薩奇穿著牛仔褲和帽T，看起來有些衣衫不整，他的樣子就是個千禧世代的企業家。現年38歲的他，17年前從普林斯頓退學後成為一位垃圾處理事業的改革者。他創立了大地回收（TerraCycle）這間小型廢棄物處理公司，距離普林斯頓校園16公里。

Amid increasing concerns about the public health risks associated with e-cigarettes and the rising problems with teen nicotine addiction from vaping, a new report suggests that the electronic devices are also leading to serious environmental concerns.   Vaping exposes users to toxic chemicals and extremely high nicotine delivery rates. Furthermore, e-cigarettes have been at the heart of the recent vaping lung illness outbreak, which lead to more than 2,800 reported injuries nationwide, including nearly 70 deaths.   In addition to the widespread health implications, e-cigarettes are now drawing concerns from environmental activists, as there is increasing evidence that they are contributing to electronic waste issues and fires at recycling facilities.   Not only can the nicotine residue and e-liquid cause environmental concerns in the nation’s oceans and water systems; but the lithium ion batteries can pose fire risks in recycling and waste facilities, according to a recent ABC News Report.   The Ocean Conservancy, an organization which conducts beach clean ups and runs the Trash Free Seas Program, recently reported that more and more e-cigarette products are appearing on the country’s beaches. While the primary type of trash is cigarette butts, the organization is cleaning up more and more vapes and other e-cigarette products.   The organization warned there may be a huge shift in an increase in e-cigarette trash in the coming years. However, e-cigarettes are relatively new products, so there is a lack of data on their likely environmental impact.   Currently, about 6.7 million adults indicate they regularly use e-cigarettes and more than 5 million high school students said they vape. In fact, vaping has become the most popular form of tobacco use among teens in the U.S. and more teens vape when candy-like flavors are used.   E-cigarettes are made of plastic, but they break down into smaller plastics which persist in the environment, experts say. An increase in the number of users has resulted in increases of plastic in the environment from vaping products, environmentalists warn.   Environmentalists are also concerned over the nicotine residue, liquid, and flavoring in vapes that can leach into the water supply and environment.   Furthermore, e-cigarettes are powered by lithium ion batteries, which experts say should be disposed of in a specific way to prevent environmental damage and to prevent fire risks at recycling and waste disposal centers.   E-cigarette manufacturers do not include recycling or waste information for vape products, and the recycling company Terra Cycle said a recycling program launched for e-cigarettes has not been successful. The devices and products simply are not designed with recycling and the environment in mind.   Beginning in May 2020, manufacturers will be required to submit the environmental impact information as part any the application to sell e-cigarettes made to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.   In addition, the National Stewardship Action Council is working on a bill in California to increase e-cigarette recycling rates by including recycling redemption values. Vaping manufacturer giant JUUL has also said it is increasing recycling and take back programs on vape products.  

JUUL Lawsuits

  JUUL already faces criminal investigations, federal regulatory crackdowns and lawsuits over its promotion of its JUUL vaping products.   In addition to designing JUUL to look like a USB thumb drive, the manufacturer also marketed and sold JUUL pods in various candy-like flavors, which has resulted in a large number of teens and prior non-smokers starting to vape, and developing addictions to the high levels of nicotine contained in the pods.   In September 2019, the FDA issued a warning letter to JUUL, indicating there was evidence it told school-aged children that its products were safer than cigarettes, which has not been proven.   A growing number of JUUL lawsuits and class action claims have been filed nationwide. Given similar questions of fact and law raised in complaints brought throughout the federal court system, the JUUL litigation has been centralized before U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick III in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which is where JUUL Labs, Inc.’s San Francisco headquarters are located.   As JUUL addiction lawyers continue to review and file claims in the coming months, the litigation is expected to continue to grow, and is likely to encompass tens of thousands of complaints.

CAMDEN, N.J. -- Employees at Subaru of America can eat today's lunch at a table crafted from yesterday's trash. It might not happen overnight, but the environmental efforts at the nationwide headquarters have resulted in several benches and picnic tables completely made from recycled plastic. It's the result of a partnership with TerraCycle, a Trenton business that aims to eliminate the concept of waste. They take a creative approach by converting otherwise non-recyclable goods into art, such as a sturdy park bench. Since 2017, the duo has diverted over 3 million pieces of waste. That amounts to about 24,000 pounds of trash that would have otherwise been dumped in a landfill. The effort is spearheaded by Subaru's Love Promise initiative, which aims to promote positive change for the earth, caring, learning, and pets. Special recycling boxes are dotted around the Camden complex that encourage employees to recycle wrappers, cups, and more. These boxes are shipped to TerraCycle, where the magic happens. Subaru retailers across the country encourage customers to drop off qualified recyclable goods to contribute to the creation of benches and tables for the community. These amenities are donated to parks, schools, and more. For example, the public can recreate on recycled tables at Dudley Grange Park in Camden. Adjacent to Subaru's recycled picnic pavilion is their community garden, where employees grow produce to donate to local food banks. Anyone interested in learning more about how to create sustainable art from their own waste can reach out to Subaru or TerraCycle.  

Blush Lane, an organic market with five locations in Calgary and Edmonton and an organic orchard in Keremeos, B.C., seeks to improve the land that feeds us. They put the planet first by promoting sustainable agriculture, ethical practices, and environmentally conscious actions. Sustainability is at the heart of everything they do, but there are three main themes that stand out: packaging, community, and food waste.   Taking responsibility for packaging   It’s no secret that plastic is polluting Earth’s ecosystems and harming wildlife. Between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean each year, according to figures published in the journal Science in 2015. That’s the equivalent of between 27 thousand and 70 thousand blue whales’ worth of plastic.   But plastic has come to be an essential part of our food industry. It keeps food fresh for longer, it doesn’t take up a lot of room, and it’s lightweight—which reduces the costs and greenhouse gases associated with shipping.   Blush Lane recognizes both the benefits and drawbacks of plastic, and their approach to packaging is nothing short of radical. They believe that, as a retailer, they’re responsible for the packaging they put into the world. That’s why they launched the Takeback program, a packaging recycling program designed to reduce waste and inspire other retailers to also take responsibility for their packaging.   Stand-up pouches from Blush Lane’s sister brand, Be Fresh, can now be returned in-store to be recycled properly with Terracycle. When you bring in five Be Fresh pouches, you’ll receive $5 off the next Be Fresh pink pouch product. Since starting this program, Blush Lane has recycled thousands of bags.   Blush Lane was also an early adopter of a bring-your-own-container bulk program. They have always had a bulk section, but in January of 2019 they installed scales in each store so people could bring and weigh their own containers—it was a simple solution with a huge impact. Bags are still available for people who forget their containers, but Blush Lane noted that their customers really value the opportunity to cut back on waste.   Nurturing community   Blush Lane looks at sustainability from a social perspective as well as an environmental one. They strive to give back to people in their area and to build a sense of community among local organizations—they do so by hosting event in their stores and by participating in social initiatives.   One of their more popular initiatives is the No Woman Without campaign that takes place in February. Shoppers can bring menstrual care products to any Blush Lane location, where they’ll be donated to women in crisis. The stores also offer discounts on some products that you can purchase to be donated. Last year, Blush Lane helped collect more than 10,000 units!   Tackling food waste   Food waste is a major problem in Canada—63% of the food waste thrown away by Canadians could have been eaten. Blush Lane has three major ways of dealing with food waste: avoiding surpluses wherever possible, diverting excess food to those in need, and returning any inevitable waste back to the soil.   Blush Lane uses a “just in time” system for food ordering. They order perishable food from SPUD.ca, their supplier, on an as-needed basis so that excess food is mitigated before it even gets into the store.   They also deal with food waste at a store level. When food gets close to its expiry date, Blush Lane partners with local aid organizations that donate it to people that are food insecure. If there are items that cannot be picked up, they are bundled together and highly discounted for staff to purchase and take home.   When extra food can’t be avoided, sold, or donated, a local organic waste hauler turns it into organic compost that can then be sold. Some of Blush Lane’s warehouses also send food scraps back to farmers, where they can be used to feed livestock. These measures recycle the nutrients in food waste and help create a more circular economy.   Healthy food, healthy life   It stands to reason that our food providers should care for the environment that nourishes us—and Blush Lane goes above and beyond to make a positive impact on people and planet. We’re proud to have them as part of the bullfrogpowered community, and we’re thrilled that they’ve avoided 2,423 tonnes of CO₂ since 2014 by choosing green energy.

  Parents are putting their babies’ dirty diapers in the mailbox — for the sake of the environment. Subscription-based baby-care company Dyper, which introduced their biodegrade bamboo diaper in 2018, has partnered with waste-management company TerraCycle to launch ReDyper, a mail-in diaper-composting service for all Dyper customers. Just store your baby’s soiled Dyper diapers until there’s enough to fill up the provided box — specially designed per the United Nations’ hazmat standards — then download and print a mailing label from their website and ship your crap, so to speak, to TerraCycle. Then, it’s off to various centralized composting facilities across the country.   It may sound like nasty business, but the alternative is much worse, says Dyper president Bruce Miller, who called diaper waste statistics “staggering,” as more than 20 billion diapers fill landfills in the US each year.   “I think this has been the Holy Grail for a lot of disposable diaper companies,” Miller tells The Post. “But no one at this point really has closed the loop” by commercializing the diaper-composting process.   Made primarily from bamboo and free of chlorine, perfumes, phthalates, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and other unsustainable or potentially harmful materials, Dyper’s content manager Taylor Shearer tells The Post their diapers are “already technically compostable” — at least, for the customers who can manage the time- and space-consuming chore, or have access to a local composting facility. Their website also advises homesteaders to avoid composting diapers filled with fecal matter, to prevent the spread of bacteria and other pathogens.   Shearer explains that the new service is aimed at “customers that live in the cities [and] large apartment buildings that don’t have that access,” as well as those who hope to process baby’s poo, too.   Once TerraCycle receives the ReDyper box, the waste is routed to various regional composting operations, though Miller assures it will never be used to fertilize the food on your plate.   “The diapers [go] toward highway infrastructure vegetation,” he says. “If you see wildflowers growing in the median … that’s really where a majority of our composted product goes.”   Dyper’s diaper-delivery subscription starts at $68 per month and promises enough diapers depending on your baby’s size, between 100 and 260 pairs per week. An additional monthly cost of $39 is added for those opting in to ReDyper.   “We believe [the cost is] going to come down dramatically as we get more and more scaled,” Miller says. Still, he thinks their “passionate” customers are eager for it.   When it comes to minimizing human impact on the planet, says Miller, “people just want it to be easy.”

 

Schwarzkopf is the latest beauty brand to team up with TerraCycle on a large-scale recycling initiative. The Henkel-owned haircare giant has partnered with the waste management company to make its retail hair care, color and styling products recyclable across the US. The sustainability push will see shoppers invited to collect their empty packaging from Schwarzkopf products, and send them to TerraCycle. Empties will then be recycled and transformed into new products such as park benches, bike racks, pet food bowls and recycling bins.   "We’re proud that 100% of Schwarzkopf retail product packaging will now be recyclable," Manuela Emmrich, Marketing Director, Hair US, Henkel Beauty Care, said in a statement. "Through the TerraCycle / Schwarzkopf program, there is now a solution for hair product packaging that has historically been difficult to recycle, due to a myriad of curb-side recycling program requirements."       "The expansion of Henkel’s partnership with TerraCycle is an important part of Henkel’s commitment to a circular economy for plastic and sustainable packaging, and our target of ensuring 100 percent of our Beauty and Laundry & Home Care packaging is recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025," added Martina Spinatsch, Vice President, R&D, Beauty Care, Henkel North America.   Three different Schwarzkopf Recycling Programs have been established to deal with aerosols, hair coloration products and all other packaging, with individuals, schools, offices and community organizations all encouraged to participate. Collectors can be rewarded for their efforts by earning points that can be used for charity gifts or converted to cash and donated to the non-profit, school; or charitable organization of their choice.   Schwarzkopf is not the only beauty brand turning to TerraCycle to up its recycling game - Herbal Essences, Garnier USA and Gillette have all recently launched initiatives with the company.  

Every year, the All Ivy Environmental and Sustainability Career Fair helps to connect sustainability students from all over the northeast with potential employers offering job and internship opportunities. This year the fair drew 77 companies and governmental agencies and 810 students into a packed auditorium on February 28.   The career fair is hosted by Columbia’s Earth Institute and sponsored by Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania and Yale.   The annual extravaganza has been held for 17 years now — and it’s been growing in popularity, said Natalie Unwin-Kuruneri, associate director of education at the Earth Institute, whose office helps to organize the event.   “In recent years we have sold out weeks in advance and have had to maintain a waitlist of interested organizations,” said Unwin-Kuruneri. “These organizations come from the public, private and nonprofit sectors and are looking for top talent to fill open sustainability positions. Many employers return year after year to fill their hiring needs with our students and alumni.”   State of the Planet spoke with several recruiters who attended this year’s fair to get a handle on how careers in sustainability have been evolving over the past 10 years or so, and how they’ll continue changing with the times. Here are some of the key takeaways from those conversations.  

Careers in sustainability are growing in number and variety.

  Terracycle, a company that makes products out of items previously thought of as waste, such as cigarette butts, chewing gum, and toothpaste tubes, was at the career fair recruiting for a variety of positions — including sales, accounting, management, PR, marketing, and R&D. Liana Scobie, the company’s vice president of staff and administration, said that when she joined Terracycle eight years ago, “the landscape was a lot smaller back then. I think that, particularly with entry-level positions, there are a lot more today than there were in general.”   Scobie added that because there are so many people creating new businesses in sustainability, “there are just so many more avenues for people to work in sustainability than there were 10 years ago.”   It’s not just entry-level positions that are on the rise. One of the most notable changes in the field, said Unwin-Kuruneri, is “the inclusion of sustainability into the C-suite; 10 years ago, there were only a handful of people that held the title of chief sustainability officer. Now Columbia University alumnae are in these leadership roles at companies like JetBlue and Tiffany & Co, where they are responsible for setting corporate sustainability strategy.”   Teckla Persons, a recruiter for the Peace Corps, said that while the nonprofit’s volunteer opportunities are always shifting depending on the needs of each community, climate change has influenced the types of projects that volunteers work on in some areas. “Definitely that’s something that a lot of agriculture volunteers are working on, especially like in sub-Saharan Africa, where they’re experiencing heavy droughts,” she said. There, Peace Corps volunteers are helping subsistence farmers to develop farming techniques that require less water, and implementing other water conservation solutions.   Persons added that because of climate change, “there is a bigger need we’re seeing now for agriculture and sustainable development [positions].”   Shaun Hoyte graduated from Columbia University’s Sustainability Management program in 2016. Now he is a program manager at the utility ConEdison, where he helps customers reduce their electricity use, thereby lowering their bills while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and strain in the grid. He was at the career fair recruiting for positions in marketing, research, program management, data analytics, and more within the energy efficiency and demand management department.   Hoyte said that back in 2013, many of his classmates had trouble finding jobs. “Now I see them all over the world, doing great things at amazing corporations.” One of his former classmates started an electric scooter company; another works at American Express; even Hoyte’s own director at ConEdison came out of Columbia’s Sustainability Management program. “We’re spreading like wildfire,” said Hoyte, “and we’re all willing and able to help each other.”  

The mainstreaming of sustainability is driving job growth.

  Hoyte said that “All over the place, companies that you wouldn’t think would be investing in sustainability initiatives are now focusing on sustainability, so that they can do right by the community and the environment, and also because there’s a lot of profitability in it…. There are jobs in finance, such as renewable energy finance. There are jobs in energy efficiency. There are jobs in sustainable fashion, sustainable wine. I think sustainability transcends across all business market segments.”   Malcolm Bliss is the vice president of partnerships at Common Energy, a company that connects electricity-users to nearby solar and wind projects, allowing homeowners and businesses to benefit from local renewable energy projects even if they can’t install their own. Bliss said that a few years ago, Common Energy would have been an anomaly, because the idea of shared renewables was so new. “Now, we’re mainstream and providing thousands of households and businesses with lower-cost clean energy,” he said.   “It’s a rapidly changing industry,” Bliss added. “We’re seeing it go from what used to be called ‘alternative energy,’ and the new way of thinking about this is that it’s ‘preferred energy.’ As much as that represents the change in the way people think about this, the roles and the opportunities also are changing.”   Among other things, Common Energy was at the career fair to recruit someone to fill a youth leadership position, which surely would not have existed a couple of years ago, before the youth climate movement rose to national and international prominence.   “Youth have an important role in influencing everybody,” explained Bliss. “We feel it’s very important for us to be a part of that, to support the youth climate movement, and provide solutions that these kinds of movements can use to affect the outcomes and the changes that they want to see.”  

Regulations are helping, too.

  Hoyte from ConEdison said that careers like his are growing at a fast rate, and that is partly driven by new policies and regulations. Because of state and city clean energy goals, utilities must work fast to “reduce carbon emissions by enormous percentages in a very short period of time,” said Hoyte. “The local laws and mandates that are coming out are really leading the charge to drive these changes.”   Similarly, Kathleen Wolfanger, a regional environmental manager at the New York State Department of Transportation said, “I think more than ever there’s a need and a justification to staff up, because the regulations are always changing.” The agency’s workers must navigate complex environmental regulations and permitting processes while planning and designing projects, as well as adapting infrastructure to the changing climate — for example, by making culverts larger and raising roadway elevations.  

What’s next?

  Sustainability-related jobs are expected to continue growing in number, and Scobie from Terracycle thinks the field will continue to broaden as well. “I’ve been saying that 10 years in the future, I’m no longer going to be a specialist in sustainability because everyone will have to do it,” she said.   Bliss from Common Energy pointed out that “it’s still the early days” for renewable energy. Looking to the future, he foresees “a maturing business ecosystem and ecosystem of solutions around energy, that I think is going to be an opportunity for more historical analysis, and trend analysis, economic analysis, to project and also aggregate opportunities in new ways, trade electricity credits across barriers.”   Hoyte expects today’s trends to continue for the next ten years or so. “The paradigm has already changed, and the focus and the need to mitigate climate change is very evident,” he said. “Nobody’s shying away from it now; we are in the age of consequences, where everything’s heating up and we’re losing natural resources.” He added that through sustainability education, practice, and giving back to the community, “I think we’ll be successful and we’ll be able to beat the challenges that face us.”  

Resíduos específicos, com a logística reversa implantada em Londrina (clique sobre o nome do resíduo):

GU Energy Labs is releasing two beverage inspired flavors just in time for spring training: Cola me-happy Energy Gel and Salted Lime Energy Chews, expanding the total number of Energy Gel flavors to 32 and the number of Energy Chews flavors to five.   The Cola Gel has 40mg of caffeine and is naturally flavored. The new Salted Lime Energy Chews have 125mg of sodium, 400mg of amino acids, and are caffeine-free. Cola me-happy Gel delivers 40mg of caffeine and has a refreshingly sweet and spicy taste that’s reminiscent of popping open a cold cola on a warm spring day. It’s gluten-free, vegan and has 100 calories to fuel you through your workouts. It has an MSRP of $1.50 for a single packet and $36 for a 24 box. And as part of their GU Gives program, GU will be contributing 10% of sales in 2020 from the Cola me-happy flavor to Back On My Feet, a national organization combating homelessness through the power of running, community support and essential employment and housing resources. There’s also a limited-edition “What’s New” box available through purchases on GUEnergy.com, which has four Cola me-happy Gel packets, four Salted Lime Chew packets and has an MSRP of $14 per box. The Salted Lime Chews are gluten-free, vegan, and with 125mg of sodium, this flavor delivers triple the amount of sodium as other Chews, making it perfect taste for hot weather when your body needs more electrolytes. The increased electrolytes along with 400mg of amino acids help replenish key nutrients your body needs during training and racing. Salted Lime Energy Chews come in a box of 18 that has an MSRP of $36 and $2.00 for a single sleeve. As with all GU products, both the new Cola me-happy Energy Gel and the new Salted Lime Energy Chews packaging are recyclable through GU’s TerraCycle partnership, which has already resulted in more than 1 million sports nutrition packets diverted from the landfill. GU provides free shipping to anyone who signs up for their TerraCycle program, making the process of recycling wrappers and trash as easy as possible. More information on the program can be found here: https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/performance-nutrition-brigade   For more info, please visit: https://guenergy.com