Major manufacturers like Tesla and General Electric are facing a severe shortage of ethically sourced cobalt, and the metal is expected to increase in demand by 500 percent, says OilPrice.com. Amazon, too, needs the metal for its Kindle, and other consumer electronics are contributing to the demand and resulting shortage of supply.
Environmental policy will see a clear shift from land to sea, as shipping is (and will remain) the most efficient way to transport vast amounts of goods long-distance, according to the Norwegian Shipowners' Association chief executive Sturla Henriksen.
Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) announced in its sustainability report this month that it has reached its goal in palm oil traceability - achieving 98 percent traceability for palm oil and more than 95 percent for palm kernel oil, as well as 24 percent reduced water usage since 2008.
Companies like Ikea and Apple have been investing in their supply chains in order to avoid unknown and potentially environmentally damaging activities from their suppliers by purchasing forest, building wind farms, and taking over plastics recycling plants. Ikea has purchased forest in Romania and the Baltics, while Apple has invested in forest in the US, writes The Guardian.
Retailers and manufacturers have dictated that sustainable packaging is no longer just "nice to have," but is something they expect from the packaging industry, according to a new study from Smithers Pira.
Smart companies with trucking fleets are improving fuel efficiency, lowering NOx and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by taking advantage of new technology solutions - including idle reduction products, automated transmissions, low rolling resistance tire, tire pressure systems, engine parameters, and technologies that automate maintenance practices, according to FleetOwner.
Campbell Soup Co. is cutting freight costs and improving operational efficiencies - as well as significantly decreasing carbon dioxide emissions - by opening an on-site PET bottle-making plant at a Campbell Soup Co. facility in Paris, Texas. The bottle-making company, Amcor Rigid Plastics, previously supplied the Paris site from its plant in Fort Worth.
Walmart has spent more than $141m on ethics and compliance systems since 2013, to manage and track efforts that include appointing over 2,300 ethics and compliance professionals, ensuring compliance is up-to-date and accurate, and creating a board-level Global Ethics, Compliance & Risk Committee, the company recently announced.
Target says it will use its "power and scale" as one of the country's largest retailers to advance the idea that all packaging will be recyclable one day, and to help consumers understand how and why recycling is so important.
Lawrence Black sees the circular economy finally moving from theory and high-level strategy to practical applications in design, engineering, and marketing. He has a clear view of these changes as senior advisor to the Waste Management-McDonough Sustainable Innovation Collaborative, a partnership formed in 2013 to improve the recyclability of packaging and products.
