Apple’s recycling program beganApple is now making it easier for customers to recycle their old iPhones and get new ones with its new in-store iPhone Reuse and Recycling Program, according to a recent announcement.
The program, which began in stores across the U.S. on August 30, allows iPhone users — with a valid iPhone contract — to trade in their used phone (as long as it is in working condition) for store credit, which can be used towards the purchase of a new one.
Many innovators want to express the uniqueness of their pioneering breakthroughs - a new organic product, a sustainability initiative, a green-building retrofit. But these new, exciting ideas are likely emphasizing benefits that are not easily heard. "New" and "exciting" are two words that typically attract attention to gain new customers and market share, like your latest mobile device or electric car.
But CFOs, CEOs and Boards are skeptical of new and exciting; they like "old" and "boring"— like delivering on budget, on time and on the expectations of promises to Wall Street analysts and investors.
66 billion bottles of water are consumed (and ultimately tossed) each year in the United States alone. In order to make a dent in this staggering number, eco-friendly clothing company Dirtball is using Kickstarter to launch a new product, The Green Jean.
As part of General Mills’ long-term sustainable sourcing program, the consumer packaged goods (CPG) giant and its Foundation on Thursday announced a four-year joint commitment with supplier partner AgroMantaro to provide $1.1 million to help smallholder artichoke farmers in Peru increase yields and improve profitability.
The goals of the new program, which will reach nearly 100 small-scale artichoke farmers in Peru, are to:
There is a major gap between what companies say and do about sustainability, with 65 percent developing policies at the CEO level and only 35 percent taking action, according to a recent survey by the United Nations Global Compact.
Cascadian Farm, makers of more than 75 organic products, yesterday announced that it has introduced its first-ever cereal box liner made from renewable plant sources.
The company says its Cinnamon Crunch cereal is now packaged in an inner bag made from up to 57 percent certified plant-based material. Cascadian Farm says this new liner is the latest among its various sustainability initiatives that support its mission of helping to shape a better world.
"At Cascadian Farm, we know that every choice we make can help shape a better world now and for the future," said Jennifer Jorgenson, marketing director for Cascadian Farm. "A desire to protect our Earth's resources led us to develop this groundbreaking inner bag."
The 20 biggest world economies have agreed to use the resources of the Montreal Protocol to initiate a global phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a significant group of super greenhouse gases (GHGs).
According to The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), HFCs are primarily used in refrigeration and air conditioning and are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide. However, climate-friendly alternatives are already widely available.
Suppliers in Indonesia have saved up to 4,715 tons of carbon dioxide since 2011, thanks to an energy efficiency program initiated by Adidas Group and the German Organization for International Cooperation — ‘Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit’ (GIZ).
Launched in 2011, “Greening Global Supply Chains — Focus on Energy in Indonesia” aimed to build internal capacities within factories so that they would be able to monitor energy use consistently and analyze the data, propose cost-saving measures and identify and review energy management options and the impact of actions taken.
Adidas undertook a road show with GIZ to meet with four clusters of suppliers in Indonesia, and all of the 16 targeted suppliers joined the project.
In the past decade, corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs have come a long way, with companies putting real money and staff into the efforts. Increasingly, companies have appointed top executives to be held accountable in these areas, and just about every big firm issues some kind of sustainability or CSR report.
But despite the continued focus, progress remains slower than hoped. Why? After all, studies continue to show that CEOs rank sustainability as one of the most critical business drivers that will affect their company’s success — and financial performance — in the years to come.
Consumer demand for foods convenient and fast has led to a surge in packaging waste across the globe. The use and disposal of plastic in particular has spiked, and despite increased corporate and municipal recycling programs, far too much plastic still ends up in landfills. This grab-and-go mentality for both junk and healthful foods alike will hardly be sustainable in the long run as more food companies and their brands churn out more products and packaging gimmicks in the name of “innovation.” Not one company so far, though, has found an innovative way to deal with the accumulation of Tetra-Paks, cartons and myriad types of plastic. Could edible packaging help solve this problem?
Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.
— Charles Babbage
Do you break the timer when your boiled egg is cooked?
Our economy does; it is like a broken hourglass. We collect together valuable materials, apply energy and labour, put them into products that have yet more added design and brand value and spew them out into the world before starting again (mostly), from scratch.
This of course would all be fine if scarcity was not a problem: If the materials, energy and inputs we rely upon for industrial production were either eternally abundant or safe to distribute and use. However in our current industrial models this is simply not the case.
More and more companies are realizing the universal importance of sustainability in business strategy. However, the examples that are usually trotted out — companies such as Walmart, 3M, Toyota or Johnson & Johnson — are almost always western companies (usually large multinationals) headquartered in the US, Europe or Japan. Even well-informed observers could easily form the impression that sustainability is relevant primarily for well-resourced businesses in advanced economies.
Wild Planet Foods, a provider of sustainably caught wild seafood, grew from $2 million in revenue in 2008 to $20 million in 2010 and $60 million in 2012 — without compromising its mission. How did the company do it?
A key factor for any sustainable business is getting financing right. That means not only choosing the right mix of financing — equity, debt, nontraditional alternatives — but also choosing funders that understand opportunities in your sector and support your mission. The following examples show how three mission-driven companies have used this strategy successfully.
Wild Planet’s Mix: Sea-Savvy Investors and Asset-Based Financing From Mission-Aligned Lenders
Alaska officials last week lobbied Walmart to continue selling the state's wild-caught salmon, as the retail giant considers dropping some 40 of the state’s salmon processors that stopped pursuing the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) label.
Reuters reports that the issue emerged last year when processors of wild-caught salmon decided to halt use of the internationally accepted blue ecolabel awarded by MSC, claiming it was too expensive and eroded their brand. The processors argued that their own control systems were adequate, and they would consider the Ireland-based Global Trust Certification (GTC) as an alternative.
As many stakeholders — including investors, employees and consumers — begin to re-evaluate their perception of value, it is becoming imperative for companies of all industries to credibly measure, analyze and interpret the entire range of costs and benefits for which they are responsible. Below are 13 fairly (as of yet) uncommon types of data analysis that help businesses do just that. You have nothing to lose and much to gain by learning how to:
In this series, Benoit Beaufils, founding partner of brand consultancy Innate Motion, presents the tools that the company uses to develop purposeful, mission-driven brands with their clients. Benoit views their tools as a free “thoughtware” suite, and proposes that readers borrow and reapply.
Jack* rushes into the meeting room, and goes straight for a seat. “How was it?” the others ask. “Unbelievable. Unbelievable.” He pauses, and tells the story:
Alaska Airlines is the most fuel-efficient carrier in the United States, according to a report released yesterday by the International Council on Clean Transportation, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C.
Alaska, along with its regional partner Horizon Air, led all 15 mainline U.S. carriers as the most fuel-efficient airline operating in the United States in 2010, outperforming the least fuel-efficient carrier by 26 percent.
Monadnock Paper Mills has announced its membership in the Gift Card Network and its educational committee to raise awareness of the benefits of forest materials as alternatives to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and bioplastics for gift card programs.
Monadnock, along with fellow manufacturers of sustainable card materials, say they will contribute educational resources and drive discussions around ecological options for card production.
The Gift Card Network is a community of gift card industry members that connect, collaborate and contribute through a highly specialized online platform, events and group discussions. Members identify and create media, information, and services around education, challenges, and potential solutions to help the industry move forward.
California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) now has significantly expanded oversight regarding chemicals used in products involved in the state’s commerce stream, following the adoption of the Safer Consumer Product (SCP) Regulations that implements the Green Chemistry statute.
While other states have adopted or are considering "Green Chemistry" initiatives, California has the only program that extends beyond children's products to any and all consumer products.
The new regulations require the DTSC to identify its initial list of candidate chemicals by October 31, 2013.
By next April, DTSC will need to identify up to five "priority products" that will be subject to the SCP regulations during the first few years of implementation.
As New York Fashion Week kicked off last week, DuPont announced a new design collaboration with women’s fashion brand Cushnie et Ochs, which showcased several of their conceptual designs made with DuPont's renewably sourced Sorona® fibers on the runway on Friday.
To complement their Spring 2014 collection, Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs used the versatile, easy-to-care-for and supremely wearable fabrics enhanced with Sorona to create five pieces: A sliced, one-piece swimsuit, a pale grey fitted strap jacket, a violet-purple dress, a white double-belted feather weight flare skirt and a black side-belt wide-leg pant.
