Depending on your business focus, sustainability may not be at the core of your mission, but it should be a key part of your business strategy. For me, it’s a natural fit. You see, my business is clean energy. I’m also passionate about leadership and educating people about the importance of climate change and the environment. But the environment is just one aspect of sustainability.
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Looking for a sustainable packaging solution? Choose metal packaging! Consumers, businesses and governments across Europe are all increasingly aware of the need to reduce waste and adopt sustainable practices. Initiatives such as the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR), which takes place every November, help reinforce this by encouraging Europeans to carry out awareness-raising actions aimed at improving waste management. The metal packaging industry is proud to play a key role in reducing waste: infinitely recyclable with no loss of quality, it is hard to find a more sustainable packaging option than metal! With this year’s European Week for Waste Reduction set to take place from 21-29 November 2020, there’s no better time than now to explore why metal should be the first choice when it comes to sustainable packaging. Metal Recycles Forever Metal is a recycling champion. Around 80% of metal ever produced is still in use and, with a recycling rate of 82.5% for steel cans and 74.5% for beverage cans, metal packaging boasts among the highest packaging recycling rates in the European Union. As a permanent material that can be fully recycled over and over again with no loss of quality, metal forms part of a never-ending material loop, helping to create a truly resource-efficient society. Easy to recycle Metal packaging is designed for recycling: not only is metal a fully recyclable permanent material, it is also easy to recycle! Composed of one packaging material only, it is quick and easy to sort and separate from other waste and to then recycle into new packaging and products. Scrap metal is easily recovered from metal recycling plants, remelted and reshaped into new products, over and over again. Minimal invisible waste Many production processes result in a significant amount of invisible waste; waste produced during the manufacturing process. The…
The European Union wants to reduce the sale of single-use plastics in supermarkets.
Fashion chain Zara is set to switch all collections to 100% “sustainable” fabrics by the start of 2025. The majority of high-street clothes are currently made from textile blends, which are hard to recycle and commonly contain fossil-fuel-derived content. The commitment will see Zara remove all synthetic fibres made using fossil fuels removed from its clothing, shoe and accessory lines – a commitment that also covers the inclusion of such content in notoriously hard-to-recycle textile blends. In tandem, efforts will be made to source a greater proportion of “renewable” natural fabrics such as cotton, linen and hemp from sources certified as sustainable. A 100% sustainable sourcing target has been set for viscose. Once the switch is made for Zara, parent company Inditex will implement measures to help its other owned brands to follow suit. The firm is notably the third-largest apparel retailer in the world and also owns Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Zara Home and Bershka.
An estimated 8.4 million people in the UK struggle to get enough to eat. This includes many households with people in work, families with children, as well as older and disabled people….
Guest: Sarah Morath…
Researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) say they have demonstrated a technology that rapidly detects pollutants in water by measuring their impacts on swimming microorganisms. Their proof-of-concept, published in Scientific Reports, does not require any chemicals, reagents or laboratory equipment. Instead, it leverages the regular camera of a smartphone as well as microorganisms called Paramecia that are ubiquitous in water bodies–making it especially suitable for assessing water drinkability in underdeveloped regions.