2Sustain

Last week, The Timberland Company announced plans to expand its “Green Index” across the company’s entire footwear line over the next two years.

First introduced in 2007, the Green Index provides Timberland designers a measure of the environmental impact of the company’s various products and also offers customers visibility into the environmental footprint of the Timberland products they buy. A product’s final score –listed on a product tag –is a compilation of its: (more…)

Unilever is now the first global FMCG company to commit to sourcing all of its paper and board packaging from sustainably managed forests or recycled material within a clearly defined timeframe.

Last week, the company announced that it wants to source 75 percent of its paper and board packaging from sustainably managed forests or from recycled material by 2015, rising to a goal of 100 percent from these sources by 2020.

Of course, Unilever is already a recognized leader in sustainable packaging. The company is a founding member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and since 1995, has reduced its total waste (kg/tonne of production) by 73 percent. (more…)

The Denver-based restaurant chain Quiznos has established a supplier code of conduct that the company says will help it address a wide range of ethical concerns, including improving animal welfare and farm-worker conditions.

For example, Quiznos plans to use the new supplier code of conduct to: (more…)

The Coca-Cola Company’s PlantBottle received a gold award at the 22nd annual global DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation held this week.

Honored for its demonstrated breakthrough packaging innovation, the PlantBottle topped a field of more than 160 global entrants in the overall program. The prestigious DuPont Award is the packaging industry’s longest running, independently judged global award program. Leading international industry and sustainability experts judged entrants on their excellence in innovation, sustainability and cost/waste reduction.

Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle wins on all accounts. It is made from up to 30 percent renewable plant-based material. Plus, it is 100 percent recyclable, like traditional PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic. (In other words, PlantBottle packaging can be recycled in the existing commercial recycling infrastructure.) (more…)

The bamboo cushions that Dell uses to package some of its Netbooks and laptops recently received American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D-6400 certification. This certification confirms the packaging, made from mechanically pulped bamboo from a Forest Stewardship Council-certified bamboo forest in China, will compost and biodegrade at a rate comparable to known compostable materials when added to a hot, active compost pile.

In addition, the certification assures that the compost resulting from the packaging’s degradation process is of good quality and can sustain plant growth.

Dell first introduced the bamboo packaging in November 2009. The company says it chose bamboo for this green packaging initiative because: (more…)