Roughly 20 pieces of clothing per person are manufactured each year. Growth of the multi-trillion-dollar apparel industry has been fed by "fast fashion," which makes clothing cheaply and quickly with a low price-tag. The apparel industry must embrace a new approach to sustainably meet demand in tomorrow's markets.
Consumer packaged goods giant Kimberly-Clark Corporation has diverted 95 percent of manufacturing waste from landfills and diverted more than 5,000 metric tons of post-consumer waste through partnership programs around the world, according to the company’s recently released sustainability report.
The Environmental Protection Agency is publishing its proposed guidelines to clarify the Waters of the United States rule so that it mirrors the language used before 2015, which is when the Obama administration broadened the scope of the law.
When it comes to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions, the electricity sector gets much of the attention, considering that it is responsible for 29 percent of those releases. But the transportation sector makes up 26 percent of them. If that is going to change, the electric car will have to make significant inroads.
Beer brewer Carlsberg Group has set a new goal of reducing water usage at its breweries by 50 percent by 2030, following an analysis of water risk in conjunction with WWF. Reaching the goal will require "technological breakthroughs at brewery level" - as well as collaborations with partners in high-risk catchment areas to ensure long-term water availability, says Jochem Verberne, global partnership director at WWF International.
Eight major corporations including McDonald's and L'Oreal recently joined the supply chain platform of CDP - a nonprofit that drives companies and governments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests - to request information from key suppliers on how they are managing risks linked to deforestation. The companies say they are combining their purchasing power to achieve deforestation-free commodity supply chains.
In 2015, MillerCoors set ambitious water-related sustainability goals for 2020 - including reducing its water-to-beer ratio. The total water gallons saved over five years is expected to be in the billions, but since most of the company's water footprint is in agriculture - MillerCoors can't achieve its goals alone.
Sock manufacturer Wigwam says it has been in the business of protecting the environment and using sustainable manufacturing practices for 112 years, but just recently discovered a significant - and easily solvable - sustainability problem: quality checks.