PlasRecycle has built the UK's first facility for reprocessing post-consumer polythene bags and packaging films to produce a plastic granulate that can be used for making new bags.
Chile is set to become the first country in the Americas to ban plastic bags to help protect the environment and especially the ocean.
Congress unanimously approved the measure on Wednesday. The bill was initially designed to outlaw plastic bags in Patagonia, but was later extended nationwide.
Australian researchers say they have found a way to recycle plastic shopping bags into high-tech carbon nanotubes. That might reduce manufacturing costs in such fields as electronics, medicine and energy.
Home goods producer SC Johnson announced a program to increase recycling of its plastic Ziploc storage bags. The company says it is disappointed with recovery rates at store drop-off locations, and is working on a process to allow the bags to be included in curbside recycling.
Adidas partnered with Parley for the Oceans, a nonprofit that fights ocean plastic waste, to develop the shoe. Part of the upper is made from plastic bottles, bags, and other plastic that commonly ends up in the water.
Adidas partnered with Parley for the Oceans, a nonprofit that fights ocean plastic waste, to develop the shoe. Part of the upper is made from plastic bottles, bags, and other plastic that commonly ends up in the water. Because plastic degrades quickly in the ocean-turning into tiny particles that are hard to collect-most of the plastic was gathered on beaches.
Conservationists got a mixed bag of news following an international group overseeing the world's species protection initiatives meeting this weekend. On the positive side, officials decided to officially take the giant panda off of the endangered species list, citing steady successes in preserving the bears' natural habitats. But though this is certainly a small victory, pandas are far from out of the woods when it comes to their species' long-term survival.
Leahy-IFP's Space Saver bag-in-a-box beverage packaging uses 50 percent less energy during production, generates 22 percent less post-consumer solid waste and 7 percent less process greenhouse gases, compared to 64-oz. plastic bottles, the company says.
H&M is running a series of print ads in British newspapers to promote its "Conscious" line of eco-friendly clothing, and to tout a clothing-collection service that rewards shoppers with a £5 discount voucher for each bag of used clothes they drop off at a branch of H&M. "We want to inspire people to make a difference and engage with our customers to do things that are more sustainable," says Linda Maggs, H&M's sustainability manager.
America's Best Coffee Roasting Company has been pulling out all the stops to reduce its waste, sending coffee chaff to animal-feed makers and leftover sacks to gardening companies. Now it's switched to using bulk containers rather than plastic bags that can't easily be recycled. "In hindsight, it didn't really take that much effort. I hope other companies feel inspired and consider similar changes for their businesses," says Vice President Kelly Zeissner.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
new project providing nearly 600 electric charging stations throughout the airport for ground support equipment (GSE) such as baggage tugs, bag ramps and pushback vehicles. Converting the GSE from fossil fuel to electric, each year the project is projected to save $2.8 million in airline fuel costs and 10,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions - the equivalent of taking 1,900 cars off the road.
By 2015, Unilever aims to have the tea in all Lipton tea bags sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ estates. By 2020, 100 percent of Unilever's tea will be sustainably sourced. This video shows some of the work done in partnership with regional plantation companies and smallholder farmer-based private factories in Turkey in an effort to attain sustainable agriculture practices.
Even if you try to avoid buying plastics, you might be surprised to find it lurks in many common food and beverage containers, including tin cans, disposable coffee cups and even tea bags. On Wednesday, however, the environmental group A Plastic Planet debuted the world's first "Plastic Free Trust Mark" to help shoppers know that their products are packaged entirely without the non-biodegradable material, which harms marine life and has entered the larger food chain.
Lazada, an e-commerce giant in Southeast Asia is yet another entity that adopted World Environment Day's Beat Plastic Pollution theme. The website offered all visitors a list of suggestions that could substitute for single-use plastic items like plastic bags, cups, straws and even diapers.
A partnership between global customs and logistics company UPS and TerraCycle has reached a major milestone - by transforming hard-to-recycle items such as toothpaste tubes and snack bags into new products, the two organizations have diverted 40 million pounds of waste from landfills since 2012. TerraCycle has been utilizing UPS's expertise and technology solutions to scale its global recycling programs and customer base, which has allowed the company to turn 3.5 billion pieces of waste into useful products such as trash cans and park benches.
Millions upon millions of games, dolls, trinkets and other baubles are churned out for the entertainment of children around the world.
As the titans that make them start considering their complete environmental footprints, they are making big strides in protecting the planet's natural resources, albeit by disparate approaches.
by 2020 Hasbro plans to reduce waste to landfill by 50 percent, energy consumption by 25 percent, GHG emissions by 20 percent and water consumption by 15 percent.
Between 2008 and 2012, the company says, it reduced non-hazardous waste by 40 percent, energy consumption by 19 percent, GHG emissions by 32 percent and water consumption by 31 percent.
Hasbro is also working to reduce its packaging material, eliminate polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from packaging, increase recycled content and source paper responsibly.
This year the company eliminated PVC from new product packaging and says it's on track to nix it from all packaging by the end of this year.
It also exceeded its 2011 goal to derive at least 75 percent of paper and board packaging from recycled material or from sources that practice sustainable forest management. By 2015, Hasbro plans to increase that number to 90 percent.
it also did away with the plastic bags in which game instructions were wrapped, removing 800,000 pounds of material worldwide from its waste stream.
Lego has worked for decades to eliminate PVC as well as phthalates from its toys, all of which no longer contain these substances.
Next year the cardboard used in the new boxes will carry FSC certification
Over the next few years Lego's parent company, Kirkbi, is investing $547 million to build a wind farm off the coast of Germany.
By 2020, the company will contribute to the world at least the same amount of sustainable energy as the company consumes.
"Today we recycle about 90 percent of our waste, and with zero waste as our long-term ambition we will continue to make progress on this agenda,
in 2010, Mattel's Hot Wheels factory in Malaysia began using local sources and 100 percent compostable residual sugar cane fiber as an alternative packaging material for the plastic insert tray of the Hot Wheels 9- and 10-pack car assortments.
Mattel established a sustainability target to improve our packaging material efficiency by 5 percent by 2015.
the company has reduced its energy consumption by 33 percent, CO2 emissions by 38 percent, water consumption by 54 percent, volatile organic compound emissions by nearly 70 percent, non-hazardous waste generation by 30 percent and hazardous waste generation by 16 percent.
Mattel canceled its contracts with Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), who were complicit in rainforest destruction, and instructed its suppliers to avoid wood fiber from controversial sources, including companies 'that are known to be involved in deforestation