| Search criteria: |
YOUR CORPORATE NEWSLETTER SOLUTION...
-
Ready-to-go newsletters on topics you choose, in your template
-
We prepare the content for you
-
You review, edit and click Send. Easy!
DELIVERING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE...
-
A competitive intelligence leader for 20 years
-
Helping top corporations with research and analysis
-
From quick projects to ongoing support and outsourced services
|
| Subject: |
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS
|
| Period: |
February 15, 2015 to May 1, 2015
|
| Geographies: |
Worldwide
|
| Categories: |
Comment & Opinion or Companies, Organizations or Consumers or Controversies & Disputes or Deals, M&A, JVs, Licensing or Earnings Release or Finance, Economics, Tax or Innovation & New Ideas or Legal, Legislation, Regulation, Policy or Market News or Marketing & Advertising or Other or People & Personalities or Press Release or Products & Brands or Research, Studies, Advice or Supply Chain or Trends
|
|
Contents
|
|
| |
|
Concerns about the huge amount of food wasted in Europe (and elsewhere) led a brewer in Brussels to launch a project to make beer with unsold bread that would otherwise be tossed in the trash bins. According to Sebastien Morvan, about 12 percent of food waste in Belgium comprises unsold bread discarded by supermarkets. His Brussels Beer Project hopes to revive the ancient practice of brewing beer from bread. The oldest known beer recipe (4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia) mixed multigrain bread loaves with honey. Morvan says he can replace 30 percent of the barley used to make beer with one and a half slices of bread per bottle. About 1,100 pounds of discarded bread makes1,057 gallons of beer.
"Brussels brewer uses leftover bread to make beer", Reuters, April 17, 2015
|
A Cargill meat processing plant in Hazleton, Pa., has completed a program to recycle plastic, burn unrecyclable plastic to produce energy, and render food waste into other food products, completely avoiding landfills. The 225,000-square-foot plant with 600 employees produces 10 million pounds of beef, pork and ground meat products monthly. In 2012, the plant sent 1,500 tons of waste to local landfills, including plastic, bio-solids, paper and other materials. But after a stepped-up recycling program, a third-party certification company verified the facility's landfill-free status in late March after reviewing documentation and performing a three-day on-site audit.
"Cargill Hazleton meat plant spurns garbage trucks; becomes company's first verified landfill-free facility", News release, Cargill, April 13, 2015
|
|
A report from BI Intelligence says that the trick to succeeding as an online grocery delivery service is to make it membership-based. The membership strategy, based on Costco’s model, is being applied successfully by several companies, not the least of which is Amazon, and could prove a disruptive force in the $600 billion retail grocery industry. The main benefits of the membership model include (for the business): repeat customers and lower per-order delivery fees; and (for the consumer): guaranteed fresh food from the local supermarket and less time spent in-store. The report looks at the grocery delivery services of Amazon, Instacart, Shipt and Thrive Market.
"Membership-based delivery services are beginning to disrupt the $600 billion-a-year grocery industry", Business Insider, April 01, 2015
|
|
| |
| Companies, Organizations |
 |
|
|
Henkel is expanding the capacity of its Toluca detergent manufacturing facility in Mexico. Dubbed Project Xina, the expansion program also aims to reduce the plant's impact on the environment and improve its sustainability features. As part of the expansion, Henkel installed a new heat recovery system to reduce the plant's energy use. The system uses waste heat from a sulfonation plant to preheat the air used in spray-drying of powder detergents. Also, the company installed a two-step reverse osmosis system to reduce wastewater produced during the manufacturing process for detergent, as well as increase the yield of recycled water.
"Doubling capacity while reducing environmental output", Henkel, April 21, 2015
Procter & Gamble Co. joined the Flexible Film Recycling Group, according to the American Chemistry Council. Driving growth in the recycling of flexible polyethylene film, wraps, and bags, FFRG played a role in expanding the recovery of post-consumer plastic film by 11 percent, or 116 million pounds, to reach 1.14 billion pounds in 2013. FFRG has supported the Sustainable Packaging Coalition's “store drop-off” campaign for plastic film packaging through its partnership initiatives.
"Procter & Gamble Joins National Effort to Recycle Flexible Plastic Wraps, Bags", Marketwired, April 08, 2015
|
SC Johnson, April 29, 2015
Environmental Leader, April 29, 2015
Reckitt Benckiser, April 22, 2015
The Guardian, April 21, 2015
|
|
| Press Release |
|
|
|
L'Oreal said it has reduced the CO2 emissions from its production process by 50 percent in absolute terms, compared with a 2005 baseline. One year after launching its Sharing Beauty sustainability initiative in 2014, the company said 67 percent of new products come with an “improved environmental or social profile.” Also, L'Oreal said it has created 54,000 jobs for people from poor communities.
"L'Oreal reduces CO2 emissions of its production by 50%", L’Oréal, April 16, 2015
Unilever has told suppliers that all packaging materials containing wood fiber need to be traceable “from certified and known sources by 2020.” The move is part of an effort by the company to stop global deforestation in its supply chains by ensuring that paper and board packaging is sustainably sourced by the end of 2015. According to the company, sustainably sourced paper and board increased to 87 percent in 2014, up from 62 percent in 2013. Unilever research has found that 75 percent of consumers would be more likely to buy a product if it was made from sustainably sourced ingredients.
"New Wood Fibre Sourcing Policy aims to accelerate actions to halt deforestation", News release, Unilever, April 08, 2015
|
Kimberly-Clark, April 28, 2015
|
|
| Products & Brands |
|
|
|
In 2015, Unilever reported it has reduced carbon emissions at its factories by 32 percent and water use by 29 percent, compared with levels in 2008. According to the company, every factory at its 240 operating locations produces zero waste. Launched in 2010, Unilever's sustainability initiative goes beyond in-house operations to include reviewing a product's lifecycle, from the raw materials used to landfill. Because of its size, Unilever believes even small achievements can mean a lot for the environment. For example, reducing plastic use by 15 percent can save about 27,000 ton of plastic resin each year. Unilever is partnering with other companies, such as Walmart, and even competitors to help promote sustainability as a business strategy.
"How One Enormous Corporation Is Working To Slash Its Environmental Impact", Fastcoexist, April 17, 2015
Kimberly-Clark is launching a line of tissues and paper towels manufactured using alternative raw materials, such as bamboo and wheat straw. Aimed at achieving the company's 2015 sustainability goals, the latest move will help Kimberly-Clark derive at least 25 percent of sales from environment-friendly products. At the same time, the use of non-traditional inputs will help reduce its manufacturing costs and improve consumer perception of the company and its products.
"Kimberly-Clark’s Push For Alternative Raw Materials Kills Two Birds With One Stone", Trefis, April 16, 2015
|
BeverageDaily.com, April 02, 2015
|
|