Loop, the zero-waste, refillable packaging delivery service, has announced that it is expanding nationally in the US this summer and coming soon to the UK, Canada, Japan, and Australia. Terracycle, which runs the service, has partnered with Kroger and Walgreens in the US, Loblaw in Canada, Tesco in the UK, and Carrefour in France. Terracycle piloted the Loop service in New York and Paris and later expanded to a few regions along the US east coast. Consumers order products from over 200 brands, including products from major international consumer goods companies such as Unilever, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble. Customers place orders online and receive it in a reusable Loop tote, with all of the products within coming in refillable packaging. Goods range from pantry items, perishables, home goods, and personal care products. Once finished, users request a pickup for empties, which is then picked up. Your empty containers go back to Terracycle, where they are then cleaned, sanitized, and refilled for the next customer. The announcement comes as consumers flock to grocery delivery services from companies such as Instacart and Amazon over fears of contracting COVID-19 and being in the vicinity of possibly contagious shoppers in-store. While delivery services provide relief from possible contact with coronavirus, Loop is the only service that offers zero-waste packaging. Loop is currently inviting interested consumers to sign up on their waiting list.

As boating season approaches — although, with the current pandemic, who knows when it will actually start — so does the time to pull the shrink wrap off. And with some 100,000 boats registered in Rhode Island, that could add up to be tons of shrink wrap hauled off to the landfill or thrown into an incinerator.   That figure doesn’t even include the farmers and businesses that use shrink wrap, also known as low-density polyethylene and the most abundant source of microplastic pollution worldwide, to cover farm beds and wrap products for shipping.   “Aside from the boats that are wrapped or the mega yachts that erect huge seasonal plastic houses in the winter, we also see similar applications of this wrap across sectors,” said Max Kraimer, program coordinator at Middletown-based Clean Ocean Access (COA). “In the farming and agriculture world they create seasonal greenhouses in the winter with this plastic wrap, and manufacturers use it to ship products and goods year-round.”   To figure out what to do with all this discarded plastic wrap, Clean Ocean Access partnered with Newport-based 11th Hour Racing to create a shrink-wrap recycling project.   “In the realm of everything Clean Ocean Access does, we have kind of a wide range of different grant projects and a lot of them fall under our clean program, which is mainly focusing on eliminating marine debris,” Kraimer said. “And on the other side of our clean ocean program, we’re working on this idea of now creating more of a circular economy with plastic wrap and shrink wrap.”   The shrink-wrap recycling program was born two years ago after China effectively banned the import of plastic trash slated for the country’s recycling facilities. Up until that point, the United States was annually exporting some 700,000 tons of trash to China.   But after China found its facilities unable to handle the growing amount of contaminated recyclables, it stopped buying them and the United States found itself with a problem: what to do with all of its plastic waste. Incineration and landfilling became the leading solutions.   “This really raised the awareness of our recycling streams and how they need to be rethought, so that was kind of the spear behind our program, as well as the fact that it ties into our projects of really working to eliminate useable material that are going into our landfill or worse, into our incinerators,” Kraimer said.   The plan is to collect plastic shrink wrap — be it from boaters, farmers, or manufacturers — and ship it to TerraCycle, a recycling business based in New Jersey, to be turned into pellets and resin.   “The idea there is that we want to take the material and a feedstock of pellets or resin, then provide it to a domestic manufacturer who can make it into a product that can then be sold,” said Dave McLaughlin, COA’s executive director. “So, for example, you can use pellets and resin to make rain barrels, and then we could sell the rain barrels and portion of the profit could be used to cover costs of new recycling processes.”   In the first few months of the project, Clean Ocean Access has collected more than 12,000 pounds, or some 6 tons, of shrink wrap.   “We kind of looked at it this way: shrink wrap is single use; it’s convenient but it comes with a cost, and these costs are hidden, they’re impacting the environment,” McLaughlin said. “So, we were like OK, there is a single-use issue here that we need to think about, do something about.”

Serenity Kids cares about the health of your baby—and also the health of the planet. The brand’s process of creating and delivering products to your family is best described as thoughtful. They partner with family-owned regenerative farms to source meats and vegetables, and have become the first animal welfare-certified approved baby food. But the good doesn’t stop there—compared to a glass jar, their pouches require nine times less fossil fuel to transport, and can be recycled for free through a partnership with TerraCycle.   Serenity Carr, Co-Founder and CEO of Serenity Kids, answered our questions on just how the company honors and celebrates Earth Month all year long.  

Why is it important to have high-quality, shelf-stable protein options in the pantry for your kids?

Babies need well-sourced protein and healthy fats to thrive! Fat is essential for nutrient absorption, brain development, hormone regulation, and building the immune system—and meat is a far more efficient source of protein than any other food we eat. The USDA recommends that seven- to 12-month old babies get 30g of fat per day and suggests meat as an ideal first food. Our pouches were designed to mimic the macronutrients of breast milk, offering the right balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrates for babies over six months old. Having shelf-stable, ready-to-eat meals that are nutrient focused helps busy parents provide their little ones with the most nutrition per bite—without feeling guilty about giving them packaged food.  

What is Serenity Kids doing to honor Earth Month?

We’re partnering with our Bison supplier, Force of Nature, to share the nutritional benefits of well-sourced meats, the importance of incorporating organ meat into the diet, and how regenerative agriculture practices help reverse climate change by enhancing soil health, conserving water, and sequestering carbon. We’re educating people that they can help reverse climate change and make their families healthier by purchasing regeneratively farmed meat.  

You hand-select the small American family farms that produce your meats and vegetables—why is that important?

Joe, my husband, was raised on a small family farm in southern Missouri. He grew up visiting his grandparents and experiencing the harmonious lifestyle of being one with animals and nature while also witnessing the intense economic challenges of trying to compete with large industrial farms. Serenity Kids pays a premium for the highest-quality meats and vegetables, raised and grown the right way, and we wanted to do even more to make sure that these farms would continue to be around for the babies of tomorrow. Because of this, 1% of our profits are donated to the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit that helps protect the rights of small farmers like his grandparents.   Clean, well-sourced meats and vegetables not only contain the highest quality nutrition, but can also heal the planet. Because of this, we exclusively source from a network of the finest small American family farms that practice regenerative agriculture and never use antibiotics, hormones, GMO feed or pesticides. The farms that we source from practice techniques that go far beyond the standards required for organic certification. They are dedicated to respecting and humanely treating animals and farming in a way that gives back to the land. Our organic vegetable farmers use innovative techniques to enhance soil health, conserve water, and promote biodiversity on the farm. They also generate electricity from their fruit and vegetable by-product using their own biogas plant!  

What does this selection process look like?

Our criteria for selecting farms includes ensuring that the farmers use pasture-based regenerative agricultural techniques that mimic the way animals live in nature. Any supplemental feed must be organic and non-GMO and they must conduct regular third-party audits. We also work with members of the Savory Institute and the Global Animal Partnership program to help expand our network of small American family farmers. We’re proud to have the first GAP-approved baby food product. To find out more about some of them, you can visit our farmers page!  

Why does Serenity Kids source from farmers that use regenerative agricultural practices?

When it comes to feeding a baby, pasture raised meat is proven to be higher in Omega 3 fatty acids, CLAs, Vitamin E, Iron, and other vitamins and minerals that support healthy development. For us, it’s also a personal mission. Early in the development of Serenity Kids, we realized our company is uniquely capable of helping create real change in our food system.   Regenerative agriculture, and the farmers who practice it, help reverse climate change by contributing to carbon sequestration, aerating and shaping the land, and creating a positive environment where animals can express their natural instinctive behaviors. This looks different for each of the small family farms that we source our ingredients from, but they each play a role in using these techniques to better the world we live in. We believe that a healthy planet and healthy animals mean healthier babies and happier humans and by supporting regenerative agriculture, we can change the future for our children and yours.  

Let’s talk about baby food pouches. What’s the importance of this packaging?

To make our baby foods, we use a retort cooking method which combines the right amount of pressure, heat, and time to create a shelf-stable product while maintaining maximum nutrition. Retorting is essentially a large pressure cooker; we combine our ingredients into its final packaging, seal it so more nutrients stay in the food, and then steam it for several minutes. This process kills any bacteria and creates a shelf-stable product without the need for preservatives or refrigeration.   We use pouches that are BPA-free, BPS-free, phthalate-free, and melamine-free! Initially, we were not happy that most baby food is packaged in single-use plastic pouches rather than recyclable glass jars. However, after a lot of research we learned that it takes nine times more fossil fuel to transport a glass jar versus a pouch and only one third of recyclable materials actually gets recycled. The vast majority of those glass jars get thrown away and end up taking 26 times more space in landfills. So while we recommend limiting the use of disposable packaging, rest assured that baby food pouches are a lesser evil. Lastly, we are incredibly proud to have partnered with a pouch manufacturing facility that is entirely solar powered and generates more power than it uses, which reduces fossil fuel consumption in its region.  

How can people effectively recycle their pouches?

In an effort to keep pouches out of landfills, we’ve partnered with TerraCycle to offer a free recycling program for our customers. Customers simply request a free pre-paid postage envelope from TerraCycle directly and mail it back in once the envelope is full.  

For someone new to Serenity Kids, which product do you recommend they start with?

We’d recommend Free Range Chicken with Organic Peas & Carrots! It’s packed with nutrition and flavor because every bite counts. Why free-range chicken? Because our chicken is humanely raised on small family farms and provides the fat and protein your baby needs to grow big and strong! We use organic avocado oil to add healthy fats, which helps support your baby’s brain development. There are no added sugars or preservatives—which makes our allergen-free, easy grab-and-go pouch the most nutritious low-sugar baby food option!  

What are great ways to use your products throughout the day?

We love hearing how other moms have gotten creative with our products! Our favorites include mixing our Grass Fed Beef into marinara sauce for more of a protein punch or using our Wild Caught Salmon on crackers for a simple nutritious snack! Some moms send it in a lunchbox as a side dish for an older kid, or eat it themselves as a snack. Or make your grass fed steak extra classy by serving it on our Organic Squashes puree!

Shipping boxes of dirty diapers across the country seems inefficient and unnecessary.   When I had my babies, I knew I wanted to use cloth diapers – not because I was concerned about the environmental impact (I had yet to become a professional TreeHugger!), but because it would save money. Sure enough, those diapers lasted for three children and hung to dry most days. As my environmental views advanced along with my parenting, I felt relief at the choice I'd made. It was deeply satisfying to have a 'closed loop' diapering system. Nothing entered or left my house except natural laundry detergent, my kids had an endless supply of clean, dry diapers, and I never worried about running out.   So naturally I was curious when I saw an article called "Diaper Composting: Is This New Service Right for Your Family?" I'd never heard of diaper composting before. This could be a good solution for so many families that don't want to take on the extra work associated with cloth (even though it's not as bad as it seems). Alas, this diaper composting turned out to be less eco-friendly than I'd hoped.   It involves a partnership between a disposable diaper company called DYPER, which appears to make some of the 'cleanest' disposable diapers on the market, with bamboo fibers that are free from chlorine, latex, alcohol, perfumes, PVC, lotions, and phthalates, and TerraCycle, the recycling service that will recycle pretty much anything you send in. But in order to take advantage of it, parents who are already receiving a regular DYPER subscription must opt in to the (very expensive) REDYPER service and ship their boxes of poopy diapers to TerraCycle for proper composting in an industrial facility.   This is spun as a profoundly green act by DYPER's CEO Sergio Radovcic, who told Earth911, "It wasn’t easy to develop the most fully compostable diaper ever created. But we are thrilled that our partnership with TerraCycle will make it easy for families to keep their used diapers out of landfills." It sounds great, but it left me scratching my head.   The environmental impact of shipping disposable diapers to parents, and then shipping them – wet, dirty, and heavy – across the country to TerraCycle for composting, struck me as absurd and wasteful. So I reached out to Terracycle's CEO Tom Szaky for comment. He explained that the REDYPER program is coordinated with UPS, "one of the most sustainable and efficient shipping companies in the world. When the waste is returned to TerraCycle's various distribution centers for industrial composting the shipments are bundled into existing routes that UPS is already driving." Furthermore, DYPER purchases carbon offsets on behalf of its subscribers. Szaky went on:     DYPER has some good things going for it. Its design is progressive, made from fast-growing bamboo with minimal synthetic chemicals, which contributes toward that initial driver of environmental damage that Szaky mentioned – a decrease in resource extraction. Furthermore, the company says its diapers can be composted in private backyards, so long as they don't contain poop. (This is huge news, and quite possibly the bigger, greener story here.) And Szaky added that the shipping option opens a door to the ~97 percent of Americans who do not have access to curbside industrial composting.   But I remain unconvinced that it is a good idea to ship dirty diapers around the country for industrial composting, even if they are synced up with other UPS deliveries. (We have far too many superfluous packages criss-crossing the country anyway and could do to reduce our online shopping habit.) What I dislike about the REDYPER program is that it clings to a culture of convenience and perpetuates disposable, single-use products at a time when we should be challenging people to adjust their style of consumption and embrace reusables. We've written about this a lot on TreeHugger within the context of food and drink packaging, saying, "We need to change the culture, not the cup."  

What are the alternatives?

  The logic about changing culture, not cup, applies to diapers, too. We can redesign for compostable and recyclable packaging (or diapers) in order to assuage the guilt associated with using disposable products, but the fact remains that there are much simpler, greener, and more affordable solutions right in front of us, if you're serious about reducing planetary impact. They just take a bit more work. In the case of food, these simpler, greener solutions are reusable mugs and food containers. In the case of diapers, it's cloth (preferably thin, flat diapers that wash and dry quickly without covers attached) and other practices such as disposing of poop in a toilet or bokashi composter, thus making it feasible to compost a disposable such as a DYPER or to do laundry in cold water.   Parents could also put in the effort to do early potty training, a.k.a. elimination communication, which has the primary benefit of reducing the number of poopy diapers. These options are more efficient at reducing one's waste footprint, but considerably less glamorous than signing up for a diaper subscription.   The composting idea deserves further exploration, but I think it would be preferable for municipalities to spearhead the initiative, offering diaper composting alongside local organic waste pickup. That way, the waste wouldn't be travelling beyond our own towns and cities to be composted. I don't think anyone anywhere should be shipping their waste to other places if it can be avoided. We've learned this the hard way with recycling, so why extend it to human feces?   The goal of the REDYPER-TerraCycle service is well-intentioned, but I fear it is misplaced. Closed-loop diapering is a worthy pursuit, and industrially composting diapers does achieve this, but there are more efficient ways of diminishing one's footprint without relying on dirty fossil fuels to push them around the country. We need to get serious about what's green and what's not (there's good reason why the island nation of Vanuatu banned disposable diapers outright) and to continue challenging ourselves to do a better job every day.

While health care workers are struggling to obtain personal protective equipment (PPE), some of us are littering it at our local supermarkets’ parking lots. This contradicts the purpose of current sanitary precautions by exposing other people to the used gloves or masks—and potentially the coronavirus. When used properly, gloves and masks are advantageous for protecting both ourselves and others. That also includes properly disposing of them. People may be littering their PPE because they genuinely do not know how to dispose of them, or because they are just being inconsiderate.   Nonetheless, there is a lot of confusion around how to dispose of PPE, especially gloves. Can they be recycled? Can we compost them? Or do they belong in the trash? The answers to those questions go beyond “yes” and “no.”    Nitrile and vinyl gloves are synthetic and cannot be recycled or composted. They should be disposed of in the trash. Even though latex gloves are considered biodegradable and “environmentally safe,” they are also disposed of in the trash after use. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, wearing gloves should not substitute for hand-washing. It is still important to wash your hands and disinfect frequently used surfaces regularly. Like gloves, masks also belong in the landfill after usage. The World Health Organization recommends people wash their hands for twenty seconds after they dispose of their masks.   For people who want a more sustainable approach to disposing their PPE, Kimberly-Clark Recycling Program will collect your PPE to recycle the raw material into eco-friendly products. However, this service is only for medical facilities. TerraCycle offers a glove recycling program for individuals who invest in their collection box, ranging from $136 for the small box, to $257 for the medium box, and $420 for the large box. The boxes filled with used gloves are shipped for free to TerraCycle, where they undergo a separation process and are then molded into recycled plastic products. To continue the service, the boxes must be reordered. So yes, we can recycle our gloves, but additional investment and labor follow. Regardless of whether or not you are an avid environmentalist, the supermarket parking lot should not be where you dispose of your PPE.   During the time when this article is being written, there are 66 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Milpitas. To prevent the number of cases from increasing, all Milpitas residents must take action, starting with themselves. Before you leave your PPE on the shopping cart or in the parking lot, remember that the essential employees who are working at the supermarket are already constantly exposed. They have to put themselves at unnecessary risks by having to clean up after you. These employees may have underlying conditions, they may be elderly, and/or they may live with someone who falls under either or both of these categories.   The bottom line is, most of us do not have the luxury of purchasing a cardboard box to recycle our PPE, so do the next best thing and throw your PPE in the trash.   By Hope Nguyen

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans generate over 250 million tons of trash annually, or 4 to 5 pounds per person per day. Only about 25% to 30% of it is recycled; the rest is incinerated or buried in landfills, where it can often end up polluting the environment and leaching into the soil and groundwater supply.   It’s a reality that TerraCycle finds unacceptable.   Founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky, then a student at Princeton University, Trenton-based TerraCycle is a social enterprise on a mission to eliminate the idea of waste. “We pick up where municipal recyclers leave off and recycle the things they don’t, including coffee pods, cigarette butts, chip and snack wrappers, clothing, shoes, contact lenses and much more,” said TerraCycle North American Public Relations Manager Sue Kauffman. “We collect over 150 waste streams and are adding more every day.”   Different towns have their own rules for recycling, often driven by economics. “If recyclers can sell the processed waste at a profit, they’ll recycle it – if not, they’ll either incinerate it or divert it to a landfill,” she said. “Thanks to over 200 million individuals actively recycling through TerraCycle, we’ve recycled over 7.7 billion pieces of waste, diverted millions of pounds of valuable resources from landfills all over the world, and donated nearly $45 million to charity to-date.”   A Range Of Recycling Solutions   Recycling 97% of the waste it receives and composting the remainder, TerraCycle promotes the opportunity for consumers to “reuse, upcycle, and recycle” in a variety of creative ways:  

• Free Recycling Programs – Sponsored by corporate partners such as Arm & Hammer, Colgate, Gerber, Gillette, Herbal Essences, Solo, Swiffer and other well-known brands, TerraCycle’s free recycling programs enable consumers to recycle specific branded products or entire categories of products at no cost. “Simply go to our website, pick a recycling program, register and ship the targeted waste stream to us using the free shipping labels provided online; based on the weight of the shipments, recyclers earn ‘TerraCycle points’ that can be converted to cash and donated to schools, charities and nonprofits of their choice,” said Kauffman, who noted that points can yield big dividends. “Through the ‘Free Recycle Playground Challenge’ that Colgate runs in conjunction with ShopRite each year, for instance, the school that collects the most oral care waste will win a new playground constructed from the recycled plastic they sent in and valued at $50,000,” she said. In addition to being free and easy, “it’s exciting to see schools starting their own Green Teams, learning about sustainability and participating in our recycling opportunities to earn more points.” Among new items recently added to their recyclable list are the packaging associated with L.O.L. Surprise! dolls and products by Reckitt Benckiser (makers of such brands as Mucinex, Enfamil and MegaRed). “In addition, in association with Gillette, we recently added disposable razors to our list, which represents the first time that there’s been an outlet to recycle disposable razors, blade cartridges and plastic packaging in the U.S.,” Kauffman said.

 

• Zero Waste Boxes – Through this program, consumers can purchase everything from a pouch to a pallet to reuse difficult-to-recycle waste that can’t be recycled through one of TerraCycle’s free programs or through regular municipal recycling. Boxes are specific to a variety of different product categories, from alkaline batteries and light bulbs to printer cartridges, paint brushes, plastic bags, shoes, vitamin bottles and dozens more options. “Once consumers send their waste in to be recycled, it will be weighed, processed, shredded, melted into pellets and ultimately sold to companies who use it to make other things,” Kauffman said.

 

• Loop – Launched in January 2019, Loop is a groundbreaking e-commerce platform that’s reminiscent of the milkman of yesteryear. Through the exclusive program, consumers can receive the products they use every day in durable, reusable containers that were designed for Loop by partners such as Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, Nestle, PepsiCo, Coca Cola and others. When finished, consumers return the packaging for cleaning and refill, completing a no-waste loop. “While TerraCycle recycles plastic and other items to make the Earth a cleaner place, our new Loop program strives to not create waste in the first place,” Kauffman explained. “Response to this program has been so strong that we’ve already expanded it to other states beyond New York and New Jersey.”

  Offering Creative Circular Solutions   Headquartered in a refurbished facility where contents are made largely from recycled items – “my desk is an old door and office partitions are crafted from old soda bottles,” Kauffman said – TerraCycle has tapped into a growing need and is helping to make sustainability a mainstream movement. Following heightened media attention concerning the magnitude of America’s waste, as well as China’s 2018 decision to restrict imports of the megatons of trash they’d been processing/recycling for us for decades, “American consumers are definitely paying more attention to this issue than ever before,” Kauffman said. “The best way to elicit change is by voting with your dollars and buying from companies with a strong sustainable process. In the case of the companies that have partnered with TerraCycle, we’re able to work together to offer creative and efficient circular solutions to waste that don’t include the landfill.”       Nearly 20 years since its founding, TerraCycle now operates in 21 countries, has won more than 200 awards for sustainability, and was named No. 10 in Fortune’s Change the World list, out of 52 companies. For Kauffman and her 300 colleagues, working at TerraCycle is a labor of love. “We’re all extremely passionate here, creativity is so high, and new ideas are blossoming every day,” she said.   “It’s wonderful to celebrate Earth Day in April and we celebrate it for the entire month,” Kauffman concluded, “but the way we see it at TerraCycle, Earth Day should be every day.”   TerraCycle is located at 1 TerraCycle Way in Trenton and can be reached at (866) 967-6766 or by visiting www.terracycle.com.

Have you ever thought about what happens to your used makeup remover wipes, your shampoo bottles and face washes once you’re done with them? Well, these pieces of garbage we stop thinking about after throwing them out end up in our oceans and landfills, just like the less pretty pieces of garbage we use. Waste doesn’t just impact our environment, but people too.   Worldwide¹, the cosmetics industry produces over 120 billion units of packaging. This is just taking into account the cardboard you purchase your beauty products in -- and it contributes to the loss of 18 million acres of forest each year. Cosmetic packaging may be nice to look at, but sooner or later we won’t have very fresh air to breathe and enjoy our products if we continue in this direction.   Here’s another stat² for you: Taking into consideration the plastic our products come in, it’s estimated that by 2050, 12 billion tons of plastic will fill our landfills (to paint a picture for you, that’s equivalent to 35,000 Empire State Buildings). According to the Community and Environmental Defense Services³, “landfills can… pose a severe threat to the health of area residents, lowers the value of nearby homes, pollute ground and surface waters, increase heavy truck traffic on local roads, and create a drain on tax dollars.” So, even if you aren’t a tree-hugging hippy, as you can see, we have a bit of a problem.   What are us beauty lovers to do? Clearly, aesthetics are meaningful to us, otherwise, we wouldn’t care about pretty packaging, pretty vanities, and pretty skin. If you’re interested in knowing how you can do a little part amidst this big problem; through supporting eco-friendly cosmetic companies, to recycling your packaging for other uses, read on!   How to Reuse Packaging   1.Keep the mini bottle for travel Instead of trashing my mini body butters after using them, I clean them out and refill them with my bigger body butters for when I travel. This way I am using products I already have instead of purchasing more minis and saving on plastic!   2.Reuse the packaging you prefer Can you ever have enough spray bottles? For plants, for hair, to split up your favorite facial mist and have one handy in your purse and on your vanity. Instead of tossing that spritzer you really like, put some water in it and use it for your plants!   3.Samples Sometimes I don’t get to use cosmetic samples to their advantage because the little packets they come in are non-resealable. So, I squeeze them in my washed old cosmetic jars and get more use out of them!   Companies that Recycle Empty Beauty Products  

1. Most cosmetic companies only accept packaging from their brand, but some have gone above and beyond and accept packaging no matter the brand! Origins, for example, will accept packaging from any brand in its stores and will recycle the packaging for you.
2. In partnership with Garnier, TerraCycle allows people to ship their empty beauty products to them for free! Learn more about this program on their website.
3. Another brand, Lilah B., provides a shipping label with each purchase so that you can send back your empty Lilah B. products for them to recycle for you properly.
4. The Body Shop continues to make big plans for its packaging; making people as they relate to waste their primary focus. To read more about what they’ve done with Community Trade and what they plan on doing, check out their website!

  Ways You Can Help  

1. If you’re interested in going above and beyond, you can shop at brands like Elate Cosmetics, who create their packaging using bamboo. On their website, Elate says “bamboo is a self-regenerating natural resource,” making it more sustainable than other forms of woods. Bamboo can also be used for ecological purposes. Additionally, Elate bamboo palettes are reusable.
2. Instead of buying mini shampoos, conditioners, etc. opt for using a bar form of each! Yep, you can use bar soap face wash, shampoo, anything! This cuts back on waste through minimizing packaging (and is travel-friendly!). Several brands create bar products, such as Lush, The Body Shop , and even random brands on Amazon.

Instead of makeup wipes, consider purchasing the Face Silk or the Makeup Eraser ! Both only require water. The Face Silk lasts for 200 uses, and the Makeup Eraser lasts for three to five years.

4. Recycle packaging when you can. Research places like the ones listed above, and do your part to the best of your advantage!

  What you choose to do with your money is ultimately your personal choice. However, it’s better to be aware of the environmental and social impacts our choices have. In the saturated world of ever-changing beauty trends and beautiful new eye palettes, science claiming new and better ingredients, and consumerism, it’s hard to remember our environment and people who suffer at the hands of waste. Consider vowing to be a more conscious buyer and research each item carefully before buying, in the long run creating a better world for you and everyone involved (plus saving money along the way!).    

Many brands are continuing their focus on sustainability despite the strains placed on them by the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite the setbacks businesses are facing due to the coronavirus pandemic, many fashion and beauty brands are continuing their focus on sustainability for Earth Day 2020.   Sustainability has arguably become the most important issue in fashion over the last few years and many emerging and established brands are shifting their manufacturing processes and charitable outreach to meet the demands of their customers to be more eco-friendly.   Many fashion brands are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day by launching sustainable collections, such as A.P.C. and Baja East, which are going into their archives and utilizing deadstock fabric in new pieces, while others like Fabletics and Naked Cashmere are launching their first sustainable collections.   Here, WWD rounds up how 16 fashion and beauty brands are celebrating Earth Day 2020.   1. Seven For All Mankind   Seven For All Mankind is launching an environmental platform in May tied to the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The brand is unveiling Sustainable For All Mankind, a commitment to ensure more than 50 percent of product will be created from sustainable properties by 2023. The brand will introduce a way to track progress on materials and manufacturing.   The label is launching its 080 jean collection, reissuing the style released in 2000 to now be made with sustainable organic cotton and recycled elastane.   2. A.P.C.   Contemporary fashion label A.P.C. is continuing several of its sustainable practices for Earth Day. The brand is offering its latest collection of patchwork quilts and quilted pillows made from leftover textiles created by longtime collaborator and designer Jessica Ogden.   The brand is also continuing its other sustainability commitments, including its Recycle for Credit and Butler Program. The recycling program allows customer to bring in their used A.P.C. items to be exchanged for store credit. The brand sends the used clothing to its recycling facility where it is broken down into fibers and reused in other garments.   The Butler Program allows customers to bring in their old jeans to be exchanged for a new pair at half-price. The old pairs will be mended, washed and marked with the initials of the prior owner.   3. Baja East   The fashion label is utilizing archival and leftover fabric from the last six years to create a collection of pajama sets and pillows produced in Los Angeles.   The collection includes deadstock fabric in floral and animal prints and ranges in price from $75 to $95.   4. Billabong   Billabong is teaming with Dr. Seuss Enterprises for an Earth Day collection that takes inspiration from the iconic children’s book, “The Lorax.” The collection of T-shirts, board shorts, and sweaters is produced using recycled and sustainable materials. Prices range from $17.95 to $59.95.   5. Boscia   Plant-based beauty brand, Boscia, is teaming with TerraCycle for a permanent recycling program. The program asks customers to mail in three to five empty, full-size Boscia products to be recycled. The brand will then send the customer a full-size bottle of its Luminizing Black Charcoal Mask.   6. Cuyana   The leather accessories brand is continuing its mission of sustainability by launching a line of leather-care products to help customers preserve their leather goods so they can keep reusing the items. The line includes a leather spot cleaner and a leather conditioner — both priced at $12 — which help clean and restore used leather.   7. Diesel   The fashion label is launching its Respectful Denim collection for Earth Day, which utilizes 40 percent less water in the production process. The collection offers three denim styles for men and one for women that range from $298 to $348.   8. Eberjey   The intimates line has released two prints — pineapple and watermelon print — for its Giving PJ Collection. For every set purchased, the brand plants a tree through its partnership with One Tree Planted.   9. Fabletics    Fabletics is celebrating Earth Day with its first eco-conscious collection of athleticwear made from recycled materials. The collection of sweaters, shorts, T-shirts and sweatpants ranges in price from $34.95 to $69.95.   10. G-Star Raw   The denim label is tapping a group of fashion designers and artists — couturier Karim Adduchi, fashion designers Lisa Konno and Ferry Schiffelers, visual artist Victor de Bie, hat maker Yuki Isshiki and artist Iekeliene Strange — to create one-off pieces using denim waste materials to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The creations range from couture-inspired dresses to intricate headpieces. The pieces were slated to be on display at an upcoming exhibition, but the brand had to cancel its plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.   11. Kenneth Cole   Kenneth Cole is updating three of its best-selling sneaker styles — Maddox, Kam and Liam — with sustainability in mind for Earth Day. The updated styles are designed with materials like 100 percent recycled polyester laces, 100 percent recycled neoprene, rice husk, recycled rubber grindings and micro-suede, among other recycled materials.   12. Naked Cashmere   The fashion brand has launched its first ever recycled cashmere collection, which is made from post-consumer yarn that has been shredded and re-spun into 100 percent cashmere yarn. The collection includes tank tops, shorts, sweaters and pants ranging in price from $100 to $245.   13. Pangaia   Sustainable fashion label Pangaia has teamed with SeaTrees, an environmental organization, to help restore coastal ecosystems. For every product sold on the Pangaia web site, the brand will plant one mangrove tree in the West Papua region of Indonesia.   14. R+Co    The hair-care brand launched its Super Garden CBD Shampoo and Conditioner on April 1 in celebration of Earth Month. The products are the first time the brand has used post-consumer resource packaging, which is said to decrease plastic consumption and use of fossil fuels in the manufacturing process. R+Co will also be transitioning its existing packaging to this material in the coming year. The products retail for $36 each.   15. Ren Skincare   The beauty brand is donating 15 percent of profits on Earth Day to the Surfrider Foundation, which works to protect beaches across the country.   16. Teva   The shoe brand launched a sustainability initiative earlier this year that will have 100 percent of shoe straps produced with recycled plastic. This commitment is said to prevent nine million plastic bottles and 172 tons of plastic from going into landfills this year.   For Earth Day, the brand is hosting a sweepstakes where a winner will receive a pair of Teva sandals and a $2,000 donation to an environmental organization made in their name.  

This year marks the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day, and it will be one like none since the event started. On this milestone, rather than looking back on decades of work and the climate emergency imminent today, Mother Earth has largely paused.   Through the COVID-19 pause, we’ve seen a silver lining in unprecedented environmental changes. In Los Angeles air pollution is at a 40-year low due to drastically fewer cars on the road; China’s levels of toxic nitrogen dioxide were down as much as 30%, according to NASA.   The picture paints an even more clear and dire call for climate action, the theme for the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day.   “Earth Day 2020 will be far more than a day,” say Earth Day organizers. “It must be a historic moment when citizens of the world rise up in a united call for the creativity, innovation, ambition, and bravery that we need to meet our climate crisis and seize the enormous opportunities of a zero-carbon future.”   Change, however, comes not from citizens nor governments alone. Business plays a key role, too.   And the natural products industry is known for leading environmental initiatives within for-profit organizations. So, in honor of the 50^th Earth Day, we share 50 ways the natural products industry is making Earth Day every day as it prioritizes planetary health as much as it does human health. In no particular order, here are ideas on how your business can help heal the Earth, too.  

1. Source lower-on-the-food-chain fish, which takes pressure off of larger, less abundant species such as tuna. Patagonia Provisions sources their mackerel from Northern Spain, where family-owned fishing vessels use hook and line catching methods rather than nets to eliminate bycatch.
2. Help grow biodynamic agriculture by sourcing from farms that are Demeter Certified Biodynamic. Biodynamic agriculture helps nourish the farm’s soil and ecosystem using holistic practices. Refer to Alaya Tea and White Leaf Provisions—two biodynamic-supporting companies—to learn more. (Psst … Alaya Tea also uses compostable packaging for their teas.)
3. Commit to offset 100% of your carbon emissions, like Numi Tea and HelloFresh. Numi will use a combination of emissions reductions and offsets to achieve net zero carbon in the next three years; HelloFresh will offset carbon emissions in 2020.
4. Certify carbon offset claims through Climate Neutral, a 2019-launched seal that ensures companies measure their emissions, reduce what they can and offset the rest. Klean Kanteen is one such company that holds the Climate Neutral certification.
5. Seek compostable packaging solutions by getting involved with OSC2, a natural industry coalition that, among other initiatives, aims to source a high-functioning and compostable packaging—particularly to replace hard-to-recycle plastic films. You’ll be in good company with brands like Clif Bar, Seasnax, YumButter and many more.
6. Get involved with the organization One Tree Planted, like Mushroom Revival and Genuine Health. One Tree Planted supports reforestation efforts by—you guessed it!—planting trees around the world for about $1 per tree.
7. Try launching a limited-edition product that raises awareness about your brand’s environmental initiatives, like Alter Eco, which produced special packaging for its Deep Dark Salted Brown Butter Organic Chocolate with a message on the front: “This Bar Protects Trees.” The bar points to Alter Eco’s aggressive agroforestry initiatives in South America.
8. Power your manufacturing facility entirely by solar, such as GrandyOats, which makes over a million pounds of granola each year thanks to 288 hard-working solar panels.
9. Lobby state and federal governments for issues that your brand believes in, such as MegaFood, a brand that recently helped draft legislation for New Hampshire to update soil conservation laws.
10. Bake environmental and social activism into your brand’s mission, such as Dr. Bronner’s, a company that has long advocated for industrial hemp reform, animal advocacy and much more.
11. Enable seaweed-growing initiatives, which help reduce ocean acidification, and may sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Atlantic Sea Farms, a kelp company based in Maine, helps local fishing communities start their own profitable seaweed farms.
12. Focus on reducing food waste by incorporating undesirable produce into your product, such as Barnana, a company that “saves” blemished and unsightly bananas from the landfill by turning them into snacks.
13. Take a note from Rind, a dried fruit company that doesn’t discard the rind of the fruit, as small food scraps can add up to serious food waste.
14. Upcyle underused ingredients in the food system like Regrained, a snack company that transforms “spent” grain from breweries into delicious and nutritious bars and puffs. Also check out Regrained’s new Upcycling Association to learn more.
15. Find a more environmental solution for non-recyclable packaging like LesserEvil, which sells its popcorn and other snacks in packaging from NEO Plastics. NEO incorporates an organic additive into its film packaging that helps plastic break down faster in the landfill. With NEO’s additive, studies show plastics degrade 33.4% over a 451-day period, versus a conventional package, which exhibits 1.1% degradation.
16. Set ambitious climate goals like Evian, a French water company that in April 2020, became carbon neutral by reducing emissions by 25% and offsetting the rest by partnering with the tree-planting organization, Livelihood Funds.
17. Prioritize regenerative agriculture like EPIC, a brand with a longstanding partnership with The Savory Institute, which works to rebuild the soil through holistic animal husbandry.
18. Verify your products are free from the harmful and overused herbicide glyphosate by exploring The Detox Project’s Glyphosate Residue Free certification, such as Chosen Foods, Uncle Matt’s and many more brands.
19. Help convert conventional farms to organic acreage, such as Annie’s, which is slated to finish converting 34,000 acres in South Dakota to certified organic acreage this year.
20. Showcase how consumers can reuse your product’s packaging such as Unwrapp’d, whose jars make ideal storage containers. Unwrapp’d is also partnering with an organization called Compost Colorado, which picks up compost bins filled with food scraps, and replaces it with a clean bin filled with more progressive products.
21. Encourage home gardening and urban food production such as Back to the Roots, which donates grow kits to elementary school classrooms to teach children the value of growing healthy food themselves.
22. Power your sourcing facility by a methane digester, such as Straus Family Creamery. The company transforms manure into energy, and reduces methane emissions by more than 1,600 metric tons of CO2e each year.
23. Ditch the single-use plastic water bottle, such as Pathwater and JUST Water do, which use aluminum and paper, respectively.
24. Explore being a Certified B Corp company, which legally requires businesses to consider both purpose and profit in their bottom line. Join companies such as Greyston Bakery, Stonyfield Organic and many more.
25. Help support honeybee research and health by donating to bee-focused nonprofits like the Xerces Society and Project apis m., such as Beekeeper’s Naturals and Bloom Pure Raw Honey.
26. Practice supply chain transparency such as Quinn Snacks, which showcases each supplier of every ingredient on their website, right down to the sunflower lecithin. Supply transparency helps hold your brand accountable when it comes to mindful sourcing.
27. Help consumers get more comfortable eating low-resource insect protein, such as Chirps and Exo Protein, by incorporating this novel ingredient into familiar foods such as nutrition bars and chips.
28. Clean up your home or office lawn care regimen by using nontoxic fertilizers, such as Sunday.
29. Source dairy from farmers who practice rotational grazing with their herd, such as Maple Hill Organic.
30. Swap out your office’s conventional cleaning products (think: dish soap, window spray) with natural alternatives such as Counter Culture, which uses probiotics to clean surfaces rather than harsh chemicals.
31. Incentivize your employees to commute to work in a more environmentally friendly way, such as by bike, carpool or public transportation. Also consider giving your employees a free bus pass, like Justin’s does.
32. Partner with Preserve—which makes toothbrushes and razor handles out of recycled plastic—to help consumers give their containers new life, such as Pacifica.
33. If your product necessitates a hard-to-recycle squeeze pack, such as Happy Family Organics, partner with TerraCycle to make recycling easier for your consumers. Consider sending recycling envelopes to consumers free of charge.
34. Donate 1% of your profits to accredited environmental organizations by partnering with the organization 1% for the Planet, like Pukka Herbs.
35. For products that feature fabric, seek out materials that contain a Global Organic Textile Standard certification (GOTS) to ensure eco-friendly textile manufacturing across your supply chain, like Maggie’s Organic.
36. Swap out conventional eggs and butter in your product for pasture-raised eggs and butter. Consider Vital Farms, which partners with family farmers around the country for sourcing.
37. Source Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee and cocoa in your product formulations, such as Chocolove, to prove to consumers that ingredients come from farms that passed rigorous environmental requirements.
38. Host company-wide volunteer outings with your team to help out a sustainable project in your community, such as a beach cleanup, trail building, planting trees, or helping weed at a community garden.
39. Conventional palm oil can harm the environment by pushing out wild animal habitat. Source sustainable palm oil for all your products. Palm Done Right, produced by Natural Habitats, is a good resource to reference.
40. Install natural snack vending machines and no-waste drink dispensers in your office, such as a Bevi machine, which slashes single-use packaging by adding bubbles and flavors to tap water.
41. Educate your consumers about your sustainable practices. Share what you do on social media and on your website to get them excited about taking environmental action.
42. Celebrate biodiversity by using lesser-known ingredients in your product, such as Bluebird Grain Farms. This company sells underused ancient grains einka and emmer farro, which nourish the soil by adding essential nutrients.
43. Source boxes and labels made from 100% recycled paperboard to reduce virgin paper needs, such as Davidson’s Organics. Bonus points if you use soy-based inks.
44. Replace your office’s lighting with LEDs instead of incandescents, which use 90% less energy.
45. Restore native wetlands and prairies—massive carbon sinks—even if it’s in your backyard, like Kettle Chips. The company introduced native plants to their nearby wetlands and prairies, which have drastically improved the habitat for birds, salmon and other animals.
46. Protect water sources around the world, like Lotus Foods. Lotus’ “more crop per drop” initiative (also called System of Rice Intensification), among other benefits, improves rice yield while requiring less water, and builds a robust rice root structure.
47. It’s a simple fix, but ensure recycling and composting are available in your office.
48. Encourage plant-based eating by making delicious vegan products, or incorporating vegetables into traditional patties, such as Applegate Farm’s The Great Organic Blend Burger, which blends mushrooms with turkey.
49. Go fair trade. Whether you choose to support Fair Trade Certified, Fairtrade International, Fair for Life, or another certification, caring about the treatment of your farmer suppliers is an integral part of sustainability, like Traditional Medicinals, which understands fair sourcing is key.
50. Go organic. The USDA Organic certification is the most rigorous, government-regulated agricultural standard the United States has. And with widening acreage, supply is easier than ever to find.

With more consumers than ever purchasing their household essentials online, Procter & Gamble is expanding its Eco-Box portfolio to include more of its Fabric Care brands. Now available in this award-winning packaging format are Tide Original, Downy, Gain, Tide purclean, Tide Free & Gentle, and Dreft. Go here   for more information on this innovative package, which was a Diamond Award Finalist in Dow’s 2019 Packaging Innovation Awards.   The Eco-Box format remains primarily an e-commerce play, and Eco-Box products arrive on the consumer’s doorstep as a sealed, shipping-safe, corrugated box—with no wasteful outer boxing or padding needed. In other words, it’s a perfect execution of what the Amazons of the world are clamoring for: SIOC (Ships in Own Container). Inside is a sealed bag of ultra-concentrated liquid laundry detergent or fabric conditioner that can accommodate about 100 loads of laundry with 30% more cleaning per drop. It also includes a No-Drip^TM tap. According to Cincinnati-based P&G, this packaging format requires up to 60 percent less plastic than traditional packaging.   “This is one of those things that started small for us,” says Todd Cline, P&G Section Head, Global Fabric Care R&D. “The idea was to create the optimal product and package for e-commerce, something that ships in its own container with no additional packaging needed and that protects a liquid product from the standpoint of leak resistance. But it also had to delight the consumer using it. And in the time that Tide Original has been in this format, we’ve seen really great response from consumers, 80% of whom indicate they would rather use this than traditional bottles.”   P&G remains guarded in identifying suppliers of packaging materials or machines that have made the concept come alive. But one bit of new news is that, according to Cline, “we now have a system set up with TerraCycle to permit recycling of the inner bladder and the dispensing tap.”