Responsible Production & the Circular Economy

The Sustainable Brands® community gathers today in Philadelphia, PA to kick off the 8th annual New Metrics conference. Over 300 global executives from brands like Nike, Salesforce, and Eileen Fisher are convening to unveil cutting-edge corporate practices that measure and quantify environmental and social impacts and tie them to financial and business value. Conversations are focusing on 4 key areas: Value in Strategy & Operations, Value in Finance & Investing, Value in Product & Service Innovation and Value in Marketing & Communications.

Just over a week ago, I was in Chicago for Labelexpo, the largest trade show for the labeling and packaging industry. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the ongoing impact of the ever increasing demand from consumers for personalized products and experiences, that are more sustainable in their footprint, was evident across the booths at the show.

The role of data analytics is evolving. No longer just a way to measure and inform plant operators about established systems, data is now an end-to-end solution – guiding an organization across the entire infrastructure and asset lifecycle: Planning. Building. Operating.

Taste Radio talks with acclaimed Chef Marcus Samuelsson and Fair Trade USA founder and CEO Paul Rice about what makes food great and how businesses are driving change throughout the industry.

To offset the energy used to produce Sunweave, Mohawk engaged in a unique “handprinting” initiative, partnering with Virginia’s Hampton University to install 152 low-flow showerheads, equating to an annual water savings of approximately 4 million gallons. Mohawk has also partnered with Groundswell to ultimately install 10 smartflower™ solar systems at community centers and schools with STEM programs across the U.S. Mohawk is not only committed to bringing warmth back to commercial interiors through flooring products like Sunweave, but to leaving a lasting impact through meaningful initiatives and manufacturing practices that give more back to the environment than they take.

Members of the Sustainable Brands® community will gather next week for the 8th annual New Metrics conference, taking place October 29-31 at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel in Philadelphia, PA. More than 300 executives and global thought-leaders will reveal new methodologies, toolkits and case studies for demonstrating the ROI of Sustainable Business.

Dental floss, doll dresses and doggy training pads. What do these three things have in common? Believe it or not, they're all products Johnson & Johnson has made by upcycling materials that otherwise would have gone to waste.

Acuvue Oasys 1-Day are daily contact lenses designed with HydraLuxe technology for the correction of optical refractive errors associated with ametropic defects in the eye, for both myopia and hyperopia. These lenses were launched using 100% sustainable packaging with paperboard purchased from a Fiber Sourcing Certified plant, and packaging was reduced to one box, compared to the previous packaging of four boxes.

Since Fair Trade USA's launch in 1998, more than 1,250 companies have committed to a world-changing way of doing business through Fair Trade.

Sappi’s Allentown sheeting facility generates just one pound of waste for every ton of paper processed, well below industry standards for zero waste designations. With great planning, execution, and a strong vision of how recycling can lower costs and bring in new revenue, Allentown’s range of materials re-used or recycled is impressive.

Allentown’s sheeting operations stand out as an excellent example of an industrial process that’s efficient, flexible and generates nearly zero waste.