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on average, each of us in the U.S. uses 25 tons of raw materials every year to produce our stuff and our energy. That is the weight of about 20 cars. By comparison, the average Chinese person uses 12 tons and the average Indian only 4 tons of raw materials per year.

A sewage recycling system pioneered by Applied CleanTech (ACT) is reducing a Dutch water board's operational costs by around $1 million a year while reducing sludge by up to 30%. ACT's technology is designed to help industrial and agricultural wastewater treatment plants transform wastewater into raw materials for plastics, insulation, pulp and paper, construction, bio-fuels production, nano-cellulose, and other industries.

Cereals business General Mills has committed to sustainably source 100% of its top ten priority ingredients by 2020. And these ingredients represent 50% of the company's total raw material purchases.

Ralph Lauren Corporation has developed sustainable sourcing guidelines on wood-based fabrics to ensure its raw materials are not connected to deforestation or human rights abuses. The guidelines were developed in collaboration with the Rainforest Action Network.

L'Oréal has pledged to use only renewable raw materials by the start of next decade as part of a "zero deforestation" strategy that will affect its sourcing of palm oil and other resources.

L'Oréal has committed to zero deforestation and says it will source 100 percent renewable raw materials from sustainable sources by 2020.

General Mills will obtain 100% of its 10 most-used ingredients from sustainable sources by 2020, setting a green goal for more than half of the company's total raw-material purchases. "General Mills is committed to creating long-term value for our business, and our society," says CEO Ken Powell

The Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform, a group helping food and drink companies to achieve sustainable production and sourcing of agricultural raw materials whose members include McDonald's Europe and Unilever, has announced the development of its Principles for Sustainable Beef Farming, what it is calling the most complete guidelines developed for beef production to date.

Environmentalist and shareholder advocacy groups have filed resolutions urging Monsanto, DuPont de Nemours and Dow Chemical Company to stop using corporate funds to fight a referendum in Washington that, if it passed, would require special labels on raw and processed foods made from genetically modified crops.

In addition to putting programs into place to reduce waste, smart companies are identifying ways to repurpose waste into useful raw materials.

IF HUMANITY is to avoid dangerous climate change, we need to capture hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide. But what to do with it all? There is no shortage of places to bury it (see "Trailblazing power plant is first to bury its carbon"), but we can at least put some of it to good use. A few start-up companies view CO2 as a resource rather than a waste product. They are using CO2 as the raw material for making products including superglue and fertiliser.

Just weeks after partnering with surfer Kelly Slater on his new men's apparel line, Outerknown, upcyled fiber supplier Aquafil has announced it has partnered with Speedo USA on a take-back program that will allow Speedo's post-manufacturing swimwear scraps to be upcycled into Aquafil's 100 percent regenerated ECONYL® nylon. The take-back program gives new life to leftover fabric scraps, which would otherwise end up in landfills, and allows them to be turned back into raw nylon fiber and eventually new swimsuits. 

Scientists have developed a technique that could pull the mounting carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and transform it into carbon nanofibers, resulting in raw materials for use in anything from sports gear to commercial airliners.

The LEGO Group announced plans to invest approximately $150.5 million in R&D to identify and implement new, sustainable raw material input for its product and packaging manufacturing process

Procter & Gamble has met its 2020 waste-reduction goals six years ahead of schedule, with just 0.4% of its raw materials now finding their way into landfills, according to the company's annual sustainability report. The company has now set new goals including an effort to double its use of recycled plastics in packaging and to ensure that 90% of the company's packaging is recyclable

Marks & Spencer has launched Plan A 2025, a new three-pillar sustainability strategy that aims to support 1,000 communities, help 10 million people live happier, healthier lives, and move the company closer to becoming a zero-waste business. Under the strategy, the company has also committed to reducing operational GHG emissions 80% by 2030, sourcing all of its key raw materials sustainably by 2025, ensuring all of its packaging is 'widely recyclable' by 2022, and more.

Following 10 months of pressure, G-Star joined the Detox campaign in early 2013, committing to eliminating all uses of hazardous chemicals from its supply chain and products by 2020. Now, as Forbes' Rebecca Suhrawardi reports, the company is launching "the most sustainable denim ever."

It's good we're on our way to accepting bugs as a real option for protein, because our current diet is astonishingly resource-hungry. Livestock production takes more than 30% of the ice-free land of this planet, consumes 8% of our potable water, and is responsible for nearly 15% of the total man-made greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere every year. And demand for meat is projected to grow 60% by 2050. insects offer much more than protein. He thinks they can become bio-processing units working in fully automated, remotely controlled smart factories producing high-quality proteins, fats for the pharmaceutical industry, and biofuels-all using different kinds of waste as raw materials.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, set up by the record-breaking sailor, announced on Wednesday that the brands were joining its Make Fashion Circular scheme to reduce global waste from fashion by recycling raw materials and products.