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
Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) has released its 2014 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, highlighting progress toward its 2015 goals. Of note are the fact that the beverage giant exceeded two of its environmental sustainability goals: conserving 60.7 million pounds of PET through lightweighting and packaging redesigns since 2007 (the company says it offers the lightest 2-liter bottle in the industry) — the goal was 60 million pounds by 2015 — and replacing nearly 69,000 outdated coolers and vending machines with more energy-efficient equipment since 2009 (relative to its goal of updating 60,000 by 2015).
Scientists at City University, Hong Kong have developed a treatment for cashmere that enables it to self-clean with some help from the sun.The technology coats cashmere fibers with tiny particles of the mineral anatase titanium dioxide. When exposed to sunlight for 24 hours, the mineral starts a chemical reaction creating oxidants that act as tiny electric currents to break down dust, dirt, bacteria and even trickier stains such as coffee and wine.
NASA research shows Earth's atmosphere contains an unexpectedly large amount of an ozone-depleting compound from an unknown source decades after the compound was banned worldwide.Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), which was once used in applications such as dry cleaning and as a fire-extinguishing agent, was regulated in 1987 under the Montreal Protocol along with other chlorofluorocarbons that destroy ozone and contribute to the ozone hole over Antarctica.Parties to the Montreal Protocol reported zero new CCl4 emissions between 2007-2012. However, the new research shows worldwide emissions of CCl4 average 39 kilotons per year, approximately 30 percent of peak emissions prior to the international treaty going into effect.
A team of South Korean scientists has converted cigarette butts into a valuable material that they say could be used as an energy storage device in computers, electrical vehicles, wind turbines and various handheld devices.As reported by the Institute of Physics (IOP), and published in their journal Nanotechnology, the researchers demonstrated that the material proved superior to commercially used alternatives such as carbon, graphene and carbon nanotubes. The breakthrough could represent a win-win — acting as an electrical storage device while providing a solution to the increasing environmental burden caused by used cigarette filters.
BASF has developed a versatile, high-performance polyamide called Ultramid®, which is derived from renewable raw materials — the company says it replaces up to 100 percent of the fossil-based resources used at the beginning of the integrated production process with certified biomass.“Consumer demand for products made of renewable raw materials continues to rise,” says Joachim Queisser, SVP of the Polyamides and Precursors Europe regional business unit. “This offering opens excellent possibilities for packaging film manufacturers to market their products accordingly.”
The American Institute for Packaging and the Environment (AMERIPEN) has published a new brochure called Reducing Fresh Food Waste: The Role of Packaging.The free brochure explains that Americans throw away 36 million tons of food each year, worth $162 billion, and says that “one factor accounts for about two-thirds of the problem: spoilage from not being used on time.”It says that better packaging can help alleviate spoilage and other forms of waste and lists all the benefits it offers:
Thanks to the company’s new coatings technology EvCote™ Water Barrier 3000 — made from plant-based oils and recycled PET bottles — companies and consumers can now select a more sustainable cup in which to serve cold drinks. The company says the cups don’t require any modification in the current recycle stream or special handling and are fully compostable and recyclable.
A group of scientists at the University of Birmingham is calling for soft furnishings to be discarded with the same caution as electronics. Waste from soft furnishings such as curtains, cushions and sofas contain brominated flame retardants (BFRs), which have been shown to damage the environment and human health.In the United Kingdom, at least two thirds of electronic waste (e-waste) must be treated before it can enter landfill. However, the millions of tons of furniture and textile waste disposed of by UK households each year currently goes unregulated. Most of this waste ends up in landfill, while the rest is incinerated.
A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says that the use of new nanomaterials in tire production could help further the sustainability of the industry and reduce the environmental impact of vehicles, provided the environmental, health and safety risks of the technology are managed carefully.
Sustainable chemical technology company Genomatica, which develops manufacturing processes using alternative feedstocks that enable its licensee partners to produce the world’s most widely-used chemicals a ‘better way,’ announced this morning that major nylon intermediates — including hexamethylenediamine, caprolactam and adipic acid (HMD, CPL and ADA) — are the focus of its third publicly disclosed development program. Genomatica is developing complete process technologies for the bio-based production of these intermediates to license to major firms in the nylon value chain.
Solazyme, Inc, a pioneer in renewable oils and bioproducts, and AkzoNobel, a global producer of paint, coatings and specialty chemicals, announced today they have expanded their previous agreement for the joint development of Tailored™ algal oils. The expansion provides for funded development, as well as agreed key terms for a multi-year supply agreement targeting annual supply of up to 10,000 MT of the oils, pending successful product development.The parties expect that the algal oil will be able to replace both petroleum- and palm oil-derived chemicals. The target product is designed to have improved functional and environmental performance, as well as a lower overall cost to AkzoNobel.
As the demand to reduce carbon-based raw materials intensifies, companies are not only looking at how they can reduce their consumption, but also at how they can find appropriate replacements for fossil fuel-based raw materials.To meet this challenge, a number of forward-thinking companies in the chemicals industry are developing strategies aimed at driving a successful transition to renewable alternatives. But how do companies successfully manage this transition? And what are the challenges?
Carbios, a French green chemistry company specializing in technologies enabling the recovery of plastic waste and the production of bio-polymers, has announced a significant step forward in the development of its controlled biodegradation process for disposable soft plastics.With its new process, Carbios says it obtained completely biodegradable plastic material in domestic conditions. The material, comprised of an oil-based polymer and an enzyme, loses 50 percent of its mass in 15 days and completely biodegrades in less than three months, making Carbios’ technology an effective potential industrial answer to legal concerns around how to better control the end of life of disposable and short-life plastics.
UK specialty paper and advanced materials manufacturer James Cropper PLC — which has developed breakthrough processes for recycling cocoa husk waste into paper and for recycling both the paper and plastic components of disposable coffee cups — has unveiled a sustainable alternative to plastic that the company says can carry the weight of an adult and be composted within 100 days. Developed in partnership with Södra, a Swedish forestry cooperative, DuraPulp is a bio-composite material that consists of specially selected pulp and a renewable biopolymer.
A research team at AlgaStar Inc, a Florida-based algae cultivation company, has reported that biological simulation has yielded a 300 percent increase in algae growth rate over normal conditions. Based on findings presented by AlgaStar CEO John Ericsson at the 2013 Algae Biomass Summit in Orlando, the research conducted at AlgaStar and recently initiated at Los Alamos National Laboratory has begun to map the conditions under which biostimulation enhances growth rate and metabolism for several biological cultures with microwave energy.
In its fifth annual Corporate Citizenship Report, released this week, biotech company Biogen Idec puts forward an aggressive set of 2020 goals, including reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity by 80 percent (compared to its 2006 baseline and normalized by revenue), maintaining its zero waste-to-landfill status (achieved in 2012), and developing a new water-intensity goal, to be released by 2015. The GHG reductions will be equivalent to maintaining 2006 levels of GHG emissions despite significant realized and anticipated business growth.
Tetra Pak has launched a campaign to raise industry awareness of the importance of the front end of the packaging life cycle — the sourcing of renewable materials — and is calling on the consumer goods industry to commit to prioritizing renewability.
Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer (M&S) are leading a consortium of UK packaging, retail and recycling organizations to launch a market trial aimed at recycling as many as 1.3 billion plastic food trays each year.The campaign focuses on reducing waste from black CPET trays, which are commonly used in supermarket ready meals. The trays are recyclable, but the black color of the trays makes them undetectable with Near Infra-Red optical sorting equipment typically used at plastic sorting and recycling facilities.
Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics has launched a campaign called Recycle Rally — A 30-Day Recycling Challenge, to inspire people to cultivate daily recycling behaviors.
Walmart, Bumble and Bumble and 17 other companies have been fined by the California Air Resources Board for air pollution violations. Bumble and Bumble received the highest penalty of $88,000 followed by Walmart at $34,000 out of a total of $233,175 of fines.The 19 companies were involved in the manufacturing or selling of consumer products - ranging from nail polish removers and bathroom cleaners to charcoal lighter materials and air fresheners - which exceeded California’s standards for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), gases that contribute to ozone formation once released into the air. The violations amounted to over 11 tons of excess VOC emissions.