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
Big Plastic (and Big Oil) have a five-decade lead and massive economies of scale that will take a little longer to match in terms of costs and simplicity. But working with the right partners and openness to shaking up the status quo is paying off for brands willing to put their principles and profits on equal footing.
Cross-Posted from Finance & Investment. In the textile industry, one area ripe for investment is making wet processing more sustainable. As with most pots of gold, it’s not without its challenges — but data indicate that the returns are well worth the effort. Investors keen to seize this nascent opportunity should consider three primary steps.
Cross-Posted from Organizational Governance. “Sustainability is best played together. It's validating to see what we started and see it grow first across the other teams in our plant, and eventually across Lubrizol.” — Kalli Stull
Cross-Posted from From Purpose to Action: Building a Sustainable Future Together. Today, Dow considers its sustainability strategy and business strategy to be one and the same; employees understand that the two can no longer be separate. But, as Global Sustainability Director Haley Lowry explains, this didn’t happen overnight.
Cross-Posted from Circular Economy. AZEK’s FULL-CIRCLE PVC Recycling program helped it collect approximately 400M pounds of recycled product for reuse in 2020 — with the hope that this entire value-chain approach can disrupt the plastic waste paradigm meaningfully, as AZEK continues to scale up collection and processing.
Cross-Posted from Innovation & Technology. The newly launched B2B marketplace helps connect companies with vetted, sustainable, plastic-free packaging options, as well as education on materials and the evolving regulatory landscape.
Cross-Posted from From Purpose to Action: Building a Sustainable Future Together. We believe that the solution to stopping plastic waste is understanding that the material is too valuable to be lost in landfills. We can change what is traditionally considered waste and transform it into a valuable, sustainable resource through advanced recycling.
The new Consortium — which includes Closed Loop Partners, PepsiCo, the NextGen Consortium, the US Plastics Pact and other value chain players — aims to pilot industry-wide solutions and map tech and infrastructure investment to advance the circularity of compostable packaging in the US.
Cross-Posted from From Purpose to Action: Building a Sustainable Future Together. With specific investments, partnerships and innovations all directed at the various steps of the plastics system, Dow’s approach provides a blueprint for how industry can build a foundation for a circular economy and the reduction of emissions.
Brightworks’ materials scoring methodology distills existing product sustainability standards and attributes into holistic, comparable, numerical scores — making it easier for manufacturers, the design industry and design clients to create and select more sustainable materials.
The NextGen Consortium and its partner brands are expanding their work to advance reusable packaging systems, strengthen recycling and composting infrastructure, and scale foodservice packaging innovation.
Aveda and L’Occitane Group continue to raise the bar for beauty industry sustainability ambitions with new packaging innovations and a ‘nature-positive’ biodiversity strategy.
From manufacturing to end of life, Tetra Pak is committed to engaging its entire value chain to drive low-carbon circularity. But as VP of Sustainability Jason Pelz explains, just looking at recyclability and recycled content won’t get you there.
Cross-Posted from Innovation & Technology. Entrepreneur and author Marci Zaroff coined the term ‘eco-fashion’ back in the mid-‘90s. Here, we discuss why sustainable fashion has taken so long to have its ‘moment’ and how regenerative ag could heal the planet along with the damaging textile industry.
Cross-Posted from From Purpose to Action: Building a Sustainable Future Together. Dow aims to not only provide more sustainable products, but to share our expertise to support people and our planet’s wellbeing. For that expertise to reach its highest potential, it must be backed by international cooperation at every level.
New partner Fortera’s material converts carbon dioxide into cement, reducing CO₂ emissions by more than 60% — and costs 10% less than conventional cement.
On completion of a two-year, collaborative industry study, the two companies will share the findings to understand potentials and challenges with recycled textiles from a chemical-contamination perspective and to impact circular economy legislation.
Through materials innovation and technology advances, the packaging industry can be a critical component in working toward a world without waste and a truly closed-loop, circular economy.
In 2020, the team at the Formosa Agricultural and Environmental Research Center, located at the site of the company’s Texas plant, began concurrent production of honeybees, native flowering plants and native trees as part of an effort to enrich the area’s biodiversity.
Cross-Posted from From Purpose to Action: Building a Sustainable Future Together. While the use of green chemistry is critical to mitigating adverse environmental impacts, there remains a gap in education of chemists and an overall lack of awareness in the industry. We sat down with John Warner, one of the founders of the field, to better understand how green chemistry is helping to enable a more sustainable future through science.