2Sustain

Last month, the Sportlifestyle company Puma introduced an innovative sustainable packaging and distribution system that the company says will offer significant reductions in waste and CO2 emissions, compared to traditional product packaging, such as shoe-boxes and apparel polyethylene bags.

Puma partnered with designer Yves Behar, of San Francisco based fuseproject, to rethink the way the millions of pairs of shoes that it sells each year are packaged. Ultimately, Behar designed a “Clever Little Bag,” replacing the cardboard shoebox with a re-usable shoe bag. Although it lacks the structure of a box, Puma says the bag adequately protects each pair of shoes –from the factory until the consumer takes them home.

Naturally, less packaging requires fewer raw materials and less use of water and energy to produce. Using the bag instead of a box also means there’s less weight to ship and less waste for disposal.

According to Puma, the “Clever Little Bag” will reduce water, energy and diesel consumption on the manufacturing level by more than 60 percent per year. It will also save 500,000 liters of diesel during transport. (more…)

Marks & Spencer is now the first retailer to convert its entire range of mini (25cl) still wine bottles to PET (polyethylene terephthalate).

The company estimates that this move will save 525 tonnes of packaging a year. Plus, because the PET bottles are 88 percent lighter than glass bottles and require less energy to manufacture, Marks & Spencer plans to see reductions in the carbon footprint of production, transport and distribution, as well.

Marks & Spencer worked in partnership with Paul Sapin and Roger Harris Wines for more than two years to develop the new technology behind the bottles, which are guaranteed to keep wine fresh for at least 12 months.  The innovative packaging design includes an oxygen barrier material sandwiched between two layers of PET. These three layers give the wine a significantly longer shelf life than would be possible with traditional PET. (more…)

Thanks to the trend towards “lightweighting,” the average basis weights of corrugated containerboard are now 20 percent lighter in Europe than the U.S., according to new research by RISI.

The study results, published in a report titled The Future of Lightweight Containerboard in North America, underscore cultural differences between the U.S. and Europe, where sustainability is a priority and government environmental initiatives with targets and penalties for non-compliance are implemented across the supply chain.

RISI contends that geographic factors, fiber considerations and supply chain drivers are not different enough to explain the 20 percent differential in average basis weights.

Instead, the report points out the discrepancy could lie with the lack of equipment modernization here in the U.S. Since 2000, only three new machines have been built in North America, compared with 32 in Europe. Modern machines, or conversions of existing machines, can produce extra-lightweight containerboard (under 26#) more quickly and economically. (more…)

I’ve written plenty of posts about CSR reports (see here, here, and here, e.g.), and I’m always interested to see how different companies tackle the complicated task of reporting on their environmental stewardship and social responsibilities.

No surprise, but I’m not the only one.

This week, at its annual conference in Boston, Ceres announced the winners in the Ceres- Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Reporting Awards program, which recognizes exemplary reporting on sustainability performance by corporations, and other organizations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

“Corporations in the 21st Century need to have transparent and honest disclosure of their environmental and social impacts,” says Ceres President Mindy Lubber. “The winners of the Ceres-ACCA reporting awards serve as best practice models for corporate sustainability reporting and demonstrates their dedication to improving sustainability performance.”

This year, there were 93 entries from companies and organizations, representing over 20 sectors. From these, fourteen reports were short-listed, including those from Citigroup, Coca-Cola, General Electric, and Suncor. In addition, three top finishers were selected. These winners are: (more…)

Last week, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) announced a new initiative to move more cargo on the water rather than on the nation’s crowded highways.

Under these new regulations, regional transportation officials will be able to apply to have specific transportation corridors – and even individual projects—designated by the DOT as a “marine highway” if they meet certain criteria.  Once designated, these projects will receive preferential treatment for any future federal assistance from DOT or the Department’s Maritime Administration (MARAD). (more…)