Read the full story in the Los Angeles Times.
The coronavirus outbreak has indelibly imprinted itself on life in Los Angeles — down to the composition of trash washing up on its beaches.
Day: October 27, 2020
These 12 organizations are creating food products from upcycled food waste
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
Entrepreneurs are taking on food waste across the world in some truly creative ways — turning what many consider garbage into delicious — and nutritious — products.
Their efforts are part of a growing trend to battle one of the world’s most pressing environmental and agricultural problems. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted annually across the globe — if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
But companies and nonprofit organizations around the world are working to reduce food waste by upcycling food and creating high quality, nutritive products.
H&M will let people convert old clothing items into new ones at Stockholm store
Read the full story at CNN Business.
Fast fashion chain H&M wants to turn discarded clothes into something new to wear again — within five hours.
The Sweden-based retailer is about to start giving consumers at its Stockholm store the option to turn in used garments that it will then transform into one of three different clothing items.
Once the program begins Monday, customers will be able to bring in a garment they don’t want, which will be cleaned and put into a machine called Looop. The machine will disassemble it, shredding it into fibers that are then used to create new clothing.
Unearthing a fossorial snake
Read the full story from the University of Illinois.
To the naked eye, it might appear as though I’m standing in a prairie oasis. Pockets of bright yellow goldenrod bring vibrancy to the sea of towering grasses. There’s not a soul in sight to spoil the serenity. A lone red-tailed hawk scouring the landscape from the top of a dead oak tree is my only companion. It’s not hard to imagine the entire region looking like this prior to European settlement, expanding miles and miles without interruption.
A truck driver lays on his horn and my wandering mind is sucked back to reality. I become cognizant of the rumbling traffic that surrounds me and I am reminded that the tree line in the distance only gives the illusion of solitude. This isn’t the pristine prairie it appears to be at a glance; this 40-acre prairie is only a stone’s throw away from Chicago and confined by a bustling four-lane highway.
I made the two-hour drive from Champaign to this tiny, fragmented prairie to search for an uncommon snake.
These diamonds are made of CO2 sucked from the air
Read the full story at Fast Company.
On the rooftop of a power-generating waste incineration plant near Zurich, Switzerland, a row of large machines pulls carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Some of that CO2 then goes to a production facility in Chicago, where a startup called Aether is turning it into something new: the world’s first carbon-negative diamonds.
Chicken eggshell membrane upcycled for bakery
Read the full story in Food Navigator.
An egg membrane powder for the food and supplement industries has been developed in the Netherlands. Marketed as ‘Eggbrane’, the insoluble powder is designed to help alleviate joint stiffness and pain.
School absences correlate to impaired air quality
Read the full story from the University of Utah.
In Salt Lake City schools, absences rise when the air quality worsens, and it’s not just in times of high pollution or ‘red’ air quality days — even days following lower levels of pollutants saw increased absences.
Associated journal articles: Daniel L Mendoza, Cheryl S. Pirozzi, Erik T. Crosman, Theodore G. Liou, Yue Zhang, Jessica J. Cleeves, Stephen C. Bannister, William R L Anderegg, Robert Paine III. Impact of low-level fine particulate matter and ozone exposure on absences in K-12 students and economic consequences. Environmental Research Letters, 2020; DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abbf7a
Cocoa Giant Can Now Trace Majority of Its Beans
Read the full story at Supply Chain Brain.
Cocoa giant Olam International Ltd. can now trace the supply of the majority of the beans it buys, stepping up sustainability efforts as customers and governments increasingly want to know where food comes from and whether it was ethically produced.
Bank of America branch in Calumet City now entirely powered by solar panels
Read the full story from the Times of Northwest Indiana.
The savings at the Bank of America financial center in Calumet City aren’t just in customer’s accounts.
The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank, the second largest in the country after only JP Morgan Chase, said it’s saving on energy use and utility bills, as well as helping save the earth, after installing solar panels on the roof of its branch at 1701 River Oaks Drive in the River Oaks West shopping center, just across Torrence Avenue from the River Oaks Center mall. The bank in Cal City is now entirely powered by renewable energy from the sun.
Ensuring Circular Fashion is Good for People—as well as the Environment
Read the full story at BSR.
This current period of complex disruption presents a unique opportunity to leverage the shift to circularity to address some of the global fashion industry’s persistent and pervasive environmental and social issues.
