The latest in the growing number of efforts directed at reducing, repurposing and ultimately eliminating waste in all its forms.
Last week marked the official launch of an innovative initiative supported by Ecover, maker of non-toxic cleaning products, and Closed Loop Recycling (CLR), a UK operation that takes discarded soda and water bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and milk bottles made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and recycles them back into food-grade plastic for use in new packaging (rHDPE). The collaboration will use waste plastic collected from the seas around the UK by EU fishermen and recycled at Closed Loop’s Dagenham facility for reuse in new packaging.
In 2008 Philips Consumer Lifestyle started a program for sustainable innovation with a series of workshops to investigate possibilities around closing the loop of its products. People from different functions and departments brainstormed around business model possibilities, alternative materials and value chain management.
How many times have you finished a meal at a restaurant and felt guilty about the amount of food left on the table? So, in order to ease your mind about the waste of food, you take your leftovers home with honest intentions of eating it later. Fast-forward to cleaning out your fridge.
A BioViper™ biological pretreatment system by wastewater treatment systems provider Baswood Corporation is now operating at the Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) Group’s Houston bottling plant, Baswood announced on Tuesday.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) announced it has met its three-year global environmental goals on water, energy, carbon emissions and recycling operations.The company reached its goal of reducing its water usage by nearly 20 percent, the equivalent of 25 billion cans of AB InBev products. Energy consumption decreased by 12 percent and carbon emissions were reduced by almost 16 percent in breweries and soft drink facilities worldwide. The company also increased its recycling rate to just over 99 percent for solid waste and by-products.
Ford announced plans to reduce the amount of waste it sends to the landfill by 40 percent per vehicle over a five-year period from 2011 to 2016. This would reduce landfill waste to an average of 13.4 pounds per vehicle worldwide, the company said.
To prepare for this year's Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SBIO) competition, we're catching up with some of our favorite entrepreneurial ventures from competitions past ...
EcoScraps, a provider of organic, chemical- and manure-free lawn and garden products, today announced that its 100 percent organic potting soil is now available at more than 1,700 Target stores nationwide. This marks the first time that EcoScraps will appear on the shelves of a major retailer at the national level.
As a leading producer of premium personal care products committed to environmental and social responsibility — articulated as Earth & Community Care — Aveda has long been focused on reducing the environmental impacts associated with product packaging. The sustained commitment has evolved over 35 years but can be summarized in three main themes:
Twelve years ago, in response to growing demand from our customers, Shaw Industries set out to create a more environmentally responsible product alternative to the traditional PVC-backed carpet tiles prevalent in the commercial market.
Product Reuse is the exchange of secondhand or surplus products between individuals and/or organizations. This exchange is often performed by social service agencies looking to distribute goods to their clients or to raise funds for their operations.
Ask a room full of consumers, “Who here hates to see things go to waste?” and every hand will go up energetically. But if everyone hates to waste, then how come we generate so much of it? And what can we do to prevent waste from being created in the first place? Answering these questions can be profitable and fun.
The North Face has announced a new initiative aimed at reducing the amount of clothing and footwear going to landfills.
In 2012, EPA’s Responsible Appliance Disposal (RAD) program celebrated six years and 50 partners. EPA launched the RAD program in 2006 as a voluntary partnership program to help protect the ozone layer and climate system. In its first year, RAD partnered with nine utilities.
Sonoco, one of the largest diversified global packaging companies, has always prided itself on ‘closing the loop.’ Our company began recycling in the 1920s, before recycling was even a buzzword. Today, we successfully offer a full range of services from creation to reclamation that separates Sonoco from its packaging peers.
The statistics are staggering: One in five children goes to bed hungry every night in America, while 40 percent of food in this country is sent to the landfill, according to a recent report from the Natural Resources Defense Council. There is an immediate solution to redirecting this excess wasted food to families in need, but fear is choking the supply chain.
By-product synergy (BPS), a process that turns one company’s waste into valuable raw materials for another, offers an innovative, collaborative way to divert waste from landfills, cut costs and improve the environment.
This post first appeared on GOOD on January 22, 2013.
Did you know that 31 waste-disposal trucks are needed to clear the waste that 100,000 pairs of conventional sneakers create during the production process and consumer life (until their owners throw them away and they end up in landfills or incinerators)?
Irresponsible destruction of electronic waste can be a nasty business. Dell recognized many years ago that our customers wanted a convenient, safe and secure program for disposing their used electronics. We also recognized that our responsibility to our communities and the environment extends beyond simply building a product with the Dell name on it.