Archive for 'Green Business'
Starbucks Recycles Old Cups Into New Ones
Posted on 06. Dec, 2010 by admin.
SEATTLE, WA — Starbucks has completed a test showing its ubiquitous coffee cups can be recycled into new cups, and although only one facility can currently make that happen, Starbucks hopes this and other tests push more recyclers to accept trashed cups.
Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) wants to provide only recyclable or reusable cups by 2015, and has run various recycling projects to see what its cups can be turned into. “For paper to be a valuable, marketable product, generally you have to find regionally-relevant solutions,” said Jim Hanna, Starbucks’ director of environmental impact.
The recent six-week project took about 8,000 pounds of cups collected in Ontario, where Starbucks already recycles cups and other materials, and sent them to Mississippi River Pulp, the company that provides the post-consumer content that’s been in Starbucks’ cups since 2006. All of the companies’ cups, including the new ones made partially with old cups, have 10 percent recycled content.
Mississippi River Pulp is the only company that can provide pulp for products that will come into contact with food or drinks, because its the only one to have gotten the OK from the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA doesn’t approve companies and their processes, per se, but it basically says it has no objections. Mississippi River sends the pulp to various paper product companies, including International Paper and others that make Starbucks’ cups.
Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/12/01/starbucks-recycles-old-cups-new-ones#ixzz17LcMmDkc
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Facebook’s Green Announcements
Posted on 15. Nov, 2010 by admin.
Facebook, as you may have heard, is going green. Or, more accurately, they’re starting to communicate their green initiatives.
But it’s also fair to say that they’re still getting a grasp on exactly what it means to undertake a green program, and how exactly they do it.
After last week’s short item about Facebook.com/green, the home for all things environmental at the social network, I spoke with Kathleen Loughlin, a member of the company’s communications team, about the kickoff.
“We’ve been thinking about it a lot — asking, how do you tell the green story?” she explained. Now, they’re in the midst of gathering details about all of their disparate green efforts. “There are some that we didn’t even know about — employees would email and say ‘we are doing this on our team, you should list this’” on the “green programs” page of Facebook’s green site.
Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/11/10/look-inside-facebooks-green-announcements#ixzz15Lv4houF
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Improve Your Company’s Energy Management
Posted on 01. Nov, 2010 by admin.
When Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu talks about energy efficiency, he has been known to repeat this mantra: “Energy efficiency is not just low-hanging fruit; it is fruit lying on the ground.”
As Director of Energy for a large corporation like AT&T, I must admit that my first reaction is slightly defensive: “Wait a minute, it’s not that easy.” However, the essence of what Secretary Chu is saying is absolutely true. Effective energy management helps reduce a company’s environmental impact and benefits the company’s bottom line. Below, I have outlined 10 ways that a company can be effective in improving its energy management and efficiency.
Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/10/29/10-ways-improve-your-companys-energy-management#ixzz142PKVmiX
