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
BASF Licenses Genomatica Process for Creating BDO from Renewable Feedstock
Chemical technology company Genomatica has announced a new partnership with BASF. The chemical giant has licensed Genomatica’s patented new manufacturing process for a renewable form of the organic compound 1,4-butanediol, more commonly known as BD... View More
BASF, DuPont Commit to Increased Product Safety Standards
BASF, DuPont, Honeywell, Dow and other members of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) this week launched a new Responsible Care Product Safety Code to increase chemical safety standards beyond regulatory requirements. ... View More
Dell's Cube, Content, Curb Approach to Packaging
If you’re a long-time Dell customer, you’ve probably noticed that our packaging looks far different than it did just a few years ago. It’s smaller, easier to recycle, and may even contain some materials you’re more likely to associate with yo... View More
What Is the Role of Packaging in a Sustainable Product System?
What is the appropriate role for packaging in a product system? As a product designer, I ask myself this question often. As a design professor, I ask my students what role packaging should play in a particular product system ... now, in the future, w... View More
Waitrose To Cut Packaging in Half By 2016
Waitrose last week pledged to slash its packaging in half by 2016, announcing three major changes to its product ranges that will help achieve this target and altogether save nearly 100 tons of packaging each year. ... View More
Sustainable Packaging: A Call for Better Design
One of the things I love about the Sustainable Brands community is its diverse mix of sustainability experts, designers, innovators and entrepreneurs coupled with brand and marketing specialists. It makes for a heady mix of often differing views on r... View More
What Is Sustainable Packaging?
Welcome to Sustainable Brands' Issue in Focus on sustainable packaging! ... View More
Monadnock Develops Eco-Friendly Label for Craft Beers
Monadnock Paper Mills, which manufactures technical and specialty printing and packaging papers, recently announced the availability of an uncoated product designed specifically for craft beer made from 100 percent FSC-certified, post-consumer waste ... View More
Rennovia Develops Process To Produce 100% Bio-Based Nylon
Rennovia last week announced that it has created a process to make bio-based nylon materials that are nearly 25 percent cheaper to produce and emit half as much greenhouse gas emissions as conventional petroleum-derived substances. ... View More
Nike, NASA, State Department & USAID Seek Innovations To Revolutionize Sustainable Materials
Nike last week partnered with NASA, USAID and the U.S. Department of State to bring together some 150 materials specialists, designers, academics, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and NGOs to catalyze action around one of the world’s biggest challenges... View More
The New Three Rs: Reuse, Recycle, Radiation?
The question of what to do with nuclear waste is as old as our ability to harness nuclear energy. Up until now, all nuclear byproducts have just been placed in storage facilities that will slowly decay over the next few hundred thousand years. Now it... View More
The Co-Operative's Lighter Wine Bottles Save Hundreds of Tons of Glass and CO2
UK grocery chain The Co-operative has just announced significant reductions in the weight of its private label wine bottles. With the help of its supplier, Kingsland Wines and Spirits, the Co-operative achieved reductions that amounted to a savings o... View More
New Global Classification System Provides Clear, Consistent Information on Hazardous Chemicals
The Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals is a new worldwide initiative for the standardized classification of hazardous chemicals and a communication system for conveying information regarding their proper use ... View More
Clariant Introduces Score Cards To Promote Water, Energy Conservation in Textile Manufacturing
Swiss chemical company Clariant has released a series of score cards to demonstrate the percentage savings in water and energy consumption, chemical usage, time, GHG emissions and Biological/Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD/COD) ratio attainable with its ... View More
Report Confirms: Recycled Paper More Eco-Friendly Than Virgin Fiber
There is a clear environmental benefit in using recovered fiber instead of virgin fiber for publication-grade paper, according to a recent study backed by National Geographic, Green America and a number of NGO stakeholders. ... View More
Dow Chemical Named Official Carbon Partner for 2014 Winter Olympics
The Dow Chemical Company has been selected to help the Olympic Organizing Committee reduce the carbon footprint of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, according to a recent announcement.The company says it will work with local companies a... View More
UK Researchers Make Eggshells into Bioplastic
Researchers at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom say they have discovered a way to make a new kind of decomposable and recyclable bioplastic from the thin wrappers found in eggshells. ... View More
Intel Awards High School Senior Grand Prize for Work with Algae Fuel Viability
This week, the Intel Corporation and Society for Science & the Public (SSP) honored high school seniors with exceptional promise in math and science in the Intel Science Talent Search. ... View More
KLM To Use Biofuels To Power Transatlantic Flights
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines says it will begin operating weekly transatlantic flights between New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport and Amsterdam’s Schiphol using a biofuel mixture consisting of 25 percent cooking oil and 75 percent jet fuel. ... View More
Clariant’s EcoTain Label Marks Sustainable Product Life Cycles
Clariant recently announced it will begin using a new label on its products to certify sustainable attributes in response to environmental concerns and growing consumer eco-awareness.The chemical giant says the so-called EcoTain label indicates a fou... View More
