Waste Not
The latest in the growing number of efforts directed at reducing, repurposing and ultimately eliminating waste in all its forms.
PCR & Ocean-Bound Plastic Both Have a Place in Sustainable Beauty
Cross-Posted from Chemistry, Materials & Packaging. 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.
Water Wins: When Sustainability Becomes Part of the Company Culture
Cross-Posted from Organizational Change. “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
Transforming Plastic Waste into Asphalt: Paving the Way for Sustainable Roads
Cross-Posted from From Purpose to Action: Building a Sustainable Future Together. In order for truly sustainable and circular systems to be realized, every facet of normal life must be re-considered — from the cars we drive to the roads we drive them on.
Biomimicry Institute Awarded €2.5M to Pilot, Scale Decomposition of Textile Waste
The Design for Decomposition initiative is the next step in the Institute’s effort to transform fashion, stopping millions of tonnes of textile waste escaping into the environment each year.
Full-Circle: AZEK Disrupts PVC Recycling by Revolutionizing Takeback
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.
$1M Innovation Challenge to Fuel Upcycled Solutions to Pomegranate Waste
The Wonderful Company has chosen two winners to create value-added solutions from 50,000 annual tons of pomegranate husks, to reduce food waste and create a more circular supply chain.
Meeting Your Corporate Circularity Commitments: Welcome to the Age of Advanced Recycling
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.
Scaling Reuse Must Include Consensus on Safety, Design, Considerations for Cities
Cross-Posted from The Next Economy. Cities are complex ecosystems that both exacerbate and suffer from the scale of packaging waste. Standards for key areas of design, safety and city programming minimize risk, drive collaboration and provide trustworthy information for stewarding game-changing reuse strategies.
Composting Consortium Aims to Advance Recovery of Compostable Packaging, Food Scraps
Cross-Posted from Chemistry, Materials & Packaging. 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.
Conquering E-Waste Will Take More Than Certifications
Companies that are truly invested in building proper circular processes shouldn’t just rely on recyclers’ certifications. There are steps companies can take to strengthen their processes, instead of assuming that recycling is being handled in the right way.
Dramatically Decarbonizing Our World: A Blueprint for Global Circularity
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.
How Companies Are Joining Forces, Closing Loops, Optimizing Outputs in Complex Supply Chains
Cross-Posted from Supply Chain. At SB’21 San Diego, innovators in the agriculture, electronics, food and plastics industries shared lessons learned from a variety of initiatives aimed at closing loops and optimizing value chains for a circular, regenerative future.
Starbucks, McDonald’s Direct $10M More to Accelerate Circularity of Food-Service Packaging
Cross-Posted from Chemistry, Materials & Packaging. 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.
Clearing the Way for Action: The Need for Coordination, Consistency to Close the Loop on Plastics
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.
OPLN: Experiential Learning for the Win (or, How to Really Turn the Tide on Global Plastic Pollution)
Cross-Posted from Collaboration. 2019’s Ocean Plastics Leadership Summit transformed not only its host organization and its 165 participants — it catalyzed action around plastic waste at an unprecedented scale. We caught up with Ocean Plastic Leadership Network founder Dave Ford to learn more.
Large-Scale Study from H&M, IKEA Shows Safer Path Forward for Recycled Textiles
Cross-Posted from Chemistry, Materials & Packaging. 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.
Fairphone Forges Ahead with Longer-Lasting, E-waste-Neutral Smartphone
Cross-Posted from Product, Service & Design Innovation. Still striving to greatly improve the sustainability of the industry, Fairphone’s new model embodies the company’s commitment to better materials, better mining practices and a longer product lifecycle.
In the Loop: Sustainable Development Models, Extending Product Lifecycles Furthering a Circular Future
Cross-Posted from From Purpose to Action: Building a Sustainable Future Together. Through Dow’s ‘Looped In’ series, sustainability experts across the company connect with industry leaders to discuss initiatives and partnerships that work toward building a more circular economy and explore what we can learn from the results.
ReGrained Shares Key Ingredients for a Deliciously Sustainable Food Future
We spoke with ReGrained co-founder Dan Kurzrock to learn more about the upcycling process, the role such technology can play in helping to fix the food system, and why brand collaboration is so important when it comes to scale.
Circularity Doesn't Need to Be Overwhelming: 3 Ways Retailers Can Close Loops in eCommerce
Cross-Posted from The Next Economy. For retailers, the logistical challenges of returns are overwhelming. Without circularity in operations, returned items often end up in landfills. But retailers can take small, immediate steps to set themselves up for becoming more circular — and more successful.
