Responsible Production & the Circular Economy

General Motors is turning its employees’ recycled water bottles into a new life: noise-reducing fabric insulation that covers the Chevrolet Equinox engine. The bottles – collected from five of its Michigan facilities – are also being turned into air filtration components and insulation in coats for the homeless community.

Reverse logistics is a process within the retail community that describes the return of unwanted, damaged, unsold, or dated retail products back to the distribution center, warehouse, supplier or manufacturer, for the purpose of redistribution, recycling, reuse, or disposal. However, retailers can sometimes run afoul of long-standing regulations developed for industrial and manufacturing operations, if items considered hazardous are shipped. Retail employees preparing items for reverse distribution typically lack the extensive training and experience necessary to properly handle hazardous wastes and hazardous materials.

On April 4, 2016, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced that the Living Future Institute’s Declare label is now an approved pathway for Option 1 of the Building Product Optimization and Disclosure, Material Ingredients credit for LEED v4. Declare labels with ingredient disclosure greater than 1,000ppm now comply with the LEED v4 credit requirements.

Deirdre White, CEO of PYXERA Global, will moderate “The Big Partnership Debate” at this year’s Responsible Business Summit on June 7 and 8. Joined by Walgreens Boots Alliance, Fairtrade Foundation, Oxfam, REN, and The Irish Food Board, this live, interactive session will examine what to look for in partnership opportunities to add real value. Corporate and nonprofit participants will learn how to evaluate if partnership is the right choice for their programming and how to structure this kind of collaboration.

Prop 65 chemical warning changes are now in effect. Businesses selling online will now have to change their approaches to limit their risk of lawsuit. Is your business affected?

Nestlé has published the 2015 edition of its annual Nestlé in society: Creating Shared Value full report. It follows the summary report published on March 8th, 2016, as part of Nestlé’s Annual Report package.

The nonprofit Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) announced today that Google is providing foundational support through a seed grant to establish a coalition of stakeholders that will support expansion of renewable energy market infrastructure throughout Asia, with initial efforts focused on advancing renewable energy purchasing options in Taiwan.