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Foodservice packaging company Pactiv has added a new line of foam cups to its EarthChoice portfolio. The new foam cup is made with up to 25 percent post-consumer recycled content material, the company says.

Dunkin' Donuts plans to begin phasing out polystyrene foam cups beginning this spring, planning to have completely eliminated polystyrene cups from its global supply chain by 2020. While the majority of Dunkin' Donuts' international markets are currently using paper cups, the company will work to replace foam cups with a new, double-walled paper cup throughout its US stores as quickly as manufacturing capabilities can get up to speed. Dunkin' Donuts has been searching for a suitable - and affordable - replacement for polystyrene cups since 2011.

Vivobarefoot is producing Ultra III, amphibious adventure shoes that contain Bloom's algae-based foam. Each pair of shoes will be composed of 25% algae foam that the company says help protect waterways by recirculating "57 gallons of filtered water back into natural habitats."

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously voted to outlaw a host of commonly used foam products, in a move hailed as the nation's most extensive such ban. The ban applies to polystyrene food packaging, packing peanuts, to-go containers, coffee cups and pool toys, among other things. For most products, the ban will take effect Jan. 1, 2017.

Shareholder pressure to phase out Styrofoam has not kept McDonald's from using foam cups in several Chicago-area restaurants this summer, though the company would not say where else it may be using them. The chain said it continues "to work with our suppliers on sustainable packaging options that reduce our sourcing footprint and positively impact the communities we serve."

The team, at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Genoa, is using coffee grounds to clean water, turning the grounds into a foam that can remove heavy metals like mercury. "We actually take a waste and give it a second life," says materials scientist Despina Fragouli. Her team took spent coffee grounds from IIT's cafeteria, dried and ground them to make the particles smaller. They then mixed the grounds with some silicon and sugar. Once hardened, they dipped it in water to melt away the sugar, which leaves behind a foam-like material.

Representatives from across the apparel industry recently came together at the Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute of Texas Tech University, where Wrangler, Lee, the Walmart Foundation and Indigo Mill Designs unveiled a disruptive new dyeing process for producing denim. In a radical departure from water-based dyeing, IndigoZERO™ uses a foam-based process to reduce water and energy use by more than 90 percent

Ford is developing new foam and plastic car components made from carbon dioxide. It expects the new biomaterials, produced by Novomer and still undergoing testing, will be in Ford production vehicles within the next five years.

Mayor Bill de Blasio banned the possession, sale, or provision of polystyrene-based foam containers and loose fill packaging in New York City. The measure will go into effect on July 1, 2015.

Target announced its new forest products policy, which sets guidelines for the company's purchasing decisions to ensure wood-based products in it's owned-brand products are sourced from forests that are well-managed and credibly certified. Separately, the company also announced plans to work with its value chain to phase out polystyrene foam use in e-commerce packaging.