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Introducing the "In The Loop" travel blog

In the loop 5-6-15
Welcome to our first “In The Loop”  travel blog post! This will be GreenBlue’s blog to document our travels across the U.S.
During the year, the GreenBlue team regularly travels to conferences, meetings, and training sessions. We want to keep our community up-to-date on our latest speaking engagements and conferences so you can stay “In The Loop” on our happenings.
Enjoy!
May 6-8, 2015
Nina Goodrich will be attending the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s 2015 Sustainability Forum
CE
This year’s U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Sustainability Forum focuses on the The Circular Economy. Nina is a strong supporter of the Circular Economy and is looking forward to being part of the conversation surrounding this exciting conference.
Others attending the conference include:
William McDonough, MBDC
Ellen MacArthur, Founder of The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Terry Mah, CEO and President of Veolia North America
Mathy Stanislaus, Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Eamon Javers, Reporter, CNBC
Aman Singh, Vice President, Business + Social Purpose, Edelman
 

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GreenBlue Uncategorized

Happy Earth Day from GreenBlue

For us at GreenBlue, Earth Day isn’t just another silly holiday set on our pocket calendars. Earth Day is every day, and it’s our passion to make the world a cleaner, better place to live. Whether it’s our forest management certification program, our recycling label, our material health assessment, or our clean chemical formulation database, to say we care about the Earth would be an understatement. While we all care deeply for the Earth, we all have different perspectives on what this special day means to us.

“What does Earth Day mean to you?”

Adam Gendell – Project Manager, Sustainable Packaging Coalitionadam
“Every day can’t be Earth Day. We need a pointed reminder to celebrate the progress and raised awareness we’ve achieved and also the issues that need to be tackled. To me, Earth Day ought to serve as that special highlight of our work and set the stage for the other 364 days on the calendar.”
 
Shea Zwerver – Executive Assistantshea
“I learned from my glorious mother that Earth Day was in celebration of Mother Earth and all her bountiful resources and beauty she provides. Since it takes place in April, I always think of new life — baby animals being born, plants sprouting from the ground, trees and flowers blooming. As I have gotten older, almost every day is Earth Day to me where I appreciate what the Earth provides us with, and its beauty!”
IMG_3102
A baby house finches that lived on my back porch last year, and are back again this year building another nest.
Anne Elsea – Communications Associateannev
“We all owe so much to the Earth; it gives us white sand beaches, breathtaking Swiss Alps (see below), and my personal favorite, a beautiful backdrop to a Virginia winery (see featured image). Celebrating the Earth at the height of spring is such an amazing opportunity to look at how we can better serve Earth so that future generations will be able to enjoy the blooming flowers and sunny days.”

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My favorite photo taken on a trip to Switzerland

 
Anne Bedarf- Senior Manager, Sustainable Packaging Coalitionanneb1
“I always say Earth Day is Every Day!”
 
Tom Pollock – Senior Manager of Forest Projectstom_photo
“Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, former U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, starting an important movement in 1969 that is now recognized around the world and inspiring great work that continues to grow.”
 
Liz Shoch- Senior Manager, Sustainable Packaging Coalitionliz_photo
“Honestly? Earth Day itself doesn’t mean that much to me! That may sound like heresy, but I try to incorporate environmental practices into my life EVERY day, not just April 22. They might be small efforts, like trying a different detergent or starting to collect household plastic wraps for recycling at my local retail stores. But little by little, I and my family try to think about doing the right environmental thing all year long. My toddler now knows that we recycle certain items and she loves to put them in our recycling bin. Might as well start her early!
Calling attention to environmental issues on one day a year is important, but I worry that most people think it’s a one-day concern. We didn’t create our significant environmental problems (such as climate change, air pollution, deforestation, overfishing) overnight, and we won’t be able to solve them overnight either.
On Earth Day, I think the most important thing is for each of us to take a moment and go outside and appreciate our environment — listen to the birds, look for early spring flowers, even pull a few weeds or complain about tree pollen! Just this morning in my yard, I spotted my first catbird of the year, returning to nest in Virginia after a winter in Mexico.
Making that regular connection with our natural environment helps keep us mindful of the world outside our doors and reinforce our behaviors all year long.”
Happy 45th Anniversary Earth Day! And happy 4.54 billion (and counting) years of being amazing, planet Earth!
-The GreenBlue Staff

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Sustainability Tools Uncategorized

SUSTPACK 2015 — Adaptation and Resiliency

The keynote speakers for day one of SustPack 2015 provided a kick-start to this conference dedicated to issues relevant to sustainable packaging. All three speakers presented evidence suggesting that industry as a whole (not just the packaging value chain) is struggling to adapt to a diversity of “stimuli” — a shrinking resource base with increasing costs for raw materials, changing expectations of customers, investors and society’s notion of what is required to be a good corporate citizen, and hopefully, a sense of personal responsibility to be effective agents of change, helping their companies to adapt and thrive in what several of the speakers referred to as a “highly dynamic marketplace.”
SUSTPACKheader2.132535David Kiron, a professor from MIT and co-author of a series of publications has conducted extensive research to understand the differences between “walkers,” companies that demonstrate a clear commitment, backed up by evidence that they are on a path to becoming more sustainable enterprises and the “talkers,” companies that acknowledge the importance of sustainability but are struggling to understand how to use sustainability as a compass to guide their strategies for survival if not future growth. In short, how to adapt their business models to a shifting landscape with new realities.
I was struck by a couple of thoughts while listening to David’s research. As someone who works for a non-profit organization attempting to inform and build the capacity of businesses to implement more sustainable practices, I welcome any insights into how we might help companies “walk the talk.” It’s almost a reflexive response of American business culture to want to be seen as “decisive,” “proactive,” “leading” and “visionary.” We need more companies to lead by example, to demonstrate what is possible so that others may follow – quickly. As sustainability professionals, we get frustrated by the seemingly inexhaustible energy to want to talk, gather more data, dispute the data, gather different data in order to debate whether one can truly make a “business case for sustainability.” But this is all a part of the process of learning how to evolve, to adapt.  “Talkers” play a critical role in the process of evolution. Their role is to build awareness in their companies and industry sectors, to amplify the signal, creating positive reinforcement for companies when they decide to take the leap of leadership.
Tamara Bekefi from Daedalus Strategic Advising provided a compelling rationale for why companies should continue talking if not walking. Apparently, it’s not only the Socially Responsible Investment (SRIs) firms that have their ear to the ground. The number of investors looking for evidence of corporations that are using sustainability as a means of forecasting and mitigating risk to their business is increasing. Investors clearly see the correlation between the metrics that are used to define sustainable business practices and the more traditional ones that companies currently hold as important and attempt to measure their performance against: risk management, innovation, reputation (license to operate + ability to attract talent), stakeholder demand, competition, staying ahead of regulations, etc.
In response, companies are beginning to integrate sustainability reporting into their annual reports as opposed to treating them as supplemental to their business operations. It will be interesting to see if the investment community also steps up to the plate and realizes it will be difficult for companies to make the necessary long-term investments that more sustainable solutions require and still meet Wall Street’s expectations for short-term revenue growth. Similar to the “slow food movement,” the “slow money” movement needs Wall Street to adjust its financial metrics to recognize and reward companies who are building wealth more slowly (i.e., sustainably) by planning for future, long-term growth. Maybe Wall Street can judge such investments by utilizing a “sustainability ROI” as opposed to the typical ROI of 2-3 years.
The final speaker of the session was Bill Frerking from Georgia Pacific. Bill reminded the audience that much of sustainability is relative and depends on a variety of things: the type of business your company is in, where the company sits in the value chain, who your customers are, who your influential stakeholders are, as well as the culture of the company. One of the basic challenges of operating a business, let alone one aspiring to be more sustainable is the ability to manage different interests of stakeholders when they often have conflicting demands. Bill noted that just as one cannot approach packaging as a monolithic problem or opportunity, sustainability is not a “one size fits all” solution. All companies should realize that the pursuit of sustainability is about resolving conflicting demands (“trade-offs”) in a manner that makes sense to the unique attributes of your business.
One assertion that Bill made in his presentation that I did not agree with was the idea that “market demand” (i.e., consumers) could send clear signals for their preferences to purchase more sustainable products. A common refrain that one hears from companies about why they are not doing more to address sustainable production is that their customers “are not asking for it.” The market can be an efficient mechanism for governing the supply and demand of resources used for production but not necessarily as a rationale for using those resources more sustainably. Thus far, the sustainability movement is still in the process of  educating the manufacturing community about why sustainable production and consumption is critical to the future security of their businesses. The idea that the average consumer has the education, information, and context necessary to make an informed purchasing decision to send a clear signal of demand or preference is either naive or disingenuous, and counterproductive to the work that must be done. Companies who have the foresight, talent, and ambition to lead by example will not be those whose approach is to “let the market decide.”

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Sustainable Packaging Coalition Uncategorized

Biopolymers’ Interconnectivity

Tom Pollock breaks down what is happening at the biopolymer field and what was discussed at the SUSTPACK 2015 working session.

New Biopolymers Outlook for Sustainable Packaging

Need more proof that drinking beer can help save the planet? One of the many interesting key global trends Debra Darby, independent consultant of Darby Marketing, highlighted in her presentation “New Biopolymers Outlook for Sustainable Packaging” at SUSTPACK 2015 was the opportunity for organic waste products – including grain as the by-product of the distilling process – to find a new life in the exciting and innovative world of biopolymers.
Bags, flexibles, films, and coffee packaging were just some of the examples Debra cited in which consumers and brands have helped biopolymers products achieve pull-through in industry. Important to making this work will be industry collaboration and communication to drive development to join the ranks of such companies taking advantage of biobased materials such as Natureworks, Metabolix, BASF, Honeywell, Novamont, Innovia, Meridian Holdings Group, and Braskem.
 

Taking the Next Step: The Growing Production of Bio-Based Chemical Intermediates Enables New Opportunities

Julia Allen, Research Analyst, LUX Research
There are signs of hope in the biopolymer industry. Julia Allen, Research Analyst at LUX Research was an excellent follow-up to the previous presentation by providing a comprehensive overview of where biopolymers are today and what you can expect in the near future. Julia cited 7.4 million MT growth of emerging biopolymer technologies by 2018. Much of this will be led by intermediate chemicals, which she predicts is going to be the biggest driver and user of biopolymers. Through this is a constantly changing and sometimes difficult to predict industry, key producers behind capacity growth will be M&G Chemicals, Butamax, and BioAmber.
Maybe one of the most interesting points in Julia’s presentation was that bio-based chemical intermediaries will continue to enable current opportunities and help create new opportunities for sustainability in terms of new markets and applications. It’s encouraging to think about the many positive applications in this emerging market.
 

Bioplastics 2.0: Low-Cost Full Cycle Recoverable Packaging

Ian DeWeerdt, CFO, Full Cycle Bioplastics

Compostable. Marine degradable. Landfill degradable. High Performance. Affordable.

These are some of the most common promises you’ll hear about bioplastics but in many cases the reality is a bit more complicated. Ian DeWeerdt, CFO of Full Cycle Bioplastics, provided a compelling case for why industry is still working on fulfilling some of these promises and what available technologies could help bring us closer to the potential of biopolymers. PHA, for example, is an additive that can help us move toward our goals. It’s expensive today, and Ian suggested that focusing on cost could be an important strategy moving forward.
Why is it so expensive? Feedstock costs and GMO bacteria are the top two reasons. Feedstock yields require GMO bacteria, and containment of that bacteria is a big cost driver. Full Cycle Bioplastics, however, has found a strategy to address this challenge by using waste feedstock and natural bacteria. By working closely with waste haulers and composting facilities, Full Cycle Bioplastics has found a path forward for future PHA manufacturing facilities. When PHA volume goes up, Ian explained, PHA prices go down. And affordability, as we know, is a key component to meeting the overall sustainability benefits biopolymers can offer.

Biobased Packaging – An Industrial Ecosystem Perspective

Denny Hall, Executive Director, OBIA (Bioproduct Innovation Center), Ohio State University

How many national championships is enough for The Ohio State University?

It seems as if they aren’t quite satisfied, yet as Denny Hall, Executive Director of the Bioproduct Innovation Center at OSU (OBIC) gave the eye-opening example of the over 95% waste diversion rate for the total of Ohio State football games at their expansive home stadium. OSU led the nation in the 2014  Zero Waste challenge Denny and his team participated in. Although that’s an impressive statistic, what is more impressive is where waste was diverted to and what OBIC is doing with it.
Bioproducts represent an important economic development opportunity, especially for rural America. OBIC’s “Cell to Sell Innovation Pipeline” is creating new supply chains by looking at working with agricultural biobased feedstocks. A OBIC survey of biobased markets revealed that consumers are not quite as knowledgable about products as they hoped. People think they know about this technology, but when pressed to name applications and companies, Ohio State came up with a rare loss. Denny suggested a need to create a coordinated marketing effort to spread understanding of biobased products and applications that matched the value the indicated for utilizing biobased materials. An excellent example Denny cited was similar to that of the natural food trend. With 2,363 companies part of the USDA bio-preferred program and 18,442 products available in the U.S. – it seems that the potential is there through technologies such as anaerobic digestion.

Certification vs Collaboration – Securing End of Life Options for Compostable Bio-Packaging

Susanna Carson, President, BSI Biodegradable Solutions
Susanna Carson, President, BSI Biodegradable Solutions, doesn’t take “No” for answer. In her excellent presentation, Susanna relayed her story about brand value and waste through the perspective of her company Besics‘ efforts to find opportunities for composting biopolymer products. Noting that it is the consumer making the choices and pushing the market, demand for bio-packaging is clearly gaining momentum. Besics realized compostability needs third-party certification and collaboration through the value. Susanna’s research found that biopolymer acceptance at composting facilities in her region is about 53%. Twenty three percent outright banned biopolymers and 24% gave a “kinda-sorta” answer. The source of the “no’s and kinda sorta’s” was the claim that ‘bio-plastics don’t compost’. Ms. Carson suggested a gap between the science of compostability and compost facility operations.
P.S. An excellent job by moderators Brad Rodgers of PEPSICO and Nina Goodrich of GreenBlue. The presentations and presenters provided a logical and informative flow to a complex subject. Looking forward to see what has progressed at SPC Advance in Charlotte later this year!
 
 

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Recover More Uncategorized

A Newcomer's Perspective on MRFs

Just before the truck dumped a new load of (mostly) recyclable trash

SUSTPACK 2015 started early Tuesday with a tour of place many consumers will contribute to each week, but will never think about — A Waste Management facility. The tour of the Tampa, FL facility started with an introduction to Waste Management’s (WM) recovery numbers and a brief overview of what materials the Tampa facility can recycle. A few of the recycling figures stood out to me — an admitted newbie to the recycling and sustainability industry.

  • In 2010, the U.S. produced 250 million tons of municipal solid waste
  • While paper and paperboard take the prize for biggest percentage of total municipal solid waste (28.5%), diapers alone represent 3.4% of total municipal solid waste!
  • Roughly 34% of total municipal solid waste is recycled, meaning 1/3 of our trash is diverted from landfills and other garbage disposal locations.

SUSTPACK MRF
The many levels of conveyor belts inside the Tampa, FL facility.

Then, it was time to see where the recycling magic happens. Inside the warehouse we were able to watch as workers made split second decisions about what had to be taken out of the recycling flow. Some of my favorite random objects that people had recycled included yellow caution tape, a dust bin, and two closet doors. It reinforces the belief that recyclability education is very much lacking in the U.S.
While the closet doors may have been an entertaining outlier, seeing how many plastic bags and styrofoam containers ended up at the WM facility I realized firsthand how important the How2Recycle program and website is as a resource to consumers. When consumers see the numbers on the bottom of different packages, they often think it can automatically be recycled; I definitely did before I started working for GreenBlue.
Beyond promoting consumer recycling, the tour of the WM facility taught me so much about the limitations of individual facilities. While this particular facility receives products from a single stream recycling system, many counties are not able to utilize this type of collection method. Single stream reduces the effort required on the part of the consumer, but increases costs at the facility. Dual stream requires consumers to be more educated about how to properly separate recyclable products. The facility representative expressed how he would like to accept more items, like styrofoam, but how it just isn’t possible with equipment at his facility. As an average consumer who recycles, I was led to believe that all recycling facilities accept all the usual suspects: water and soda bottles, printer paper and magazines. This just isn’t the case and it really takes due diligence on the part of the citizen to learn about their local recycling services.
I believe that we communications professionals working in the recycling and sustainability sphere have our work cut out for us when it comes to informing the public about these “invisible” facilities and what consumers can do to improve recycling output.

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The latest news on Canadian Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Programs

As early as 1998, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) took action in regards to its waste reduction target of 50% of the packaging that companies place into the market. From 2004 to 2014, more than 7 reports, analysis, studies, tools and progress reports were published in regards to the principles, strategies and harmonization of a Canada-wide Action Plan for Extended Producer Responsibility (CAP-EPR). Packaging has been recognized as a priority of the Canada-Wide Action Plan for Extended Producer Responsibility.
In 2005, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) created the Extended Producer Responsibility Task Group (the Task Group) to direct the development and implementation of a Canada-wide EPR program and conducted studies, collected data, and prepared guidelines and best practices to help industry and provincial jurisdictions attain the reduction  targets.
In October 2006 the CAP-EPR was approved and adopted into the Canada Waste Management Strategy.  Different provincial jurisdictions committed to work on EPR frameworks legislation with the goal of harmonization across Canada.
Today, more than 200 EPR Programs and 30 categories of materials are targeted under various frameworks: Legislated EPR Programs, Voluntary EPR Programs, Shared Responsibility Programs and Product Stewardship Programs, with various requirements in different provincial jurisdictions.
These programs vary from packaging and printed paper (PPP) to electronics, household hazardous materials, special waste and automotive material, across  10 Canadian provinces.  Five (5) out of ten provinces currently  have packaging and printed paper (PPP) ERP programs.
In order to ensure the  harmonization and standardization of programs, to increase packaging recovery and lowering recovery costs, industry created the Canadian Stewards Services Alliance (CSSA) and the Electronic Product Recycling Association (EPRA). Their activities and progress can be applied across Canada.
Overview of Packaging and Printed Paper (PPP) EPR Programs

  • British Columbia: legislated PPP EPR Program with full producer responsibility, launched in May 2014
  • Saskatchewan: shared PPP EPR Program with 75/25 (industry/municipals cost share), to be launched in early 2015
  • Manitoba: shared PPP EPR Program with 80/20 (industry/municipals cost share), launched in 2010
  • Ontario: shared PPP EPR Program with 50/50 (industry/municipals cost share), launched in 2002 and new legislation (Bill 91) is under consideration, spring 2015
  • Quebec: legislated PPP EPR Program with full producer responsibility, operated by municipalities and launched in March 2006
  • Alberta: PPP EPR Program under consideration
  • Atlantic Provinces: PPP EPR Program under consideration. Collaborating to develop a common framework and approach for the region

PPP EPR Programs Highlights
The following table summarize the highlights of the activities of each of the provincial jurisdiction, industry financing organization (IFO), Fall/Winter 2014, early 2015.

PPP EPR Program Highlights
Multi Material BC (MMBC)
British Columbia
http://multimaterialbc.ca/notices-archive
Other resources are available here.

  • PPP (packaging and printed paper including the milk cartons) EPR Program
  • 100% industry funding
  • Managed by MMBC & 0perated by Green by Nature (consortium Cascades Recovery, Emterra Environment, Merlin Plastics)
  • MMBC Assumes Responsibility for Recycling in New Communities
    Starting January 1, 2015Communities of the City of Langley and the City of Revelstoke, will be managed directly by MMBC, representing approximately 6,400 single-family and 7,000 multi-family households of the 1.25 million curbside and multi-family households benefiting from the MMBC program, updates here.
  • MMBC Official Supplier of Canada Winter Games:MMBC will provide 550 recycling receptacles and will be gifted to Emterra Environmental so that MMBC can institute recycling for approximately 4,300 units in multi-family dwellings in Prince George MMBC on Board for Winter Games.
Multi-Material Stewardship Western Saskatchewan
https://portal.pac.ca/mpower/campaigner/redirect.action?d=Yj00MCZyPTIzOTQ=&u=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5tbXNrLmNhL25vdGljZXMtYWxlcnRz

  • PPP (packaging and printed paper) EPR Program
  • 75/25 shared funding (industry/municipals cost share)
 Program Exemptions for Businesses Announcement
Announced December 18, 2014

  • Saskatchewan Government Announces Exemption Criteria from The Household Packaging and Paper Stewardship Regulations (Read the announcement here).
  • This exemption represents significant economic and operational challenges to MMSW’s Waste PPP; read here.
  • MMSM is not able to identify which producers fall under the $2 million to $5 million threshold and cannot quantify the packaging and printed paper is supplied in Saskatchewan by producers.
  • Three (3) exemptions for small businesses are: Exemptions from the EPR program can be declared if either a) the business has gross revenue of less than $2 million; b) the business generates less than one ton of packaging and paper; or c) the business operates as a single point of sale, not a franchise or chain, see here.
Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba (MMSM)
http://stewardshipmanitoba.org/mmsm/whats-new/
SimplyRecycle.ca

  • PPP (packaging and printed paper) EPR Program
  • 80/20 shared funding (industry/municipals cost share)
  • Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba
    Announced December15,2014 – 2015Fees, to read more about the fees and the calculations that impacted them, click here to read the MMSM communication &
    Recycling & Waste Reduction: A Discussion Paper
  • Tomorrow Now, Manitoba’s Green Plan:
    Released December 12, 2014 Recycling and waste reduction were proposed by the government which could have an impact on stewards: general 75% recovery target for PPP (achieved a 63% recycling rate in 2013); reduction to be increased by 2020, more than 50%, in use of retail carry out plastic bags (achieved a 46.7% reduction rate) ; increase the 75% beverage container recycling target; expand existing programs to include ICI packaging and printed paper; reduce disposable beverage cups in the waste stream and require quick service restaurants to provide on premise recycling facilities by 2020, View the Recycling & Waste Reduction: A Discussion Paper.
  • Stakeholders have until March 20, 2015, to provide feedback.
  • Bag up Manitoba – Plastic Bag Challenge:During the month of October 2014, the program broke another record with nearly 1.6 million plastic bags being collected and recycled; 167 schools and two daycares collected a staggering 1,596,333 plastic bags. The participating schools received a garden box and 14 schools received a bench made out of 5,000 recycled plastic bags and composite wood fibers. Since 2008, it has kept close to six million plastic bags out of landfills.
  • Brandon’s Waste Reduction School Challenge: MMSM was the title sponsor of Brandon’s Waste Reduction School Challenge for the 3rd year in a row. The challenge ran from October 13-29, 2014 and encouraged all students to track their waste through garbage and recycling. Students collected their waste for three weeks, took part in reduction activities and also toured the local landfill.
Stewardship Ontario (SO)
http://www.stewardshipontario.ca/latest-news/
http://www.wdo.ca/news/
https://www.rco.on.ca/wra-overview–timeline

  • PPP (packaging and printed paper) EPR Program
  • 50/50 shared funding (industry/municipals cost share)
  • Bill 91 coming early spring 2015, a full industry funding is under consideration
  • Rules for Stewards for 2015:Update containing the following information; Municipal Obligation Arbitration Award Recap; The 2014 Steward Obligation Gap; Using Reserves To Pay Some Of The Obligation Gap, 2014 Fee Schedule And The Associated Adjustment Due To Arbitration and Steward Invoices And Payments 2015 Fee Schedule And Blue Box Rules.
  • Rules for 2015 are posted in SO website, available here, comments should be sent to WeRecycle@stewardshipontario.ca no later than January 23, 2015. The comments received and the responses will be posted along with confirmation of final approval for the Rules and Blue Box Fees 2015.
  • The Municipal Obligation Arbitration Award – Recap: The decision in the arbitration between the Association of Municipalities (AMO) and the City of Toronto, and Stewardship Ontario on November 25 was rendered by retired Justice Robert Armstrong. The adjustment Fee Schedule 2014 is due to be paid to municipalities by March 31, 2015.
  • Fulfilling the 2014 Steward Obligation Gap:Steward fees paid in 2014 raised a total of $99.7M which has left a funding gap of $17.4M after accounting for program management costs and CNA/OCNA in-kind payments. The Board of Directors decided to retain 10% of annual operating costs in reserve, the full 2014 Adjustment Fee Schedule, reflecting the above, can be viewed here.
  • Invoices to stewards were issued before the end of this year 2014 and payment is due February 27, 2015. Stewards who want to have a payment plan are asked to send an email to Accounts Receivable at accounting@cssalliance.ca.
  • Waste Diversion Ontario 2013 Datacall Reports Released: 2013 Blue Box Tonnage Highlights; 2013 Blue Box Program Cost & Revenue;2013 Non-Blue Box Recyclables Trends (Residential);2013 Organics Trends (Residential).
Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance (CSSA)
http://www.cssalliance.ca/latest-news

  • Stewards services provider for MMBC, MMSM, SO
  • West Provinces to be added; Saskatchewan, Alberta
 Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance (CSSA) 2nd Annual Steward MeetingOctober 15, 2014, in the presence of 550 participants. The highlights: cost savings through harmonization, program performance trends; status for the MMSW program in Saskatchewan, 2015 material fee schedules for the 3 provinces, B.C., Manitoba & Ontario; and updates on other provinces preparation on implementing EPR programs for packaging and printed paper.
Eco Entreprises Quebec
http://www.ecoentreprises.qc.ca/news-and-events
http://www.ecoentreprises.qc.ca/information-and-reporting/schedules-of-contributions-and-legal-framework/schedules-of-contributions/calendar-of-contributions

  • CP&PM (Containers, packaging and printed matter) EPR Program
  • 100% industry funding
  • Operated by municipalities
  • Schedule of Contribution for 2014:Deadline for the remaining 60 % to be paid before interest is charged – January 26, 2015.
  • Schedule of Contribution for 2015:Beginning of the reporting period – May 2015, Deadline for submitting company report – May to August 2015, Deadline for the remaining 60 % to be paid before interest is charged – September 26, 2015 (Subject to change without notice depending on the effective date of the Schedule of Contributions).
  • Creation of an Advisory Committee on Residual Materials: Launched November 10, 2014, the mandate is to advise the government on the implementation of Quebec’s Residual Materials Management Policy and its issues in order to optimize and re-evaluate of the role and responsibilities of stakeholders involved the compensation for municipal services.
  • First Consumer Survey on Ecodesigned Packaging in Quebec: The demand is there! Launched October 23, 2014, EEQ “in cooperation with The Responsible Consumption Observatory (RCO) surveyed Quebecers to determine their perception of ecodesigned containers, packaging and printed matter. Today’s findings demonstrate that Quebec consumers want eco-responsible packaging, but not at any price. If it costs the same, almost three-quarters of Quebecers (72.9%) would choose eco-responsible packaging.” The report can be found on the EEQ website here.
  • Sorting center, conditioner and recycler installation tour: January 29, February 10-12-18-26 and March 3-10, 2015.
Other Provinces
http://esrd.alberta.ca/waste/
https://www.recycle.ab.ca/public-policy
http://www.novascotia.ca/nse/waste/
  • To be followed closely.
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Recover More Uncategorized

Top Five Fun Facts: Recover More Edition

This is the final of three Fun Fact entries focusing on GreenBlue’s mission alignment to Sustainable Materials Management, a robust framework with three main foci 1) Use Wisely  looks at material sourcing; 2) Eliminate Toxicity from products and packaging, and 3) and Recover More value from the waste stream.
Eric DesRoberts continues his series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand materials used in products and packaging. You can check out his past Fun Facts here.

  1. Paper and paperboard accounts for over half of the total weight of materials recovered in the municipal solid waste (MSW) stream. In 2012, roughly 86.6 million tons of MSW was recovered and about 44.3 of this was attributable to paper or paperboard.
  2. U.S. food production uses roughly 10 percent of the country’s total energy budget, 50 percent of its land, and 80 percent of the freshwater consumed in the United States. Even more shocking is that roughly 40 percent of this food goes uneaten which equates to about $165 billion in waste. The toll is much greater when one accounts for the 4 percent of the U.S energy wasted, the unnecessary use of inputs used to farm 20 percent of the land, and the overuse of water for irrigation by 32 percent to produce the discarded food.
  3. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, household waste increases by more than 25%. We now know the true meaning of “Black Friday.”
  4. In 2013, 648,000 Ocean Conservancy volunteers collected over 12 million pounds of trash, covering nearly 13,000 miles of shoreline.
  5. If 50 percent of the food waste generated each year in the U.S. was anaerobically digested, enough electricity would be generated to power 2.5 million homes for a year.

 
 

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GreenBlue Sustainable Packaging Coalition Uncategorized

GreenBlue Receives an Innovation in Plastics Recycling Award

With America Recycles Day just behind us (this past Saturday, November 15th), here at GreenBlue we are thrilled to announce that we have received an Innovations in Plastics Recycling Award from the American Chemistry Council (ACC).
ACC’s Plastics Division hosts the Innovation in Plastics Recycling Awards annually to recognize organizations bringing new technologies, products, and initiatives to the industry to improve plastics recycling. GreenBlue’s Store Drop-off Label was chosen as one of three winning innovations of this year’s awards.
seventh_gen_store_drop_off
The Store Drop-off Label is intended to educate consumers about the recyclability of plastic bags, films, and wraps at nearby grocery and retail stores with drop-off bins. This label informs consumers about recyclability while they are physically handling the package, so there is no confusion.
The How2Recycle Label currently has 32 participating companies, over half of which are using the Store Drop-off Label. We are looking forward to the expansion of the How2Recycle Label in the coming years to help close the loop on the consumer side, and we are thankful to ACC for helping us spread the word!
If you are interested in learning more or joining the How2Recycle Label, email me at kelly.lahvic@greenblue.org or follow us on Twitter @how2recycle.

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GreenBlue Sustainable Packaging Coalition Uncategorized

Sights and Sounds of Pack Expo

PACK EXPO International 2014 delivered on its promise to bring the leaders of processing and packaging technologies together for an event like no other. After all of the business cards were exchanged, stories of frustrations and successes were shared, and questions like “what’s next”, “do you know someone that makes…”, and “what is GreenBlue and the Sustainable Packaging Coalition” were answered, we can reflect on the 4-day blur.
A few trends that stood out at Pack Expo 2014:

  • Flexible packaging – I don’t think I was ever more than a stones throw away from a booth that offered some kind of flexible packaging solution. To this point, there were a handful of individuals that stopped by our booth specifically to discuss their technologies for recycling flexibles.
  • Recycling and sustainability – Many people stopped by our booth to ask about recyclability, or recyclable alternatives. GreenBlue’s How2Recycle Label (How2recycle.info) caught the eye of many exhibit wanderers, and combined with our leftover halloween candy, lead to fascinating conversations.
  • Show me the Green – Unlike the last time this event was in Chicago, many exhibitors were not actively advertising environmental attributes associated with their products or processes. Some of the exhibitors that I asked about sustainability gave half-hearted, stock responses, but I also got the impression that it isn’t something that their customers are asking for. The financial green is still the ultimate driver for many purchasing decisions. As one skeptical GreenBlue booth visitor said, “It will take a policy change for greater sustainability adoption.”
  • Evolution – Products and packaging evolve rapidly. To maintain relevance, it is essential to keep up with the changing times. For GreenBlue, being able to understand the evolution of packaging systems and materials will help advance our philosophy of Using Wisely, Eliminating Toxicity, and Recovering More.

For GreenBlue, Pack Expo was an opportunity for us to share our work with many people who were not familiar with our programs, and to hear sustainability challenges from people outside of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s membership. The questions and discussions with non-SPC members reiterates the importance of the work that we do. For some visitors, sustainability is just starting to enter their production streams, while for others (many of the smaller start-ups that stopped by), it’s already embedded in their products and company’s DNA.
While we value all of these new connections and topics to be discovered, Pack Expo also gave us an opportunity to meet with a lot of our current SPC members. With about 25% of our members having a booth at Pack Expo or Pharma Expo, it was a great opportunity to connect and learn more about the companies we work with. It was also nice to see many familiar faces walking around and stopping by the GreenBlue booth.
Photo Credit - Friend of SPC, Scott Ballantine
On behalf of the GreenBlue Team, we hope that everyone that stopped by our booth learned something and we want to thank everyone for sharing their unique stories. If you missed us in Chicago, but are interested in learning more about GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition, you can email Eric DesRoberts or join him on November 18, at 4:00 PM Eastern for an Introduction to the SPC Webinar.
 

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Uncategorized

USGS reports U.S. Water Use Down

The US Geological Survey has just released the latest data on water use across the US, and the good news is that it is down dramatically – 13 percent lower than in 2005. Even though our population is growing, water conservation tools and practices by farmers, factories, and households are becoming widespread and are having a noticeable effect.
Despite the overall reduction in water usage across the country (and that’s a great achievement, don’t get me wrong), we need to do a lot more to use our water resources wisely. This is important everywhere across the country, but of critical importance in the western third of the US, where according to the US Drought Monitor, more than 50 million people are currently living in drought conditions. According to the Monitor, the entire state – yes, 100% – of California is experiencing at least a minimum level of “moderate drought,” with 58.4% of California’s area suffering the maximum level of “exceptional drought” conditions.
Of interest to all who live in California should be the fact that Californians continue to use the most water of any other state (11% of total withdrawals of all water categories and 10% of total freshwater withdrawals).
Total water withdrawals by State
The top use of water in California, by a wide margin, is for agricultural irrigation (60.7%). Next comes thermoelectric power generation (17.4%), followed closely by public use (16.6%). Yes, it’s important to continue installing more efficient cooling systems in thermoelectric power plants and encouraging residents to conserve water at home. But we need to acknowledge the elephant in the room: unless we address the delivery and use of water in agriculture, the big picture won’t change much. We need to support the agriculture industry, but we also must insist on finding and implementing technology and irrigation practices that use our water wisely, leaving more for the natural environment while still growing the food we need to feed our population.