YPSILANTI, MI -- Smokers in downtown Ypsilanti will have a new place to dispose of their cigarette butts -- recycling containers. The Ypsilanti Downtown Development Authority is piloting 12 cigarette butt disposal containers throughout the commercial districts in the coming weeks, Director Christopher Jacobs said. The containers created by TerraCycle have a bag within them. When the bag is full, the city will ship it to a warehouse where the company separates the tobacco and paper for composting. The filter and synthetic fiber is cleaned and turned into pellets, which can then be used for a variety of products from shipping pallets to park benches, Jacobs said. Fertilizer created from the compost is not used in food production, TerraCycle spokesperson Alex Payne said. “For example, the fertilizer is commonly utilized for growing large trees that do not produce anything edible,” Payne said. Each disposal container is about $100, Jacobs said. Businesses in the DDA can apply for a container on their private property and the DDA will share the price. “It’s a step beyond and in a progressive place like Ypsi. Smoking is falling out of fashion, but for the few of us that smoke, it’s a great option,” Jacobs said. No timeline has been set for installation, Jacobs said, but the disposal containers will be ordered this week. Downtown Grand Rapids also has TerraCycle recycling containers, according to the company. The city has recycled 1.2 million cigarette butts to date, Payne said.

Bristol resident Parker Kotuby is one of the first Rhode Islanders to use the service.

A zero-waste shopping service is now available to Rhode Island residents. (Loop) BRISTOL, RI — Next time you go shopping, pay attention to the amount of plastic packaging in your bags. Produce wrappers, bags of powdered sugar, bottles of soda, even the bags themselves — all plastic. Loop, a fledgling company that recently began serving Rhode Island residents, is on a mission to change that.   "There was never another option available to me before Loop," said Parker Kotuby, a 29-year-old Bristol resident and flagship Rhode Island Loop user. "So much junk is thrown away."   Loop takes a new approach to shopping, delivering totes full of household goods, food and other supplies to user's doors, all in reusable packing. Well-known brands from Cascade to Clorox to Häagen-Dazs are packaged in durable materials like stainless steel that users return once the product has been used up.   Here's how it works: users pick out their desired products and are charged for the products themselves as well as a refundable deposit to encourage returning the packaging. Once users send the empty containers back, the deposit is returned to them.   "[The price] can seem crazy on the face of it," Kotuby said. "It's definitely not bargain pricing ... but I'm willing to pay a slightly higher price to feel like I'm making a difference."   Several days later, a large, study black tote emblazoned with the Loop logo arrives via UPS. Virtually everything in that tote from the containers themselves to the little plastic lock that keeps the zippers closed in transit can be placed back inside the bag for reuse or recycling. Even the Clorox wipes, usually a one-and-done item, are sent with a canvas bag for collection to be sent back to Loop headquarters.   "So far, the only things I've been able to find that are disposable are the thin plastic sealants that keep the lids on the stainless-steel cans of snacks during transit," Kotuby said. "It's pretty impressive."   So far, Kotuby said he hasn't seen a major decrease in the amount of trash he and his wife produce in a week, which he said is likely due to the unavailability of certain items and that he is still a new user of the service. Over time, he believes services like Loop will help keep plastic out of landfills and oceans.   The biggest drawback, he said, is most likely the price. Initial costs can be high, though over time he believes it will be most cost-effective. For those who are unsure if Loop would work for them, he encourages taking the leap.   "It's very low-risk to try. If you don't like it, you can get your deposit back and just not place any more orders," Kotuby said. "It's worth it to give it a shot. It's easier than going to the grocery store!"  

Looking at the contents of the average grocery cart, it is no surprise that the World Economic Forum warns that there will be more plastic than fish by weight in oceans by 2050. From coffee bags to cheese wrappers—food and beverage packaging is a major contributor to plastic pollution. Scientists warn that the proliferation of plastics in the environment is creating a variety of health and ecological problems. Some companies are starting to recognize the need to act. Nestlé estimates that it produced about 1.5 million tons of plastic in 2018. In April 2018, Nestlé committed to make 100 percent of their packaging reusable or recyclable by 2025. Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said in the announcement, “Plastic waste is one of the biggest sustainability issues the world is facing today. Tackling it requires a collective approach. We are committed to finding improved solutions to reduce, re-use, and recycle.” From 2020–2025, Nestlé will phase-out all plastics that are not recyclable or are hard to recycle. And Nestlé will significantly raise the percentage of recycled plastics used in its water bottle lines by 2025. Starting in 2019, the company will begin to eliminate all plastic straws in their products. The newly created Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences will lead the development and evaluation of new sustainable packaging. Nestlé also joined Loop, a subscription home delivery service for foods and household goods with reusable packaging. Spearheaded by TerraCycle, the project will deliver items to the consumer’s front door in customized, durable packaging that is then collected, cleaned, refilled, and re-used. Nestlé will participate in the project through its brand Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream in New York City, thereby joining other consumer goods producers like Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, and Mondelēz International. Mondelēz International joins the platform with its Milka brand of biscuits, cakes, and sweet snacks as part of its commitment to making all packaging recyclable by 2025. The commitment also includes eliminating 65 million kilograms of packaging material worldwide and sustainably sourcing all paper-based packaging by 2020. Acknowledging the role consumers play in a complete recycling system, Mondelēz also aims to provide better recycling information to consumers by 2025 with clear instructions for their packaging. “Plastic waste and its impact on the planet is a broad, systemic issue that our consumers care deeply about, and which requires a holistic response. Together with partners from across the industry, as well as public and private entities, we can help to develop practical solutions that result in a positive environmental impact,” says Rob Hargrove, Executive Vice President, Research, Development, Quality, and Innovation at Mondelēz. Unilever—the owner of brands such as Ben & Jerry’s, Lipton, and Dove—purchases over 2 million tons of plastic a year. The company committed to meeting various packaging goals by 2025: making all their packaging recyclable, compostable, or reusable; using 25 percent recycled plastic in their plastic packing, and halving the waste associated with the disposal of their products. Unilever plans to achieve their goals by developing new processes and technologies such as CreaSolv, which recycles high-value polymers from used tea sachets to make recyclable plastic packaging. The commitments from these companies come amid growing public outcry over the proliferation of plastics in the environment. After an exposition finding plastics from Nestlé, Unilever, and Colgate in a popular diving spot in the Coral Triangle, Abigail Aguilar, campaigner for Greenpeace Philippines, says, “If big companies such as Nestlé and Unilever don’t respond to our calls for reduction in single-use plastic production, these places of ‘paradise’ like Verde Island Passage, will be lost.” A 2018 report from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives found Nestlé and Unilever were the brands most responsible for plastic pollution in the Philippines. Several public laws are taking steps to reduce plastic waste. Most notably, in October of 2018, the European Parliament voted for a ban of 10 different single-use plastics by 2020. By 2025, the proposition mandates a 25 percent reduction of plastics for which there is no current practical alternative and that 90 percent of beverage bottles will be recycled. One option companies have for reducing plastic moving forward is plant-based biodegradable packaging. NatureWorks uses corn to produce a biodegradable industrial resin or polymer in the form of polylactic acid (PLA). The polymer, called Ingeo, can be used to make products such as compostable coffee capsules and yogurt cups. However, waste administers and experts have found that products made with Ingeo are often not fully compostable or recyclable. It is important to note that biodegradable materials will not break down in landfills. An increase in the use of biodegradable packaging must be accompanied by more composting infrastructure. Another company, TIPA, has created a new packaging technology that is fully biodegradable in both industrial and home composting. They promote their technology as an alternative to conventional flexible packaging, such as candy bar wrappers and coffee bean bags. Flexible packaging is generally not recyclable. TIPA asserts their packaging is as good as conventional flexible packaging in terms of shelf life, durability, sealing strength, printability, and flexibility. Some smaller food and beverage companies have already paved the way for sustainable packaging. For example, Alter Eco’s quinoa packaging is compostable and made by Gone4Good. B.O.S.S. Food’s snack bars use compostable wrappers made by TIPA. It may be possible to avoid packaging altogether. Zero-waste stores popping up in places from Brooklyn to Malaysia allow customers to take home bulk products in reusable containers. While fruits and vegetables often come in bulk, many companies also package these foods to extend shelf life. Apeel Sciences has found another solution. Their product is a thin edible and tasteless coating made from plant material that can be applied to fruits and veggies to significantly improve shelf-life. Founder and CEO James Rogers says, “our [mission] at its core is looking at natural ecosystems to determine and identify what materials it’s using to solve problems and how we might be able to extract and isolate those materials to solve other problems for humanity.” People are also reducing their use of food packaging at home. Homemade or purchased bees wrap wax is a sustainable alternative to plastic wraps and plastic snack or sandwich bags. Not only is beeswax reusable, but it is also compostable, and it requires a lot less energy and greenhouse gasses to produce than aluminum foil. The homemade wraps are made from nothing but beeswax and cotton. Pre-made beeswax wraps are available for purchase from companies like Bee’s Wrap, who also uses tree resin and jojoba oil, a natural antibacterial.    

Walking up to the Ethical Bean head office in Vancouver, you would never imagine that their roastery is in the same building. You’re greeted by their awesome cafe, and tucked away behind that is their bright office space. Emily, the Marketing Specialist at Ethical Bean, showed me around; the boardroom that displays pictures of the students that Ethical Bean supported through school was definitely a highlight for me.   We then donned our smocks and hairnets and walked into the very aromatic roastery. As we walked through the production facility, we were greeted by staff busy packaging the beans. It was great to see everything being completed in the warehouse with such care.   After I got the full tour of the roastery, complete with checking out the raw coffee beans, admiring their fuel-efficient roaster, and staring in awe at the sheer amount of coffee beans housed there, Emily and I enjoyed lattes in the onsite cafe and talked about all things Ethical Bean.   Bullfrog: The phrase “just.better.” is very important to Ethical Bean. It’s a simple phrase, but there’s a lot of nuance there—what does it mean to you?   Emily: I love this question, because I think that when people really understand what “just.better.” means to Ethical Bean, they get this spark to learn more and spread the word. To us, “just.” means justice, and “better.” means quality. It’s kind of like the Fedex logo; once you see the arrow in between the “E” and the “x”, you really can’tunsee it. Similarly, once you know that our purpose is justice for coffee farmers and their families, you really can’t read “just.better.” any other way.   I think knowing the story of how Ethical Bean started adds so much colour and context to what we’re doing here. In 1999, our co-founders Lloyd and Kim travelled to Guatemala to adopt their daughter. During their stay, they noticed a large gap between the premium price of coffee at home, and the less-than-desirable reality of the coffee industry in front of them. Believing that there had to be a more equitable way to honor these coffee farmers, they came back to Vancouver and started Ethical Bean Coffee in 2003.   You know, it’s easy to sip a cup of coffee and not think about how it travelled all the way to you—from the grower, to the importer, to the processor, to the exporter, to the roaster, to the retailer, and then into your cool coffee mug with a hilarious coffee pun (just brew it!). I love those mugs, by the way.   I mean, for most of us, coffee is a part of our daily routine. Wake up, coffee, work, second cup of coffee, head home, think about working out, watch a show, brush your teeth, go to bed, repeat.    At Ethical Bean, we do whatever we can to create pause in this routine—to shed light on the volatility and complexity of the coffee industry. That’s why we’re just. And that’s why we’re better.   Bullfrog: I love the layers of meaning behind what you do, and especially when it comes to the environment. Can you walk us through your sustainability efforts?   Emily: With “ethical” in our name, you can imagine that we filter all of our decisions through the lens of sustainability, doing whatever we can to make the right choice for all parties involved—one of those parties being the planet. Here are a few highlights from our environmental sustainability program:  

• We only buy Fairtrade Certified coffee. And to be a Fairtrade Certified co-op, you have to uphold certain environmental standards like biodiversity protection, waste management, and the prohibition of GMOs. Fairtrade co-ops can also choose to invest their Fairtrade Premium into environmental programs, such as reforestation projects or water treatment systems.
• We only buy 100% Organic certified coffee. No harmful chemicals = no negative impact on local water quality, ecosystems, and liveability.
• We partner with Bullfrog Power: Since 2009, we’ve been working with Bullfrog Power to reduce our emissions footprint by purchasing 100% renewable natural gas and green fuel for our head roastery and vehicle fleet. To date, we’ve displaced 938 tonnes of carbon.
• We have a bag return program: We hear it all the time, and rightfully so: “why aren’t your bags recyclable?” Long story short: we’ve yet to find a recyclable or compostable bag that meets our standards of freshness and food safety—and trust me, we’re looking! The good news is that we have a bag return program, so people can send in or drop off their empty bags and we’ll send the bags to Terracycle, a company that specializes in difficult-to-recycle waste streams. They clean, shred, and pelletize the plastic, and then find ways to integrate it into products already in production, like park benches. Plus, when customers send us 12 empty bags, they get a free bag of fresh coffee in return.
• We have 100% certified compostable pods: A couple of years ago we partnered with Purpod to launch K-Cup compatible single-serve coffee pods. Made of 100% renewable, bio-based materials, including coffee chaff (skin of coffee bean), the pods break down in as little as five weeks in commercial composting systems.

  Ethical Bean’s 100% compostable pods are K-Cup compatible.   Bullfrog: We’re so happy to be a part of all the good you’re doing on the daily! Speaking of which, what does a day in the life look like at Ethical Bean?   Emily: For me: Arrive at work. Check emails while sipping on an almond milk americano misto prepared by one of our cafe’s talented baristas (yes, we have a cafe attached to our head office and roastery). Get a pulse on what’s happening on social. Respond to questions and feedback. Take some photos for future collaborations (we’re always looking for ethical companies to partner with). Coffee round 2. Find new ways to optimize our online store experience. Start a new blog post. Head home and smell like a bag of coffee beans for the rest of the night…   Bullfrog: There are worse things to smell like! So I hear Ethical Bean has an app—why does a coffee company need one of those?   Emily: When I think about our app, I think about that episode of Portlandia where they go to lunch and probe their server for more information about the chicken they want to order—“So, how big is the area where the chickens are able to roam free?” “Is that USDA Organic, or Oregon Organic, or Portland Organic?”     Image source.   As funny as this episode was, it touched on something pretty serious. That is, the significance of traceability, and the role evidence plays when working towards equality.    Our app serves to answer any and all questions someone could have about the specific bag of beans they’re holding. Where was it roasted? Like… exactly where? Can I see the co-op’s Fairtrade and Organic certificates? When was my coffee roasted? For how many minutes? At what temperature? Who roasted it? How long have they worked with Ethical Bean? What do they like to do in their spare time? What’s my coffee’s cupping score? How sweet is the cup? Is there a strong aftertaste?       Screenshots from Ethical Bean’s iPhone app   In a sea of claims and certifications, it allows our consumers to make an informed decision and feel confident knowing that we’re doing what we say we’re doing.   Also, on your next coffee break, you should probably watch this 2-minute Portlandia clip about the local chicken.   Bullfrog: That’s a great clip. It’s so outrageous, but it still gets to the heart of the matter: if a company is really doing the right thing, they should be able to prove it.    We’ve already talked about Ethical Bean’s story and about the impact you’re making now. What do you have in store for the future?   Emily: It’s an exciting time at Ethical Bean. As many people know, we’ve recently joined a much larger family—the Kraft Heinz Canada family. With this transition comes many new opportunities to deliver impact at some serious scale. For example, our change in ownership allows us to substantially increase the funds we’re giving to the Fairtrade movement and Fairtrade coffee farmers, which was the reason we started in the first place.   Bullfrog: I’m so glad that you’re able to scale up your positive impact. I have one final question for you: what’s your favourite Ethical Bean roast?    Emily: Ooh, hard question. I have a few. I tend to enjoy a more chocolatey finish, so I’ve obviously fallen in love with our lush medium dark roast.   Here’s a description of lush from our Aaron, our Director of Coffee: A coffee for all seasons. Most popular for a reason. Fruit, smoke, and earth tones. If you drink coffee, you’ll like this.    Bullfrog: Hold up—what’s a Director of Coffee?   Emily: Pretty awesome thing to be a director of, eh? As our Director of Coffee, Aaron manages all things coffee—from sourcing, to buying, to roasting to quality control. He has over 20 years of experience, and is one of Canada’s first Q Graders (think sommelier but for coffee), meaning his sense of smell and taste are top notch.     Ethical Bean’s Director of Coffee, Aaron De Lazzer   I like to say that once you know Aaron, you know Ethical Bean. His passion for our eight different roasts, ethical coffee production, and just coffee in general is truly contagious.  

Cigarette butts are a pervasive problem at marinas, but a new program is helping facilities along the Tennessee River keep the butts out of the water.   Last summer, German scientist Andres Fath spent 34 days swimming the Tennessee River from Knoxville Tennessee to Paducah Kentucky, and with his team collected samples to determine the state of the river. His findings were not good. Three of the 12 samples the team collected found close to 18,000 microplastic particles per cubic meter of water in the Tennessee River. That rate is one of the highest in the world.   With that knowledge the executive director of Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful (KTNRB), Kathleen Gibi, decided it was time to tackle the issue of dropped cigarette butts. They often find their way to area waters and are a prime contributor of microplastics, which are found in their filters. Through Keep America Beautiful, Gibi could provide free cigarette disposal receptacles, which became the spark that lit a 5-state movement to keep marinas stocked in these receptacles. Keep America Beautiful is a national non-profit that through national programs and initiatives works to end littering, improve recycling and beautify communities across America.   Gibi happened to talk to Melinda Watson who previously managed the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Tennessee Clean Marina Program and is now program manager for the TVA’s Partnerships and Strategic Planning. Gibi shared that she had the receptacles but wasn’t sure how to spread the word and get them placed. Part of the workplan for TVA is marina education and outreach, so Watson knew from years of visiting marinas that their parking lots and shorelines were often littered with butts. Marinas seemed a good place to distribute the receptacles and with Watson’s history of working with them, she was able to reach out and get marinas onboard with installing the units.   The Program Takes Off Within days, 24 marinas had signed on to take the receptacles. But it wasn’t just the marinas that embraced the idea. To further the education regarding the damaging effects of cigarette waste, TVA provided funding and the Tennessee Department of Transportation provided a special litter grant to have the receptacles wrapped with educational art.   “I had seen art wraps for a history project in Knoxville, and I thought KTNRB could pay to have those done since the receptacles were free. They’d be pretty but would also build awareness of the problems with cigarettes. Our goal isn’t to shame smokers but to shame the littering and help people understand what happens to a butt thrown on the ground,” Gibi said.   Keep Tennessee Beautiful contributed funds to have the receptacles delivered to the participating marinas in Tennessee. According to Gibi the response from marinas has been overwhelming. She anticipates an additional 300 receptacles will be installed with help from a $5,000 Cigarette Litter Prevention Program from Keep America Beautiful. The Jackson County Park Marina in Scottsboro, Alabama, was one of the first marinas to order the receptacles. Within just one week of installation, manager Carl Barns said they are already being used. “I’ve had several people say they liked them. We ordered them to try to keep butts off the ground and from going into the water. We want to have a clean site.” The receptacles are scattered around the property, which accommodates boat slips, a boat ramp, boat rentals and sites for camping as well as cabin rentals.   While Keep America Beautiful will keep providing the free receptacles as long as supplies last, the art wrap takes money, and the art is one of the reasons marinas want the receptacles.   “Now that people see what they look like, marina owners keep following up asking how to get them and then when they will arrive. At first they thought it would just be boxes with some facts and not as pretty as they are. The graphic designer who is making them used to do graphic design for HGTV so the boxes are really nice and people are pleasantly surprised,” Gibi said.   Butt Recycling While the cigarettes are being collected instead of tossed on the ground, there was still the issue of them landing in landfills and contributing to the overall trash problem. However, along with receiving receptacles, participating marinas can ship the waste to TerraCycle, a New Jersey-based company that recycles hard-to-recycle materials. TerraCycle partnered with Keep America Beautiful in a nationwide effort to recycle plastic cigarette filters. The company not only does the recycling but Keep America Beautiful provides the shipping packaging and TerraCycle covers the shipping costs.   “We all know that there’s a lot of urgent need to care for our waterways. It’s important to alarm the public to urgent needs but not right to do so without offering solutions. So that’s what we’re working to do. Inspire everyone to care for the river and understand how deeply rooted we are in the water,” Gibi said. Gibi said the river generates $12 billion in economic impact from recreational use alone and provides more impact from the power it generates from dams and from industry that transports products via barges.   The next phase will be to provide the receptacles for boat ramps. Gibi said she thinks the group can produce just 24 units because these units must be larger, standing at 4 feet tall, to accommodate more users. The other factor to consider with the ramps is that there isn’t staff on-site to empty the butts, but Gibi said she’s already been approached by a Power Squadron member who wants to line up volunteers to empty receptacles at boat ramps.   Marinas located within the Tennessee River watershed can request the cigarette waste receptacles by visiting www.KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org/cigarettelitter.

Businesses are faced with significant challenges every day. Among the most demanding are working towards a supply chain that is sustainable, yet profitable. It’s no longer about minimally meeting environmental regulations but creating value for consumers and stakeholders. The focus is toward more innovative, opportunity-focused thinking that considers impacts on the planet and society (is it positive, neutral or simply “less bad”?) and prepares organizations for resilience and growth in an uncertain future. For consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, thinking critically about the function of packaging and the ways they can change the paradigm around production and consumption is one aspect of designing a supply chain that can take us out of the linear and into a regenerative circular economy. As the system currently operates, industry produces on a one-way track to landfilling and incineration. Raw material is sourced from the earth to produce commodities sold, used and disposed, and the value of the material is lost—either buried or burned. Facilities waste and other pre-consumer materials meet the same fate. From linear to circular This make-use-dispose pipeline is known as the linear economy because products and packaging, once manufactured and used, too often go in one direction: the garbage. Conversely, the concept of a circular economy keeps resources in the supply chain at high value by recovering, reusing and repurposing whenever possible. Within this context, supply chain doesn’t just refer to the materials and processes involved in the back-end of making and distributing something, but the full lifecycle of an item, including when it leaves the production line. The consumer goods supply chain is currently quite wasteful end-to-end; focusing on packaging reveals significant opportunities for improvement. Many “green” packaging trends aim to solve for waste with the end-user, the link where the value of material is visibly lost. For example, biodegradable bioplastics made of renewable feedstocks instead of petroleum are supposed to break down in the environment as plastic litter does not. This demonstrates a change in raw material sourcing and an attempt to prevent litter with a material that will decompose. However, most compostable bioplastics need an industrial composting facility to break down. There are only a handful of those globally, and many don’t want this in their piles. What’s more, the resources needed to produce bioplastic are agricultural space, water and material the world is nowhere near able to sustain at scale. Another example of manufacturers aiming to tackle waste on both ends of the supply chain is the practice of lightweighting packaging by either replacing materials with a lighter weight alternative (glass with plastic) or using less material. The idea is less waste at the front and back end, but often results in a product or package rendered non-recyclable through conventional channels. What neither of these methods do is value resources such that they are kept cycling within the supply chain and in use for as long as possible, extracting their maximum value and recovering them for reintegration. Each practice assumes the resources that go into producing packaging, and the resulting post-consumer waste, is disposable and still treats the material as single-use. We did a lot of reflection and realized that the foundational cause of garbage is disposability. For a packaging designer, an effective approach when considering materials is to make packaging out of material that recyclers want and have the technology to handle. It’s about the entire supply chain and the potential for a recycling company to make a profit. But a circular economy is one that focuses on durability and use of renewable resources, including energy inputs. Recycling, while important, is energy and resource intensive, which is why so many items are not considered cost-effective to recycle. The need for profit Packaging design for profitability is certainly complex enough without considering the full life cycle of materials. Manufacturers and brands that commit to sustainability in a practical, scalable way stand out in an industry that still profits from the status quo, but it must be profitable in order for it to stick in the short-term. Rethinking all aspects of the supply chain, from sourcing to end-of-life, is the key. Above all resources, true change requires boldness. TerraCycle’s new circular shopping platform Loop works with brands to create durable versions of goods previously housed in single-use packaging. The products are offered in a combination of glass, stainless steel, aluminum and engineered plastics designed to last at least 100 uses; when they do wear out, TerraCycle is able to recycle them, cycling the value of the material. Offering trusted brands in upgraded containers, consumers enjoy products they love while eliminating packaging waste—a “win-win” for profitable, sustainable supply chains. Conveniently delivered to one’s doorstep, the Loop Tote doesn’t use bubble wrap, air packs, plastic foam, or cardboard boxes, also scrapping excess e-commerce packaging material. With Loop, brands are taking the bold step of owning their package at every link on the supply chain and putting their packages back on the line. While the goal of the platform is to eventually eliminate single-use packaging from the waste stream altogether, manufacturers have the opportunity to offer their refillable products as an additional SKU in their product lines, which has virtues for large and small brands alike. While large companies have the resources and funding to take on a lighthouse project like this, smaller businesses have the flexibility to design for sustainability in the now. Corporations such as Procter & Gamble and Unilever can make a huge impact here, while young companies like Soapply and Melanin Essentials set the standard for making sustainability a part of their DNA. As an integral aspect of the supply chain, retailer partnerships bring the packaging into stores, making it accessible for consumers. In the United States, our founding partners are Walgreens and Kroger, Europe has Carrefour, and Canada’s largest food and pharmacy retailer Loblaw Companies Limited recently announced it would launch the platform in the country early-2020. Developing close collaborations of this kind creates a strong position for all players to offer higher-value products with less waste on the back-end. Reconciling innovation and growth with sustainability is by no means an easy task, and dialogue with all stakeholders yield more-complete information and options to consider. An important thing to remember is that supply chains are about people, not just processes. What’s interesting is the higher up the waste hierarchy you move (from litter to landfill, waste to energy, to recycling, upcycling and reuse) the more jobs you create in the process. In terms of injecting value in moving from the linear to the circular economy, this is a positive most of us can agree on. In the end, sustainability comes down to taking responsibility. What companies tend to be good at is being efficient in their operations. Focus less on the physical factory as the point of the environmental issue and realize everything put out on the market will become garbage unless you take responsibility for it. Everything leaving the factory currently becomes waste. Tom Szaky is the founder and CEO of TerraCycle Design products that have value, instead of harm. The circular economy at its ideal is intended to be regenerative. Shouldn’t we aspire that our products actually create a benefit? Even If we get to 100 per cent recycling, 100 per cent recycled content and zero packaging waste from reusable packaging, we’ve only hit net neutral. What is net positive? We need to start thinking about that versus just going about how are we going to eliminate our negative.  

Find out where: These 125 NJ companies are among the fastest-growing in the U.S., according to the American business magazine Inc.

Conjugar lucro com empreendedorismo social é um equilíbrio que as start-ups estão cada vez mais a tentar fazer. Tudo em prol de um bem maior: a responsabilidade social.

Image: Evergreen Cannabis Society owner Mike Babins reaches into the packaging-recycling bin in his store | Rob Kruyt)   “We had an inspector in for our regular biannual inspection,” Evergreen Cannabis Society owner Mike Babins told Business in Vancouver.   “He said, ‘Technically that is considered open packaging so you can’t have it in here.’”   Babins then came up with a temporary workaround to have the recycling bin, which is co-branded with his own logo, outside his store.   He then phoned the British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch and prompted its senior corporate policy analyst, James Roy, to speak with executives at the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch.   “You are good to go with putting the recycling box in your store where customers can deposit their used cannabis packaging, provided there is never any inducement to purchase wholesale product from the [licensed producer] sponsoring the box,” Roy then wrote to Babins in a July email.   Babins said that when he first installed TerraCycle’s large cardboard box and plastic liner in his store, he confirmed with the company that it would accept all companies’ packaging – not just packaging from products that were made by Tweed.   Other cannabis-store owners are glad that the situation has been worked out.   (Image Muse Cannabis president Geoff Dear stands outside his cannabis store on south Granville Street | Rob Kruyt)   Muse Cannabis Store president Geoff Dear told BIV that as soon as his store opened on south Granville Street earlier this summer, customers were asking how they could return packaging.   “They also asked why the packaging is this way,” Dear said. “We have to do a lot of customer education.” •  

I’ve been a contact lens wearer for over 40 years. I started out wearing contacts that lasted several months and eventually graduated to daily disposable lenses, attracted by their comfort and no fuss maintenance. But looking back, I cringe to think of how many lenses and blister packs I’ve thrown away over the years. Every morning, after inserting my contacts, I put the blister packs in recycling and at night I throw my lenses in the garbage (NOT down the sink or toilet). According to the American Optometric Association (AOA), I am one of 45 million people in the U.S. who wear contact lenses. But after researching this feature, I have to ask myself—is there something more I could be doing when it comes to disposing of those contact lenses, which in a short time turn into hard, breakable bubbles of plastic once they leave my eyes and hit the garbage can. In a word, the answer is yes. According to the AOA, many patients are unaware that there is an environmentally friend way to dispose of their worn contact lenses. The organization cited a 2018 Arizona State University study which found “as many as 1 in 5 contact lens wearers dispose of their lenses down the sink or toilet, contributing an estimated 6 to 10 metric tons of plastic lenses to U.S. wastewater each year. Furthermore, those lenses break down into microplastics at treatment plants, posing a risk to marine organisms and food supply, researchers claimed.” A recent episode on “60 Minutes” titled the Plastic Plague, offered a sobering view of just how much microplastics end up polluting our oceans and killing off marine life. “60 Minutes” reporter Sharyn Alfonsi reported on the problem’s deadly consequences for wildlife and outlined some solutions as to what can be done to stop it. What Are Americans Doing About Microplastics? A survey for Statista by YouGov has revealed that only 52 percent of adults in the U.S. have heard of microplastics. The issue, which has been troubling environmentalists in recent years, has been garnering more attention in the media, with headlines such as “Microplastics are raining down from the sky,” or “There’s no getting away from microplastic contamination” raising awareness. So what are the 52 percent doing to reduce the production of/contact with microplastics? The survey revealed that the most common action is recycling (more) plastic products. Next up, almost 30 percent say they now try to avoid buying food in plastic packaging, while a similar amount of people also try to avoid consuming drinks from plastic bottles. Unfortunately, the survey also revealed that some 21 percent of respondents said they have done nothing and have no plans to do anything about the problem of microplastics. Click here to read the full story from Statista.com. These days, the environment is top of mind for many Americans and the optical industry is no exception. VMail Weekend reached out to several contact lens manufacturers who are leading the way for environmentally-conscious ways to dispose of contact lenses and their packaging. Here’s what they had to say. Bausch + Lomb Bausch + Lomb launched the ONE by ONE Recycling Program in 2016 in partnership with TerraCycle, a world leader in the collection and repurposing of hard-to-recycle post-consumer waste, to help put an end to this enormous loss of resources in order to help protect communities and preserve the natural environment for current and future generations. The first of its kind in the U.S., the ONE by ONE Recycling program provides contact lens wearers the opportunity to recycle their used contact lenses, blister packs and top foils properly. This is important, because even though the material used to manufacture these contact lens materials are recyclable, the materials typically don’t end up being recycled even if placed in standard “blue bins” due to their small size. Additionally, for every qualifying shipment of waste that weighs 10 pounds or more from a practice, a $1 per pound donation is made to Optometry Giving Sight, the only global fundraising organization that specifically targets the prevention of blindness and impaired vision by providing eye exams and glasses to those in need. “Before the ONE by ONE Recycling Program launched in 2016, eyecare professionals and their patients did not have an option to ensure that their used contact lenses, blister packs and top foils were properly recycled, and this was becoming of increasing concern with the adoption of daily disposable contact lenses,” said John Ferris, general manager, U.S. Vision Care, Bausch + Lomb. “We learned through our collaboration with TerraCycle that even those who thought they could recycle them in standard ‘blue bins’ were doing so incorrectly—the used materials either contaminate other recyclable materials or are diverted to landfills because of their small size. With the ONE by ONE Recycling program, which has recycled 12 million units of contact lens materials to date, contact lens wearers and eyecare professionals now have a straightforward, simple solution. Together with eyecare professionals and their patients, we are helping to reduce the environmental impact these materials create,” Ferris said. Once TerraCycle receives the used contact lenses, blister packs and top foil, the shipment is checked in and weighed. The collections are then sent for manual separation, where any non-compliant materials are removed. After manual separation, the remaining material is shredded, and the blister pack foil lids are separated from the plastic materials (if they aren’t already). The plastic is then melted and extruded into plastic pellets, and the foil lids and metals from the blister packs are sent for smelting and metals recycling. Any additional metal material is filtered out during the extrusion process. The waste can then be reused, upcycled and recycled into new products. And the good news is that all types and brands of used contact lens materials—contact lenses, top foil and opened plastic blister packs—are accepted as part of the Bausch + Lomb ONE by ONE Recycling program. Currently, more than 4,000 offices around the U.S. participate in the ONE by ONE Recycling Program. Through B+L’s sales representatives, educational events, and other touch points such as emails and brochures, the company encourages optometry practices to join the ONE by ONE Recycling program as a registered recycling center. By registering for the program, eyecare professionals are provided in-office promotional materials as well as large custom recycling bins to collect the used contact lenses, blister packs and top foil that are generated from the practice and its patients. Once the recycling bins are full, eyecare professionals can print a free shipping label provided by Bausch + Lomb and mail the materials in to be properly recycled through TerraCycle. All registered optometry practices are also listed on the Bausch + Lomb ONE by ONE website as an office that is currently involved in the program. Johnson & Johnson Vision A spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson Vision said, “The company launched the U.K.’s first free recycling program for contact lenses in January. Known as the Acuvue Contact Lens Recycle Programme, it allows all contact lens wearers to dispose of their lenses, blister packaging and foil regardless of the brand. The company takes the recyclable waste and turns it into products such as outdoor furniture and plastic lumber. Consumers are given the option to dispose of their contact lens material at Boots Opticians and select independent practices or have it collected via courier.” “Seventy-seven percent of British contact lens wearers said they would recycle their contact lenses if they could and we share their interest in reducing the amount of plastics in the environment,” said Sandra Rasche, area vice president, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Vision Care, Johnson & Johnson Medical GmbH. “As a business, we are committed to doing our part to combat climate change, protect our planet’s natural resources and reduce waste, and this new U.K. recycling program represents the next step in our company’s sustainability commitment.” Johnson & Johnson Vision is collaborating with TerraCycle, a world leader in the collection and reuse of non-recyclable post-consumer waste to run the program. Open for all in the U.K., contact lens wearers are encouraged to check the Acuvue and TerraCycle websites for details on their nearest public drop-off location points or to recycle from home via courier collection. Alcon According to a spokesperson from Alcon, “the company seeks to design packaging that both minimizes environmental impacts and meets all regulatory, quality, functional and design requirements.” Toward that end, Alcon has: • Developed and issued a sustainable packaging guide for their packing design teams. • Utilized best practice packaging case examples that are collected and shared among packaging designers across the company. • Made sure their design and development program ensures products are manufactured and placed on the market in conformance with global product-related legislation, including EU Medical Device Regulation, REACH, RoHS, Packaging Waste and global equivalents. CooperVision Pamela Jackson, senior director of Global Communications, CooperVision said, “We believe that the greatest possible impact today relates to maintaining a sustainable production environment. It offers the greatest direct reduce/reuse/recycling control of the highest volume of materials—for instance, water conservation, responsible energy use, and materials recycling.  “While we’re focused on the less visible but more meaningful production side of the equation, we’re also investigating other consumer-facing programs that may offer meaningful returns, and even piloting them outside of the U.S,” she said.

How ECPs Can Advise Patients on Recycling Contact Lenses  To help bolster awareness around proper contact lens disposal, the AOA's Contact Lens and Cornea Section (CLCS)  developed a resource to help doctors educate their patients. Here are three tips: 1. Inform patients about recycling programs available for contact lenses and packaging, including terracycle.com, or consider turning your practice into a recycling drop-off site. 2. Although most contact lens packages are stamped No. 5 for recycling, according to Terracycle, the size is what causes them to either contaminate other recyclable materials or be diverted to landfills. In fact, The Association of Plastic Recyclers confirms this fact, stating that the industry standard screen size, which identifies and removes unrecyclable plastics, filters out materials that measure less than three inches in diameter. Meaning standard recycling facilities are unable to process these small items. 3. Remind patients that boxes and cleaning solution bottles may be recyclable, too. Click here to access the AOA CLCS Proper Contact Lens Disposal fact sheet and click here to download an infographic for patient education.