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GreenBlue

A Film Review: WALL-E

To celebrate the holiday season at GreenBlue, we watched WALL-E as part of our monthly environmental film screening in December. WALL-E, a computer-animated science fiction film by Pixar set in the distant future, takes place in a world that has become engulfed by trash due to decades of mass consumerism, and as a result the planet has become inhabitable and humans have been evacuated to live in space. The film follows a trash-compactor robot named WALL-E who was created to clean up the planet. One day, WALL-E discovers a fledgling plant growing among the trash—does this mean Earth can sustain life one again? To find out the answer (and to follow his lady love, robot EVE), WALL-E embarks on a journey through space that ultimately decides the fate of humankind. A few GreenBlue staff members provide their insights on the film.
President & CEO Lance Hosey: Around the time of WALL-E’s release, Lance Hosey provided a commentary on the film for his monthly column in Architect magazine. Below is an excerpt of his article “Blight Future: Does WALL-E Foretell Our Future, or is Idiocracy Closer to the Truth?”
Sustainable design aims to safeguard the future of the Earth as environmentalists worry about the effects of melting ice caps, ozone depletion, and species eradication. Even bleaker, however, imagine a future where our garbage has piled so high and wide that there is no room left for anything else—including us.
That is the premise of WALL-E, the latest bit of genius from animation studio Pixar. Hundreds of years from now, the entire planet has become an immense landscape of litter. Humans have long since quit the Earth, which is left to be tended by the title character, an adorable little sanitation robot whose name stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class. Fritting about in this vast junkyard, WALL-E painstakingly stacks up ziggurats of trash, skyscrapers of scrap, whole cities of refuse.
Is a waste-filled future so far-fetched? In the United States alone, some 40 million plastic bottles get tossed out every day, and only a fraction of this is recycled. Until it shut down in 2001, the Fresh Kills landfill on New York’s Staten Island threatened to become the highest elevation on the East Coast. A footprint of nearly five square miles and 650 tons of rubbish shipped in daily made it possibly the biggest manmade structure in the world, larger in volume than the Great Wall of China. Fresh Kills opened only 60 years ago—what will the world look like several centuries from now? Read More
Director of External Relations Erin Malec: If you haven’t yet seen WALL-E, you may be skeptical that an animated film about a trash compactor robot in a post-apocalyptic worlds could be so human. But WALL-E is one of the most touching and heartfelt films I’ve seen. It’s R2D2 meets The Lorax with an unconventional love story thrown in.
I love that the film shows us the best and worst of what humans have to offer. At our worst, it’s sadly easy to imagine how our obsession with bigger and more—regardless to outcome or impact—could destroy the world. And the film also shows us the potential for our best, whether it’s our capacity for love via two charming robots named WALL-E and EVE, or our ability to hope and make the future better as seen through a single green leaf.
Communications Designer Stephanie Fishwick: I had seen WALL-E when it came out in the theatre and loved it. I remembered that it was a powerful message and a beautiful animated film. I’m glad I was able to watch it again during our monthly film screening. If you haven’t seen it, or haven’t watched it in a while I would suggest giving it another viewing.
WALL-E is a film with a very clear message: We make and use too much stuff and if we keep going down this path, eventually our planet be overwhelmed with toxicity and threaten every life form to extinction. The way the film plays out this heavy-handed narrative is, surprisingly, not overbearing because it does so with the use of cute robots you can’t help but love. Employing clever story telling, WALL-E gives us a glimpse of our planet literally full up on trash. Recliner-bound humans live in space on a cruise-type ship Star Trek style, but so not. In one compelling scene the captain goes down a rabbit hole of “Wikipedia” like references, learning about the earth and his ancestors; dancing, pizza and farming are among some of the things that awaken a desire in him to take humans back to earth.
I would say that the film is an artistic representation of a common message we are all accustomed to hearing and delivering as people passionate about sustainability. From a messaging standpoint it is interesting to think about how art and film can be used to further tell this crucial story without being cliché or muddying facts. What is clear to all of us is that something has to change. I found myself thinking at the end of WALL-E, “What can we do to make sure this doesn’t ever happen?”
Read other film reviews from GreenBlue’s monthly environmental film series.

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GreenBlue

Telling the Story of Sustainability

Often sustainability is so focused on technical solutions and scientific innovations that we lose sight of the heart of the matter. Isn’t it as important to communicate why we need to get to a more sustainable future as how we’re going to get there?
Enter the importance of storytelling, an art that has lagged behind the technical advances of the sustainability movement. Without conveying a compelling story to consumers, employees, and the broader public, any sustainability message is lost in a sea of LCAs, GHGs, and a jumble of other acronyms. The everyday person isn’t going to be motivated by metrics and jargon—they want to understand how it matters to them, they want to feel inspired, and they want to feel as if they’re part of the solution.
Because storytelling hasn’t been embraced as a critical part of the sustainability agenda, the companies most applauded by consumers for their sustainability efforts are not actually making the most progress. They’re just better brand communicators. Imagine how much more credit deserving companies could get if they told better stories. Even more importantly, imagine how much more change we could make in the world.
So what makes for good storytelling? A recent TED talk by Simon Sinek talked about how the great leaders of the world communicate in the same way, which is the opposite way that most of us communicate.

As Sinek says:
“If Apple were like everyone else, a marketing message from them might sound like this. ‘We make great computers. They’re beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. Want to buy one?’ And that’s how most of us communicate. We say what we do, we say how we’re different or how we’re better, and we expect some sort of behavior, a purchase or vote or something like that. But it’s uninspiring.
Here’s how Apple actually communicates: ‘Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?’”
Using this simplest of lessons—start with the why before talking about the how or what—can we revolutionize the storytelling of sustainability? There’s inspiration all around us, whether it’s how Marks & Spencer has articulated an ambitious sustainability agenda with the easily understood Plan A (Because There is No Plan B) to change 100 things in five years, or the simplicity of Chipotle partnering with Willie Nelson for story through song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s8iiIFgPMU&feature=relmfu%E2%80%9D&gt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMfSGt6rHos
Maybe your company can figure out how to make sustainability cool much like Apple convinced us we needed to listen to music differently. Maybe you’ll avoid all mention of that “S” word (recently named the most jargoniest word of the year) and instead communicate your sustainability-related efforts talking about the values that matter most to consumers—such as family, happiness, and quality. Maybe a poet will work alongside your sustainability director to rewrite your messaging. The beauty of stories is that there are many options and no single answer or ending. Just make it authentic, make it relatable, and make it something people want to hear. And always remember that the why is what matters.
The destiny of the world is determined less by the battles that are lost and won than by the stories it loves and believes in. —Harold Goddard
 
 

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Road Map for More Effective U.S. Material Recovery Systems Released

Recognizing the limitations of the U.S. waste management system, where only about one-third of all municipal solid waste (MSW) is recovered by recycling or composting, GreenBlue® has released a report that assesses a variety of material recovery systems around the world in order to inform U.S. policies and approaches. Greener Package

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Sustainable Packaging Coalition

Packaging Recovery Label System in Stores Now

We are excited to announce that the Packaging Recovery Label System—a voluntary label developed by GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) to communicate to consumers how to recycle a package after its use—is officially in the marketplace!

Seventh Generation’s limited edition 180 oz. detergent bottle and new 22 oz. pre-wash spray both now carry the How 2 Recycle label. Both products are widely recycled, and carry the message to re-attach the cap and sprayer (respectively), as they are made of valuable and recyclable polypropylene. You can find these packages at Target stores. Check out the Seventh Generation blog on their participation.

Coming soon will be the label on REI’s Multi-Towels and Novara Bike Tubes, and an announcement of additional label pilot participants.

Please check out the how2recycle.info website later this month, as we begin a consumer survey to help determine the success of this labeling pilot. We’d love to hear your feedback!

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GreenBlue Outlines Vision for Closing the Loop on Packaging

What would it take for California and the U.S. to create a closed loop system, where all used packaging materials were collected and reprocessed for use in a new round of products? Nothing short of a Herculean effort, according to a new report published yesterday by GreenBlue. GreenBiz

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GreenBlue Launches Material Recovery Road Map

Recognizing the limitations of the US waste management system, where only about one third of all municipal solid waste is recovered by recycling or composting, GreenBlue has released a report that assesses a variety of material recovery systems around the world in order to inform US policies and approaches. Packaging Digest

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Sustainable Packaging Coalition

Down the Rabbit Hole: An International Tour of Packaging Recycling Systems

Lately I have been feeling like a character in one of the children’s novels I have loved and reread numerous times over the years. Maybe it’s Alice in Wonderland, The Phantom Tollbooth, or perhaps Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? The central plot of these books features an average person transported to a fantasy world for a series of adventures each more fantastic, silly, puzzling, absurd, or amazing than the next. Oh, and of course the main character always learns important lessons along the way.

After almost four years of research and writing about what happens to packaging when we consumers are done using it, I have traveled the world and encountered packaging recovery systems of all shapes, sizes, flavors, and textures. The result of all this travel is my report, Closing the Loop: Road Map for Effective Material Value Recovery, a detailed analysis of international packaging recovery systems with lessons of what we can learn for the anemic US system.
Luckily for me, my adventures and the people I encountered were rarely puzzling, absurd, or silly. Instead, I discovered that there are as many effective ways to deal with packaging waste as there are groups who want to recover it. The trick is how to learn from the best ones and avoid some of the pitfalls experienced by the others.
Some of the most fantastic and amazing things I saw:

  • The Belgian household packaging recovery system run by Fost Plus is stunning in its simplicity, common sense practicality, and effectiveness.
  • Recycling drop-off centers where Swiss citizens routinely bring everything recyclable from their homes, including their mattresses, batteries, and even used Nespresso coffee capsules, and sort them into specific bins.
  • A state of the art material recovery facility in Oppin, Germany, where fourteen different optical sorters in a row made hand-sorting of recyclables a thing of the distant past.
  • A waste-to-energy facility in the middle of Vienna, Austria, accepted by Viennese citizens and now a tourist landmark because of its beautiful architecture.
  • Vertically integrated companies in Australia with a built-in “design for recycling” feedback loop: they make packaging, collect the recycling, and reprocess collected materials back into new packaging.
  • A new design for on-the-go recycling bins in Toronto, Ontario, that accept trash, cigarette butts, and recyclables, while providing an easy-to-use foot pedal allowing grime and germ-conscious citizens to recycle without soiling their hands.

A few of the most puzzling (dare I say silly?) things I saw:

  • South Australian tractor-trailer trucks transporting loads of counted, brand-sorted, uncrushed, empty (and therefore lightweight) beverage containers from collection depots to super-collectors, to be re-counted once again.
  • In the space of two blocks on the same street in the London Borough of Camden, four different types of on-the-go recycling bins, each of a different size and shape, collecting different combinations of packaging materials, with different labels.
  • Workers in Australia hand-sorting recyclables from household trash and organics in the tipping hall of a facility in a constant spray of mist, used to keep down the dust.

Without a doubt, the best part of this whole adventure was the opportunity to meet dedicated and passionate people working in all of these countries who make sure packaging materials are recovered for a beneficial purpose at end-of-life. My hosts were energetic, knowledgeable, curious, patient, and generous with their time. Despite the variety of methods they use to operate their state or country’s material recovery system, all of them have helped to set and achieve ambitious recycling and recovery goals. When it comes time to measure impact, there is no question that they do a far better job of recovering materials than the typical US system, which, like Milo in The Phantom Tollbooth, appears stuck in the doldrums and in dire need of rescue by the Armies of Wisdom.
The main lesson I learned is that there is a veritable candy store of ways to run a material recovery system, one that will suit every country. Not everyone will love Wonka’s “Whipplescrumptious Fudgemallow Delight”—some may prefer an everlasting gobstopper or some three-course chewing gum. But there is definitely no need for the US to start from scratch in figuring out how to improve our society’s use of valuable materials. Of course, not all of the ideas I encountered will work in the US. However, there are too many good options in existence that can be adapted to the US experience that we ignore them at our own peril, and that of our pocketbooks, material resources, and environment.
 

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GreenBlue Publishes a Road Map to More Effective Material Recovery

GreenBlue has released a report that assesses a variety of material recovery systems around the world to better shape U.S. policies and approaches, since only about one third of all municipal solid waste is currently recovered by recycling or composting. Green Retail Decisions

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Sustainable Packaging Coalition

Announcing the Release of Closing the Loop: Road Map for Effective Material Value Recovery

Today we’re excited to release our new report that examines alternatives to material recovery in the US, where currently just one third of all municipal solid waste is recovered by recycling or composting.
Closing the Loop: Road Map for Effective Material Value Recovery provides a detailed systems analysis of international packaging recovery systems, including successful collection, sorting, and reprocessing technologies and infrastructures, as well as the waste management policies that support or limit recycling.

Focusing on material recovery in several EU nations, as well as Australia, Ontario, Canada, and rural recycling systems, the report identifies a number of emerging best practices that could be adopted within the US, such as:
• A harmonized systems approach for all packaging materials, formats, and end-of-life options
• Four- or five-bin collection systems for clean, high-quality materials
• Investment in state of the art sorting technology
• Clear and nationally-coordinated waste policies, including extended producer responsibility legislation
• Ongoing public education campaigns encouraging participation in recycling and composting
• “Hub and spoke” regional recycling in rural areas
The report is the culmination of GreenBlue’s three-year “Closing the Loop” research project—led by Project Manager Liz Shoch and funded through a grant awarded by California’s Market Development Research Grant Program with additional support from GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition®—which promotes more effective material recovery systems by connecting packaging designers with available recovery options.
Download the report

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Increasing the Market Share of Sustainably Managed Forest Products

Over the past few months, GreenBlue has been working with a group of students from Columbia University’s M.S. in Sustainability Management program on a research project related to our work in forest products. As part of this Masters program, students are required to complete a capstone project in which they undertake a semester long research endeavor for a nonprofit or government client, and GreenBlue was very fortunate to have been selected as a client for this past semester.
Sustainable forest management is one of the most important strategies for reducing pressure on the world’s forests. Increasing corporate demand for sustainably managed forest products will be crucial in increasing the global share of sustainably managed forestland and ultimately in safeguarding our valuable forest resources. Through our work with the Columbia team, we wanted to get a better understanding of the current market for sustainably managed forest products and to identify practical actions that can be taken to increase the availability of these products in the marketplace.
More specifically, we asked the team to evaluate the corporate strategies and level of commitment that the largest buyers of forest products in the United States have in place for addressing sustainable forest management in order to analyze the current and trending demand for these products by leading corporate consumers. These results were then compared to supply of forest products being produced from a limited amount of sustainably managed forestland.
The students collected corporate procurement policies and strategies from publicly available corporate sustainability reports of 74 leadership companies across three primary sectors: paper and publishing, packaging, and solid wood. The students then developed a proprietary technique to evaluate the sustainability performance of these companies based on 17 criteria related to sourcing of forest products, and company progress was tracked over five years to evaluate industry trends.
The results showed that leaders in the paper and publishing sector have been increasingly moving towards greater use of certified paper, and that there has also been a proliferation of new sustainable sourcing policies. In this sector, leading companies have paper procurement policies with clear goals to increase their use of certified paper, robust supply chain platforms that ensure chain of custody compliance, initiatives to increase the share of certified forestland, and various paper recycling efforts. Corporate policies in the packaging sector tended to focus more on use of recycled fiber content and designing for recyclability rather than on sourcing of certified fiber. Finally, in the solid wood sector, the research found that homebuilders generally have a low commitment to sustainable wood sourcing and focus largely on improving energy efficiency of the homes they build, while household durable (or furniture) companies have more of an emphasis on wood procurement and particularly avoiding illegally harvested wood.
In general across the three sectors, environmental initiatives were more focused on efforts to recycle and reduce consumption of resources, likely because these efforts are less dependent on supply chains, and less focused on sustainable procurement.
On the supply side, the students identified various challenges along the supply chain that hinder the widespread availability of sustainable managed forest products. When considering forest certification in particular, forestland in the US is largely uncertified likely because certification may not be cost-effective for private landowners since certified products do not yield large price premiums as market incentives are currently structured. The report provides specific recommendations for engaging with industry leaders to increase the overall market share of sustainable forest products, including the need for standardized reporting in each sector with specific forestry metrics and performance indicators. The report also highlights the need for more cross-industry collaboration to increase awareness of and commitment to procurement of sustainable managed forest products, something which GreenBlue is working towards through our new Forest Products Working Group.
We are thrilled to have worked with such an impressive group of students and so grateful for their sophisticated insights on this project. You can download the full report entitled Corporate Strategies to Increase Market Share of Sustainably Managed Forest Products and read the group’s recommendations for increasing supply of sustainable forest products here.