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4 Mins Read Hazel Technologies, the USDA-funded ag-tech startup developing food waste solutions, has closed US$70 million in an oversubscribed Series C financing round. The funding will fuel the firm’s plan to expand its operations globally, bringing its shelf-life-extending products to new markets in Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe. Hazel Technologies has announced the completion of a US$70 […]
3 Mins Read French lingerie brand Chantelle has launched its new sustainable concept Chantelle One, unveiling the world’s first truly circular bra. Made from an innovative yarn that enables garments to be recycled in its entirety, each Chantelle One bra can be turned into a brand new one after years of good wear, leaving no waste trail behind. […]
6 Mins Read In an introductory excerpt from the new book “THE WASTE-FREE WORLD: How the Circular Economy Will Take Less, Make More, and Save the Planet,” author Ron Gonen details how the planet must transition away from the current linear model that has wreaked havoc on the global environment and communities. Ron Gonen is the CEO and […]
4 Mins Read Love online shopping, hate the waste? After almost a quarter of a century of e-commerce, you’d think there would be a solution to the mounting piles of cardboard boxes, plastic bubble wrap and sticky tape that even the smallest fashion haul creates. Enter Olive, the new circular startup that’s here to solve this environmental conundrum. […]
4 Mins Read Starbucks has pledged to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% and eliminate all single-use cups by 2025 in its South Korea operations, as part of the firm’s global “resource positive” push. The coffee giant says that part of the strategy will include expanding its plant-based offerings and use of local ingredients. Separately, the chain will […]
4 Mins Read French grocery chains will have to begin switching to food refill stations as part of a new environmental bill. The law, which has been passed by the French parliament, will require retailers to phase out disposable plastic packaging and dedicate a fifth of their store to allow customers to buy dry food products using their […]
4 Mins Read Driscoll’s, one of the world’s leading fresh berry produce companies, has joined The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment in an effort to make sustainable packaging solutions for its fresh berries a priority and with the aim to decrease their carbon footprint on the environment. The California-based produce company recently signed The New Plastics Economy Global […]
6 Mins Read By: Jenni Downes, Monash University; Kim Borg, Monash University, and Nick Florin, University of Technology Sydney To start dealing with Australia’s mounting plastic crisis, the federal government last week launched its first National Plastics Plan. The plan will fight plastic on various fronts, such as banning plastic on beaches, ending polystyrene packaging for takeaway containers, […]
4 Mins Read Founded by Clarisse Merlet, France-based company FabBRICK works to upcycle textile waste into bricks that are supposedly great thermal and acoustic insulators. In France, textile waste is estimated to be around 4 million tons, however, less than a third of this is collected for reuse or recycling in the country. Back in 2017, architecture student […]
5 Mins Read Barry Callebaut, a leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, has launched a new sustainable brand Cabosse Naturals serving up a new type of chocolate made from one single ingredient, the cacao fruit, thus creating a totally new industry category with the same. With its new brand Cabosse Naturals, Switzerland-based Barry Callebaut aims to […]
4 Mins Read Ralph Lauren has just unveiled ‘Color on Demand’, what the company describes as the world’s first zero wastewater cotton dyeing system, a process that will recycle and reuse water from the textile dyeing process, in an effort to address the fashion industry’s mass water wastage. Through the Color on Demand system, the U.S.-based leading fashion […]
4 Mins Read Imperfect Foods, one of the first startups to slash food waste with “ugly” produce boxes, has pledged to double down on its sustainability efforts by slashing its carbon footprint. Pledging to reach net-zero emissions by the end of the decade, the company says it will convert to 100% renewable energy, improve regional sourcing and eliminate […]
3 Mins Read In a move to keep up with conscious consumerism, Nestlé Australia has debuted a brand new line of upcycled drinks. Made from upcycled coffee berry husks, the caffeinated “social beverage” Nescafé Nativ Cascara uses up the discards from coffee harvesting, slashing food waste while also providing growers with a new business opportunity. Nestlé Australia has […]
3 Mins Read In partnership with Danimer Scientific, confectionery giant Mars Wrigley has announced that by early 2021, its world-famous Skittles candy will be sold in biodegradable wrappers. U.S.-based multinational manufacturer of chocolates and sweets Mars Wrigley has joined forces with Danimer Scientific, a developer, and manufacturer of biodegradable materials, for a two-year partnership that will see the […]
3 Mins Read In its latest sustainability push, Singapore authorities are considering a new policy to require commercial and industrial firms to measure and report how much food waste they produce and segregate for treatment. While industry consultations are due to take place in the second half of 2021, the proposed reporting rule will likely come into effect […]
3 Mins Read Root The Future, a non-profit organization that hopes to push forward Thailand’s plant-based industry just partnered with VGI, a data and consumer insights platform to launch the country’s first mass climate crisis campaign featuring their jointly produced #SaveMyFuture video at multiple Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) subway stations including Chong Nongsi, Asoke, Sala Daeng, and […]
4 Mins Read American retail giant Kroger has pledged to support innovative startups developing upcycled food products and solutions. Through its charity arm Zero Hunger Zero Waste Foundation, the supermarket will invest US$2.5 million in collective grants to companies working on what it describes as the “next frontier” in recovering and repurposing food that would otherwise go to […]
4 Mins Read An astonishing 931 million tonnes of food sold to households, retailers, restaurants and other food services, equating to 17% of all food available at consumer levels, was thrown out in 2019, reveals a new U.N. report. The index, which tracks global progress on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to half food waste by 2030, […]
5 Mins Read In an excerpt from a new book ‘BUSINESS UNUSUAL: Enterprises paving the way to Zero Waste,’ Marlet Salazar takes us through two Philippine initiatives showing that retail without plastic sachets is not only possible; they are the way. By Marlet Salazar Salin PH: Mobile Retail Store The desire to debunk the myth that going Zero […]
4 Mins Read Swiss-based high-performance running brand On launched a 100% recyclable shoe, Cyclon with the brand describing it as ‘the shoe you will never own’ given that runners can avail of the shoes through a subscription service. Slated to release in autumn of this year (2021), On’s 100% recyclable shoe does not compromise on performance rather it […]
4 Mins Read South Korea used to recycle just 2% of its food waste, but has since impressively brought this figure up to 95%. How? The country has tapped innovative technologies such as smart bins and bolstering local food production by setting up urban farms, as well as introducing compulsory household food waste recycling. It’s setting an example […]