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Chemistry, Materials & Packaging

The latest developments in safe and sustainable chemicals, new materials, fuels, and more.

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Startup Using Biomimicry to Break Textile Dyeing Down to Its DNA

Startup Using Biomimicry to Break Textile Dyeing Down to Its DNA

Colorifix's technology uses DNA sequencing to replicate nature's hues into sustainable pigments, curbing the industry's overreliance on water- and chemical-intensive dyeing processes.

3 Takeaways from Our Ongoing Journey to ‘Innovate Boldly. Package Sustainably.’

We’re constantly exploring ways to achieve the functional benefits of plastic with fiber-based packaging alternatives, so that no one walking down a grocery store aisle must choose between function and sustainability.

The Forever Cost of Materials: Considerations for Conscious Designers

By designing with the end in mind and considering durability, construction, recyclability and production, designers who create products with ‘lower-cost’ ingredients bring us one step closer to a circular economy.

Awards Recognize Green Chemistry Innovators Solving Critical Industry Challenges

Winners of this year’s Green Chemistry Challenge Awards include Modern Meadow’s Bio-FREED technology — which uses bio-based proteins to create a sustainable dyeing process that can be applied to any type of fiber and uses 95% less water, 75% less energy and 80% fewer dyes and chemicals than traditional dyeing methods.

Lululemon’s Enzymatically Recycled Nylon 6,6 Advancing Circular Fashion

The brand has partnered with Samsara Eco to extract nylon 6,6 from end-of-life textiles, demonstrating the potential to create a fully circular ecosystem for apparel.

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California Wineries Finding Significant Cost, Emission Savings with rPET Wine Bottles

Amcor is ramping up usage of an industry-standard, 750-ml version of a recycled PET bottle with technology that’s long been in use in smaller formats.

Coca-Cola Removes Labels from Sprite Bottles to Simplify Recycling

Labels will be replaced with an embossed logo on Sprite and Sprite Zero 500ml rPET bottles as part of a UK trial designed to reduce use of packaging materials.

Parts of Future Fords Could Be Made from Olive Waste

Cross-Posted from Waste Not. Ford engineers are conducting trials on parts made from 40% olive tree fibers and 60% recycled plastic — which is heated and injection-molded into the shape of the selected part.

How Research & Insights Help Brands Meet Consumer Desire for More Sustainable Products

Assessing how products resonate with consumers and using those insights to refine them is a critical part of product development — and just one way that strategic insights add value for brands.

Digitization, Data Driving the Quest to Decarbonize Building Materials

Shaw’s Kellie Ballew spoke with Stacy Smedley, executive director of Building Transparency, about the organization’s role in decarbonizing the construction industry.

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The 5 Biggest Packaging Trends Impacting Sustainability in 2024

Improved automation is a major driver behind several of the biggest trends that will impact packaging sustainability in 2024.

Under Armour’s Breakthrough Fiber-Shed Test Method Now Available to Industry

The brand is sharing its solution with the apparel industry and suppliers, and developing a reduced-shed version of its largest fleece offering.

Molecular Recycling Could Be Crucial to Realizing a Circular Economy

Cross-Posted from The Next Economy. We caught up with Eastman’s Plastics Division President, Scott Ballard, who explained the potential of molecular recycling as the company prepares to show the world what’s possible.

Venerable Japanese Company Goes Circular with Versatile, Upcycled Textile

Meet NUNOUS — a brand-new, radically versatile material made from fabric waste — developed by fabric-dyeing giant Seishoku Co., Ltd.

2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back: LEGO Is Latest Company to Disclose Sustainability Setback

Cross-Posted from Walking the Talk. The world’s largest toymaker acknowledged the issues it encountered in pursuit of a more sustainable alternative to its oil-based plastic bricks, illustrating the still-circuitous path to sustainable solutions.

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A Clean, Circular Materials Future Is No Longer a Fabrication

At SB’23 San Diego, three sets of innovators at the forefront of the materials and packaging space shared key insights into the biobased and circular solutions driving a sea change in the market.

Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Accelerator Backing Seaweed to Replace Oil-Based Films

Convened by Lonely Whale, the program aims to accelerate scaling and market adoption of seaweed-based alternatives to thin-film plastics made from fossil fuels.

6 Principles Driving Circular Innovation at Eastman

Learn about how we're transforming recycling to create a circular economy in this six-part series.

These 3 Plant-Based Serviceware Brands Are Deliciously Diverting Plastic Waste

Loliware, Uuvipak and Twiice have created rapidly biodegradable (and even edible) bio-based products that completely upstage their petroleum-based, single-use plastic-polluting counterparts.

bluesign Continues to Clean Up Fashion with Expansion into Denim, Footwear

Cross-Posted from Supply Chain. Partnerships with brands including Madewell and Vibram will help adapt bluesign’s existing standards and guidelines for two untapped industries.

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