Textile Treatments
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
BASF Tool Helping Designers Lightweight Products, Minimize Development Costs
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
Biobased Plastics: Fostering a Sustainable and Resource-Efficient Circular Economy
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
Additives to Biodegrade Plastics Offered False Hope, Says Latest Study
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
BASF Assembles Consortium to Tighten Up Renewable Biotech Production Processes
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
Amerplast Announces New, Flexible Packaging Made From Sugar Cane
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
Can Products Be Convenient Without Being Wasteful?
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
#BusinessCase: Employee Innovations Help ConAgra Save 97M Gallons of Water, 15M Pounds of Packaging - and $70M
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
Global Stewardship Required to Avoid Silent Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall
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
BASF’s Creator Space Hosting Symposium on Smart Energy for a Sustainable Future
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’ Donuts No Longer Dunked in Chemicals
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 Helping Beverage Companies Brew Power from Wastewater
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
New Packaging Concepts Could Cut Food Waste
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
