Archive for 'Green Printing'
U.S. Paper Recycling Rates Hit New High
Posted on 29. Mar, 2010 by admin.
NEW YORK, NY — Paper recovery and recycling continues to grow more rapidly than even industry experts can predict, continuing a trend we’ve reported in our State of Green Business report for the past three years.
The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), an industry association that tracks paper use, released its 2009 figures for paper recovery and recycling, and found that a record-high 63.4 percent of the paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered last year for recycling.
The achievement marks the continuation of big leaps in the percentage of paper recovered, even as the overall amount of paper used declines. By surpassing 60 percent recovery, the AF&PA has surpassed its goal three years early.
“Recycling is one of America’s great environmental success stories and the paper industry is proud of our ongoing leadership role in this arena,” AF&PA President and CEO Donna Harman said in a statement. “Today’s announcement is a testament to the work of the industry and the commitment of millions of Americans who recycle at home, school and work on a daily basis.”
The early achievement of the recovery goal is another ongoing trend in paper recovery. As we wrote in the State of Green Business report this year:
Read the entire article at GreenBiz.com
Continue Reading
Kraft Sheds 150 Million Pounds From Products
Posted on 09. Feb, 2010 by admin.
Northfield, IL — Kraft Foods has met its goal to reduce its packaging by 150 million pounds two years ahead of schedule with a variety of lightweighting and material replacement efforts.In 2005, Kraft set its packaging goal, hoping to achieve it by 2011 along with other goals.
The company developed a tool, the Packaging Eco-Calculator, to help develop efficient and optimized packaging, and by 2008 Kraft had cut its packaging by 116 million pounds. A number of packaging redesigns in the last year helped put it over its goal.
Some of the packaging changes include: covering energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, waste creation and water use.
- Oscar Mayer Deli Creations packaging in the U.S. was redesigned with 30 percent less paperboard, making it smaller and taking up less shelf space. The change is expected to cut out 1.2 million pounds of paperboard a year.
- The packaging for Oreo Cakesters was reduced by 12 percent and now uses 100 percent recycled paperboard.
- Packaging layers were removed from Milka chocolate bars in Europe (a change that will also be used in Latin America), cutting the product’s weight by 60 percent less weight and eliminating 5.7 million pounds of packaging a year.
- A redesign of Kraft salad dressing bottles in Australia is expected to reduce their packaging by 100,000 pounds of plastic a year.
- A redesign to the zipper on Kraft Natural Cheese bags has eliminated more than 1 million pounds of material a year.
In addition to reducing materials, Kraft has chosen different material for some products. In North America, the steel coffee cans for Maxwell House, Yuban and Nabob have been replaced with composite paperboard, which weights 30 percent less, contains 50 percent recycled content and reduces packaging needs by 8.5 million pounds a year. Kenco coffee in the U.K. is now being sold in refill bags, which use 97 percent less packaging by weight than previous glass jars.
Images courtesy Kraft Foods
Source: Greener Design
Continue Reading
Sustainable Forestry Initiative Releases New Standard
Posted on 19. Jan, 2010 by admin.
Washington, DC — The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), which has certified more than 180 million of acres in North America, has released an updated version of its certification standard.
The new SFI 2010-2014 Standard came about after an 18-month public review process and includes updated and expanded principles, objectives and performance indicators.
Changes to the standard address conservation of biodiversity in North America and offshore forests, climate change, bioenergy, fiber sourcing, illegal logging, controversial and illegal offshore fiber sources, logging training and more.
The updated standard explicitly requires SFI program participants to reach out to and support non-certified family forest owners that supply wood fiber to SFI participants. The support is aimed at protecting threatened and endangered species, promoting reforestation and protecting water quality.
Participants must also now perform risk assessments on offshore fiber suppliers in order to avoid illegal harvesting operations, areas involved in civil unrest and other controversial sources.
The previous standard, the SFI 2005-2009 Standard, included nine core principals, 13 objectives, 34 performance measures and 102 indicators. The new standard has 14 core principals, 20 objectives, 39 performance measures and 114 indicators.
The set of principals includes new principles for responsible procurement practices in North America, avoidance of controversial offshore sources, research, training and education, and public involvement.
The new standard took effect on Jan. 1 and program participants have one year to meet the changed requirements.
Tree - http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmdrgravy/ / CC BY 2.0
Source: GreenBiz.com
