The government has charted a zero-waste plan that aims to abolish single-use plastic by 2030. Malaysia is the first country in Southeast Asia to take bold action to tackle plastic pollution.
A new radar and satellite system will give brands greater forest commodity sourcing transparency
Companies that source commodities from areas potentially at risk of deforestation will have a new weapon in their armoury from the start of 2017. Starling is a high-resolution satellite auditing service that can be used to check forest management practices, in particular in source countries for palm oil, such as Indonesia and Malaysia.
Agribusiness giant Olam International has for the first time published a list of the firms it buys palm oil from, part of the company's response to allegations that it is driving forest destruction in Southeast Asia and, more dangerously, perhaps, in West Africa. Almost all of the world's palm oil comes from Indonesia and Malaysia, but as those countries run out of available land, companies like Olam are turning to Africa to expand. In defending itself against the NGOs' allegations, Olam points to the "right to develop" of nations like Gabon, where a third of people live below the poverty line and a fifth are unemployed.
Rising incomes and high demand for electric and electronic equipment (EEE) in East and South-East Asian countries have resulted in e-waste generation increasing by two thirds during 2010-2015, says a new study published by the United Nations University (UNU).
The average increase in e-waste across 12 countries analysed - Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam - was over 60 per cent during the five-year period totalling 12.3 million tonnes.
The last Sumatran rhinoceros in the Malaysian wild has died, the latest grim milestone for a species on the brink of extinction. No more than 100 of the creatures are thought to remain in the forests of Indonesia, with nine more in captivity across Indonesia, Malaysia and the U.S.
Wilmar International Ltd. , the world's largest palm oil processor, opened its supply chains to outside scrutiny on Thursday in what environmentalists called an unprecedented step to help safeguard tropical forests. Singapore-based Wilmar said it would give outsiders, from customers to environmentalists worried about deforestation, access to online maps showing where it buys palm oil at more than 800 mills in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Thailand has joined Vietnam and Malaysia in cracking down on the world's trash. Thailand will stop accepting more than 400 types of electronic waste (e-waste), including circuit boards, old TVs and radios, within six months
Live Zero is part of a growing movement of "zero-waste" supermarkets that aim to end packaging waste by doing away with packaging altogether. The concept began in Europe more than a decade ago, and has since spread globally. There are now zero waste supermarkets from Brooklyn to Sicily to Malaysia to South Africa.
Palm oil production is a big business in Malaysia and Indonesia, but environmental pollution is one of the industry's biggest problems. A Silicon Valley company hopes to turn that problem into a profit by converting wastes from palm oil production into fuel
Deforestation due to palm oil production is the single biggest threat to orangutans, but new deforestation-free standards that cover about 60% of the industry could help secure the primate's future. "We can now break the link between palm oil and the extinction of orangutans," says Michelle Desilets, executive director of the Orangutan Land Trust.
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