Progressive strides to combine good business with sustainability practices is what takes the cake in my book. As we look to those companies making waves with this industry standard in mind, Bimbo® Bakeries USA has partnered with international recycling leader TerraCycle^® to make its bread, buns, bagels, and English muffin bags in the United States nationally recyclable.     “Because plastic bags, like those used in our packaging, are not recyclable today through household recycling streams, most end up in landfills. Expanding our partnership with TerraCycle enables consumers across the country to easily recycle our plastic bags from their own homes at no charge,” said Fred Penny, President, Bimbo Bakeries USA. “This was an important, immediate action for our company as we work toward our commitment of 100 percent sustainable packaging by 2025. As the first and only baking company to partner with TerraCycle, we have already recycled more than five million pounds of waste and look forward to enabling consumers to divert more millions of pounds of plastic from landfills.”   According to a press release, as an added incentive—for every pound of packaging waste sent to TerraCycle through the Bimbo Bakeries USA Bag Recycling Program, collectors earn points that can be used for charitable gifts or converted to cash and donated to non-profit organizations of their choice.   This new initiative from the baking behemoth is an excellent way to further align industry business models with the demands of the consumer today—all amazing reasons why Bimbo is primed for success and evolution.   “At TerraCycle, our mission has always been to eliminate waste, recycle the unrecyclable, and use our innovative business solutions to minimize human impact on the planet,” said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “It’s through lasting partnerships like the one we enjoy with Bimbo Bakeries USA that allow us to fulfill our objective and help preserve the environment for future generations.”   As suppliers continue to expand their efforts throughout the bakery industry, Deli Market News will be here to report.  

Bimbo Bakeries USA, the largest baking company in the United States, has partnered with international recycling leader TerraCycle® to make their bread, buns, bagels and English muffin bags in the United States nationally recyclable. As an added incentive, for every pound of packaging waste sent to TerraCycle through the Bimbo Bakeries USA Bag Recycling Program, collectors earn points that can be used for charitable gifts or converted to cash and donated to non-profit organizations of their choice.   “Because plastic bags, like those used in our packaging, are not recyclable today through household recycling streams, most end up in landfills. Expanding our partnership with TerraCycle enables consumers across the country to easily recycle our plastic bags from their own homes at no charge,” said Fred Penny, President, Bimbo Bakeries USA. “This was an important, immediate action for our company as we work toward our commitment of 100% sustainable packaging by 2025. As the first and only baking company to partner with TerraCycle, we have already recycled more than 5 million pounds of waste and look forward to enabling consumers to divert more millions of pounds of plastic from landfills.”   To recycle your empty bread, buns, bagels and English muffin bags, sign up on the TerraCycle program page https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/bimbo-bakeries-usa, collect your packaging and mail it in using the free prepaid shipping label. All submitted packaging is cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products.   “At TerraCycle, our mission has always been to eliminate waste, recycle the unrecyclable and use our innovative business solutions to minimize human impact on the planet,” said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “It’s through lasting partnerships like the one we enjoy with Bimbo Bakeries USA that allow us to fulfill our objective and help preserve the environment for future generations.”   The Bimbo Bakeries USA Bag Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office, or community organization. For more information on TerraCycle’s recycling programs, visit www.terracycle.com.

When you’re looking for eco-friendly makeup, it’s easy to find lots of recommendations. But not all of them are created equal.   That’s because “green” can mean so many things: sustainable packaging, natural formulation, even how they source ingredients. Between this confusion and blatant greenwashing (marketing that deceives about how sustainable a product really is), it’s hard to know which brands are really making a difference.   We’ve tried to simplify things with this guide to the best eco-friendly makeup of 2020.   7 of the Best Eco-Friendly Makeup Brands to Try in 2020: If you feel like you were born in the wrong generation, you’ll adore Besamé Cosmetics. Makeup historian Gabriela Hernandez founded Besamé to recreate the simple glamour of her grandmother’s beauty routine. And its vintage style has the added benefit of being eco-friendly!   Most makeup applicators are made with mixed materials that are impossible to recycle. Besamé’s Rouge ($20) and Cake Mascara (from $20) come in gorgeous, reusable tins, and you can even get mascara refills (which arrive in a compostable sleeve). And because it dries back down between uses, Cake Mascara is more hygienic, so it lasts longer than mascara in a tube.   Savings Tip: Find the best Besamé Cosmetics coupons plus 10% cash back when you shop with Giving Assistant. Aether Beauty, sold at Sephora, offers eyeshadows inspired by crystals, sunsets and the Mojave Desert. And their palettes – down to the soy-based ink – are recyclable! But this brand takes the sustainability conversation even further.   Rejecting dichotomies of eco-friendliness, Aether Beauty focuses on ethical ingredients and practices over strictly “natural” ones. Their goal is to create non-toxic, effective, sustainably-sourced products above all — even if that means sometimes using synthetics.   A deeply principled company, they even shared in a blog post that they don’t produce makeup brushes because there’s not yet a way to recycle them. This is an often overlooked part of sustainability: offering a thoughtful, smaller collection of products rather than pushing out more just because you can.   Savings Tip: Get the best Aether Beauty coupons from Sephora, plus earn 4% cash back.

Plastics reclaimer Avangard Innovative will sell millions of pounds of PCR each year to six-pack carrier manufacturer Hi-Cone Worldwide, as the companies expand their existing business relationship.   The two companies recently announced they launched a ring carrier recycling program, though which consumers will be able to return used LDPE six-pack ring carriers to participating stores or mail them straight to Avangard Innovative. Avangard will recycle the plastic and sell PCR to Hi-Cone for use in 50%-recycled-content carriers. “This is really a reflection of what the market is pulling for,” said Shawn Welch, vice president of Hi-Cone Worldwide, which is headquartered in Itasca, Ill. Based in Houston, Avangard is a PE film reclaimer and commercial waste optimization company. It has built and is scaling up a new plant in Waller, Texas, which is outside of Houston, and it plans to develop additional facilities in Mexico and Nevada. The Waller plant is at 50% capacity, and company officials are currently rolling out the next two processing lines. Earlier this year, the company signed a deal to supply PCR to Dow, which will blend the pellets with virgin plastic for sale into film and other markets. In January, Avangard first announced that its wholly owned recycled-resin-producing subsidiary, Natura PCR, will supply recycled pellets to Hi-Cone. The PCR will be used to make RingCycles brand ring carriers, which have 50% recycled content. The latest initiative includes a new collection effort. Stores that currently collect used PE film and supply it to Avangard will begin informing consumers that they can also drop their used LDPE drink carriers in the film collection boxes. Additionally, Hi-Cone is funding a postage-paid mail-back program through which consumers can ship rings directly to Avangard’s Waller processing facility, according to a press release.

Key ingredient in the recipe

Rick Perez, CEO of Avangard Innovative, said his company wants the LDPE ring carriers, which are important ingredients in the company’s “recipe” to make high-quality PCR. According to Hi-Cone, for over 20 years, all ring carriers sold in the U.S. are required to be degradable when exposed to UV light. The federal requirement was established to address concerns about marine animals getting caught in six-pack rings. Hi-Cone’s ring carriers are made with a photodegradable PE copolymer. When asked about whether the degradable plastic causes concerns over the quality of Natura PCR’s pellets, Perez said it doesn’t. That’s because the ring carrier LDPE is blended with other scrap plastic sources – essentially diluting it – and the final pellets aren’t generally going into durable products with 25-year lifetimes anyway. Welch and Perez said they didn’t have projections for how much ring carrier material will be returned through U.S. stores and the mail. Welch said his company launched a similar program in Europe through a partnership with TerraCycle, which provides mail-back recycling options for a variety of products. In that program, 650 ring carrier collection points were set up. In the past three months, the company has collected over 78,000 carriers. If that’s an indicator of the U.S. program performance, then it’s promising, Welch said. Perez said he believes the weight returned in the U.S. will exceed the European program, because the retail collection infrastructure has already been set up. The new program just involved educating the “environmental partners,” or Avangard’s scrap material suppliers, and getting the word out to consumers.

Recycled-content carriers

In its manufacturing, Hi-Cone mixes the PCR with virgin plastic, melts and extrudes the PE into sheets, and then punches out the ring carriers. Sometimes pellet blending is performed by an outside compounder, and sometimes Hi-Cone does it. Welch said the company is working to transition all of its carriers to using recycled plastic. That transition is well underway in Europe and will be completed by the end of the year. Starting later this year and early next year, Hi-Cone will begin transitioning additional products in the U.S. and Mexico to recycled plastic, Welch said. The U.S. and Mexico switch could be finished by the middle of the third quarter of 2021. After Hi-Cone transitions all of its worldwide product lines to using PCR, the company will consume an estimated 20 million pounds of PCR per year, according to Hi-Cone. Additionally, Hi-Cone wants to boost the recycled-content percentage, hopefully to 100%, if the company can make it work, Welch said. When asked about the cost of PCR versus virgin plastic, Welch said Hi-Cone is absorbing any variability in cost. Sometimes, recycled plastic will be significantly more expensive than virgin, but in this case the difference is not so significant that Hi-Cone has to pass it down to its customers, he said. Perez said manufacturing plants typically resist change, because new variables can cause problems. So it takes companies like Hi-Cone to be pioneers in using recycled plastic, he said. Welch said it’s an exciting time for people in the supply chain to come together to drive a recycling solution. “We’re excited about this partnership,” he said. “We can’t do it by ourselves.”

There are several reasons why someone might not want to toss a pregnancy test in the trash. Pregnancy tests are an extremely private matter, and leaving them in a waste bin — where others could potentially see it — may feel uncomfortable. Meanwhile, the small plastic sticks often end up in landfills, as their electronic screens prevent them from being considered recyclable.   Luckily, though, there is a privacy-oriented and sustainable option in the works right now, led by a female-run company called Lia Diagnostics. They are currently working on the first-ever flushable and compostable pregnancy test, and not only will it ensure your private information is kept private, but it's also a super sustainable option. Needless to say, we're extremely excited about this green innovation.  

Lia is a next-level innovation in the world of women's health.

Lia was founded in 2015 by two women named Bethany Edwards and Anna Simpson, according to Tech Crunch. They realized that the pregnancy test industry was outdated by about 30 years, so after Bethany conducted some research for part of her Master's degree, she decided to create a product that would benefit both women and the environment.   Of all the plastic that ends up in landfills every year, two million pounds are made up of plastic pregnancy tests, per Tree Hugger, which inspired them to create something made of plants, protein, and minerals. The tests are completely biodegradable, flushable, and compostable. They can degrade into soil within 10 weeks, and they're 99 percent accurate, providing the same result as any other test.   The best part? They have a larger target zone to minimize splashing. A dream experience, if you will.   A few minutes after peeing on the Lia pregnancy test, users will either see a single line for not-pregnant, and two for pregnant. Typical pregnancy test things. The FDA apparently approved Lia in December 2017, and they're currently in the process of getting their product on Amazon and on their website. Once they become available, a pack of two will reportedly go for somewhere between $13 and $15. We're definitely hoping they go on sale soon.

There are several ways you can stay green during your pregnancy process.

From using Lia in the beginning, to choosing environmentally-friendly snacks, finding natural pre-natal supplements, and picking out sustainable maternity wear, there are so many different ways you can be climate conscious amid your pregnancy journey. For example, candied ginger and citrus peel — which help curb morning sickness — can be found in the bulk section of your grocery store.   Once you find a natural and ethical brand of prenatal supplements, TerraCycle has a reusable vitamin bottle program you should definitely join. There are also several ethical maternity brands, from Boob Design, to Top Secret Maternity, Maternitique, and A Pea in the Pod. Believe us when we say the options are truly endless.   Flushable pregnancy tests are the future of conceiving. We aren't sure of when exactly they will be available, but don't worry, we'll be keeping our eyes peeled.

There should be a word for that overwhelming feeling one gets when attempting to read the ingredient list on a beauty product — the sheer number of syllables in some of those ingredients is enough to have us tongue-tied.   It takes a lot of science (not to mention naming conventions) to create the modern products we adoringly apply to our bodies. And for some of us, the seemingly foreign nature of these ingredients can feel scary and unsafe.   So if the idea of your makeup being natural, organic, and nontoxic simply makes you feel more secure, we totally get it.  

How we define “natural”

  Unfortunately, defining “natural” in beauty products is a bit like trying to nail jello to the wall. In fact, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has never defined the term, nor has it established a regulatory definition for it in cosmetic labeling.   “Unfortunately, terms like ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ are often marketing speak — so many brands falsely claim to be natural and organic so it takes away from the meaning,” says Angelina Umansky, owner of San Francisco’s Spa Radiance.   That’s why it’s important to do your research and be extra discerning when you go out shopping for natural makeup. A great place to start is the clean beauty store Credo, which created specific standards for the products it carries because of the absence of overarching industry regulations.       Here are three things to consider when deciding if a product or brand is right for you:  

• Does the brand say where they’re sourcing their ingredients?
• Do they include sustainable / recyclable packaging?
• Do they use synthetic preservatives?

          With all that information in mind, here are 19 natural makeup products that meet either the strict standards set forth by Credo or the Environmental Working Group (EWG).   For the purposes of this roundup, we included brands that use natural packaging methods when possible and applicable (think: recyclable and eco-friendly) and we specifically looked for products that use non-synthetic ingredients, including non-synthetic fragrances. BIPOC-owned brands                                                                                              

Subaru and TerraCycle:   Subaru of America, whose headquarters are in Camden, announced an initiative to recycle discarded personal protective equipment (PPE) in response to the increase in waste due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As described in a recent press release, the initiative is an expansion of the automaker’s existing recycling-collection partnership with TerraCycle (Trenton), a leader in the collection and repurposing of complex waste streams.   The new collection efforts will divert improperly discarded PPE from landfills and incinerators. Instead, Subaru will employ TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Boxes to collect disposable masks and gloves across more than 20 sites nationwide, including ports, regional training centers and Subaru’s Camden offices.   When full, the boxes will be returned to TerraCycle for processing, and the collected waste will be cleaned, melted and remolded to make new products. Disposable masks are typically made from #5 polypropylene plastic, and can thus be turned into a variety of items, ranging from reusable shipping pallets to plastic lumber applications. Rubberized disposable gloves can be used by rubber manufacturers in low-grade applications for products such as matting.   Kirusa Safe Reopening App   Kirusa (New Providence) has launched Safe Reopening, an easy-to-use application that helps businesses maintain a safe and healthy environment for their employees and customers by enabling their workforce to report their COVID-related symptoms, test results and travel histories prior to coming to work, the company said in a press release.   The Safe Reopening app enables businesses to provide an intuitive virtual health-check tool that recommends whether it is safe for their employees to come to their work locations based on their self-reported data on symptoms, COVID-19 viral and antibody tests, contacts with COVID-positive persons, and travel to/from an area covered by a travel advisory. The recommendations are based on the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but may also be customized to fit the needs of any business.   The Safe Reopening app is based on self-reporting and certification from workers, and does not use GPS, Bluetooth or any other automated-location or contact-tracing technique, thereby respecting the privacy of individuals, the company added.   StrikeForce: Business Outlook and Ultra-Secure Video Conferencing   StrikeForce Technologies (Edison) issued a business outlook press release that acknowledged that 2020 had been extremely challenging for the company, but suggested optimism for the business’s future.   “There’s no question that 2020 has been one of the most challenging years in modern history for StrikeForce and in general,” CEO Mark Kay stated. “The coronavirus pandemic has affected businesses and individuals around the world with unprecedented tragedy and endless uncertainty. Yet, despite this horrible backdrop, I am encouraged about StrikeForce’s chances of growth and prosperity.”   “We have spoken with many of our resellers and clients, and the good news is that all of our contracts remain intact,” said Kay, who remains hopeful that the big deals the company has worked on (some for years) will move forward. Clients are now starting to discuss launch dates again, and are signing contracts. While this isn’t the first time such discussions have taken place, Kay said, he thinks that they’re now believable. “One of our resellers has partnered with a global provider of financial services and technology that plans on offering our software to their 4,000-plus clients, which include banks, thrifts, credit unions, securities broker dealers, leasing and finance companies, and retailers, of which they did before the pandemic, but it appears they are about to offer it out to them again.”   The company is also about to release the SafeVChat video conferencing product, he said, adding that the upsurge in video conference use cannot be denied. The marketplace is experiencing extraordinary growth due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and is expected to exceed $50 plus billion by 2026, according to Global Market Insights.   “We recognized this as a golden opportunity and decided to create most likely the industry’s most secure video-conferencing service, which includes: authenticated access; encrypted video; encrypted audio; encrypted keystrokes; and protection for your camera, microphone and speakers. Additionally, our solution will protect your computer and confidential data even when you’re off-line and not on a video conference. No other video conferencing platform on the market that we are aware of, such as Zoom, Webex, LogMeIn, Microsoft Teams, or BlueJeans, can offer these protections.”

How did you come up with the idea for TerraCycle and Loop?

I got the idea for TerraCycle as a college freshman at Princeton University in 2001. The original business model was vermicomposting (converting garbage into worm poop), packaging it in used soda bottles and selling the resulting fertilizer. To find a larger supply of bottles, we created a national collection program, which was the precursor for our current free recycling programs. While we no longer produce fertilizer, we have moved into finding recycling solutions for some of the world’s toughest garbage problems, proving that everything is technically recyclable and developing solutions for nearly every waste stream you can think of, including drink pouches, used toothbrushes, cigarette butts and even dirty diapers. In short, TerraCycle takes waste that is not recyclable through conventional methods (i.e. your municipality’s curbside recycling program) and turns it into raw material that is then used to make new products. TerraCycle is operational in 21 countries. The idea for Loop emerged three years ago where TerraCycle and leading packaged goods manufacturers discussed the idea of restructuring the life cycle ownership of packaged goods to be durable and reusable. TerraCycle in partnership with 25 participating brands, including founding partners Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Nestle, officially unveiled the Loop platform during a panel discussion at the 2019 World Economic Forum.

Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. announced this week its new sustainable packaging goals that, according to anti-plastic activist group As You Sow, “fail to acknowledge the urgency of the plastic pollution crisis, and lag competitor commitments.” This statement came after As You Sow filed shareholder resolutions with Kroger, urging the company to make its private-label packaging reusable, recyclable, or compostable. The proposals were strongly supported by shareholders, earning nearly 40% support in 2019 and 2020, according to the activist group, which typically puts forth proposals requiring a vote at shareholder corporate meetings. Regardless of the outcome, it’s never enough for As You Sow. “As the largest grocery retailer in the country, Kroger has a responsibility to be a leader in this space and set a high bar for sustainable packaging,” said Conrad McKerron, Senior Vice President of As You Sow. Kroger’s commitments “fall far short of what the company needs to be doing,” he added.

Washington, DC – Greenpeace USA released a report today highlighting various reuse and refill models around the globe that have continued or can be used during the COVID-19 pandemic by ensuring strong sanitization or contactless systems for containers. The report, Reusables Are Doable, assures restaurants, retailers, and consumer goods companies that a pandemic does not need to mean shifting toward widespread disposable plastic that threatens the environment and the health of communities worldwide. “Reusable systems are not only possible during a global pandemic, they are needed more than ever,” said Greenpeace USA Plastics Campaigner David Pinsky. “Communities of color on the frontlines of the plastic pollution crisis face increased risks from COVID-19, but the plastics industry continues to churn out dangerous throwaway products and claim they are safe. It is time for restaurants, retailers, and large brands to end their reliance on useless plastic packaging, bags, and containers once and for all.” Greenpeace’s report features a number of reusable systems globally that can instill confidence during the pandemic. Those systems include:

• Contactless coffee systems have been embraced by hundreds of cafes worldwide to minimize waste. With this system, a customer places their reusable container on the counter, backs away, and allows the barista to fill it with a separate cup that doesn’t touch the customer’s.
• Loop, which launched in 2019, offering well-known grocery brands to customers in reusable containers. The company collects used containers, sanitizes them according to FDA standards, and uses them for future products. Loop has reported a sales increase during COVID-19.
• The Wally Shop, which recently expanded to nationwide operations, and Zero, which also offer grocery delivery with reusable containers.
• To-go reusable models, such as CupClub, which enable customers to borrow a reusable cup, use it, then return it at a dropoff point to be cleaned.
• Takeout meal systems, such as Dispatch Goods, which partner with local restaurants to provide meals in reusable containers that customers return for commercial cleaning.
• Algramo, based in Chile, which uses vending machines and an electric vehicle delivery service that allows people to pay for only the amount of product they need in reusable containers.