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February 28, 2017
February 28, 2017
by Sustainable Brands
The Olympic Games offer an opportunity for the world to come together on peaceful terms and helps generate a sense of comradery among the global community. But it’s not only the athletes and spectators who feel the Games’ impact — the environment does too. An event of such scale can have significant implications for the natural landscape and careful environmental management and sustainability strategies are essential in order to lessen negative impacts.
The Paris 2024 Bid Committee is working to do just that. The Committee has joined stakeholders from across the sporting, business and political spectrum to address the environmental challenges facing the sport industry and share its ambitious strategy for the most sustainable Games ever at Climate Action’s Sustainable Innovation in Sport 2017 conference in Munich, Germany.
The meeting brought together key figures from government, governing bodies, clubs, federations and the private sector to debate and discuss the challenges and opportunities around enhancing sustainability in sport. Representing Paris 2024, Jérôme Lachaze, Head of Sustainability and Marie Barsacq, Director of Legacy, met with international colleagues to talk about Paris 2024’s vision on sustainability, looking at ways to max global partnerships for the Games and to help advance discussions for a more sustainable world of sport.
“Our innovative and ultra-compact Games are connected by the best public transport network, with 95 percent of venues existing or temporary,” said Jérôme Lachaze. “Paris 2024 will be the first Games aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement, showing we are doing our share to help protect our planet for future generations.”
Paris 2024 has also released an outline platform and animated film highlighting its commitment to creating a sustainable spectator experience. Developed in collaboration with all of Paris 2024’s official partners and suppliers, the website offers a taste of the spectator experience in 2024 and includes a glimpse of the innovative technology that will be used to ensure Paris 2024 delivers on its promise to be the most sustainable games in history. For example, wristbands will store visitors’ bookings and reservations, and serve as a means of payment on all of Paris’ public transport.
Read more at Sustainable Brands.
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February 27, 2017
February 27, 2017
by Sustainable Brands
The use of post-consumer recycled materials as feedstock for new bottles and cans has become common practice for the beverage industry, but there is still more to be done to reduce waste and increase recycling. Industry giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are working towards overcoming these challenges by supporting eco-innovation and government initiatives.
The recipients of PepsiCo’s Zero Impact Fund — an expansion of PepsiCo Recycling’s college and university programs to help bring campus eco-innovations to life — have been announced. Eight colleges and universities will each receive a contribution from PepsiCo to help accomplish their environmental goals:
Centre College (Danville, Ky.)
Johnson County Community College (Overland Park, Kan.)
Millersville University (Millersville, Pa.)
Northern Kentucky University (Newport, Ky.)
University of California Berkeley (Berkeley, Calif.)
University of California Irvine (Irvine, Calif.)
University of Massachusetts Lowell (Lowell, Mass.)
University of Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls, Iowa)
“The Zero Impact Fund showcases great examples of the innovative and sustainable ideas that can come from college campuses,” said Tim Carey, senior director of sustainability at PepsiCo. “We’re excited to see how our Zero Impact Fund recipients will bring their campus eco-innovations to life and are proud to play a role in helping implement original ideas that reduce the impact that college campuses and their business partners have on the environment.”
Launched in August 2016, the Zero Impact Fund encouraged PepsiCo colleges and universities to submit project proposals for the 2016-2017 school year. More than 40 applications were received and one proposal per school was evaluated based on environmental, economic and social impacts, along with desirability, feasibility, longevity and ingenuity.
Read more at Sustainable Brands.
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February 27, 2017
February 27, 2017
by Maxine Perella
Cities are major contributors to – and battlegrounds of – climate change. According to a report from the UN Habitat, cities pump out roughly 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions whilst just occupying just 2 percent of the Earth’s land. Effective waste management and more intelligent use of material resources can not only play a significant role in reducing such emissions, but help urban environments prosper through improved public health impacts and citizen enterprise.
The US’ zero-waste city movement has been steadily growing in recent years – according to Kate Bailey, director of Eco-Cycle Solutions, there are at least 50 US cities with an established zero waste plan or goal. However, measuring their progress can be tricky; the definition of ‘zero waste’ is open to interpretation (for some, it simply means landfill diversion) and the variance in performance indicators makes standardization difficult.
“Comparing diversion rates and program metrics between cities is a big challenge for our industry,” Bailey says. “Our most tried and true metric has always been the recycling rate, but there is growing clamour about its fundamental flaws.”
These flaws include the fact that recycling often doesn’t factor in waste reduction or reuse efforts. “It implies that our ultimate goal is 100 percent recycling, which does not translate to the most efficient use of resources. For example, we know that reducing the obscene amount of food wasted is far better than composting all our leftovers,” Bailey maintains.
Eco-Cycle Solutions is advocating for a new metric to standardize measurement and comparison across the industry – pounds disposed per person per year. “This number is what we ultimately want to drive down to zero,” Bailey says. “By measuring pounds per person disposed, we can capture the ultimate goal of a circular economy by measuring how well we keep materials in productive use, and more easily measure our programs by using data from disposal facilities, rather than tracking down data at countless recycling or reuse facilities, or estimating generation rates.”
Read more at Sustainable Brands.
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February 23, 2017
23 February 2017 – Indonesia joined today UN Environment's unprecedented global campaign to eliminate major sources of marine litter: microbeads in cosmetics and the excessive, wasteful usage of single-use plastic.
Joining the #CleanSeas campaign, Indonesia pledged to cut plastic waste in 25 coastal cities and reduce marine litter by a massive 70 per cent in just eight years.
Launched at the Economist World Ocean Summit in Bali, the #CleanSeas campaign is urging governments to pass plastic reduction policies; targeting industry to minimize plastic packaging; and calling on consumers to change their throwaway habits – before irreversible damage is done to our seas.
Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment, said, "It is past time that we tackle the plastic problem that blights our oceans. Plastic pollution is surfing onto Indonesian beaches, settling onto the ocean floor at the North Pole, and rising through the food chain onto our dinner tables. We’ve stood by too long as the problem has gotten worse. It must stop."
Throughout the year, the #CleanSeas campaign will be announcing ambitious measures by countries and businesses to eliminate microbeads from personal care products, ban or tax single-use bags, and dramatically reduce other disposable plastic items.
Indonesia is among the ten first countries to join the campaign with far-reaching pledges to clean up their seas. Uruguay has committed to tax single-use plastic by the end of this year and Costa Rica will take measures to dramatically reduce single-use plastic through better waste management and education.
Each year, more than 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the oceans, wreaking havoc on marine wildlife, fisheries and tourism, and costing at least $8 billion in damage to marine ecosystems. Up to 90 per cent of all litter floating in our oceans is made of plastic.
According to some estimates, at the rate we are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags and cups after a single use, by 2050 oceans will carry more plastic than fish and an estimated 99 per cent of seabirds will have ingested plastic.
Read more at the UN Environment ROAP News Center.
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February 23, 2017
23 February 2017 – UN Environment launched today an unprecedented global campaign to eliminate major sources of marine litter: microplastics in cosmetics and the excessive, wasteful usage of single-use plastic by the year 2022.
Launched at the Economist World Ocean Summit in Bali, the #CleanSeas campaign is urging governments to pass plastic reduction policies; targeting industry to minimize plastic packaging and redesign products; and calling on consumers to change their throwaway habits – before irreversible damage is done to our seas.
Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment, said, "It is past time that we tackle the plastic problem that blights our oceans. Plastic pollution is surfing onto Indonesian beaches, settling onto the ocean floor at the North Pole, and rising through the food chain onto our dinner tables. We’ve stood by too long as the problem has gotten worse. It must stop."
Throughout the year, the #CleanSeas campaign will be announcing ambitious measures by countries and businesses to eliminate microplastics from personal care products, ban or tax single-use bags, and dramatically reduce other disposable plastic items.
Ten countries have already joined the campaign with far-reaching pledges to turn the plastic tide. Indonesia has committed to slash its marine litter by a massive 70 per cent by 2025; Uruguay will tax single-use plastic bags later this year and Costa Rica will take measures to dramatically reduce single-use plastic through better waste management and education.
Each year, more than 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the oceans, wreaking havoc on marine wildlife, fisheries and tourism, and costing at least $8 billion in damage to marine ecosystems. Up to 80 per cent of all litter in our oceans is made of plastic.
According to some estimates, at the rate we are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags and cups after a single use, by 2050 oceans will carry more plastic than fish and an estimated 99 per cent of seabirds will have ingested plastic.
Read more at the UNEP Newscentre.
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February 22, 2017
Mary Catherine O'Connor
Wednesday 22 February 2017 15.44 GMT
The world recycles just 14% of the plastic packaging it uses. Even worse: 8m tons of plastic, much of it packaging, ends up in the oceans each year, where sea life and birds die from eating it or getting entangled in it. Some of the plastics will also bind with industrial chemicals that have polluted oceans for decades, raising concerns that toxins can make their way into our food chain.
Recycling the remaining 86% of used plastics could create $80bn-$120bn in revenues, says a recent report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. But those revenues will never be fully achieved without designing new ways to breakdown and reuse 30% (by weight) of the plastic packaging that isn’t recycled because the material is contaminated or too small for easy collection, has very low economic value or contains multiple materials that cannot be easily separated. Think of candy wrappers, take-out containers, single-serving coffee capsules and foil-lined boxes for soup and soymilk.
Large companies have developed plant-based alternatives to conventional, petroleum-based plastic so that they can break down without contaminating the soil and water. The market opportunity has attracted small, young companies that focus on developing recycling technology to tackle that troublesome 30% of plastic packaging that is headed to landfills at best, and, at worst, to our rivers, lakes and oceans.
Read more at The Guardian.
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February 20, 2017
February 20, 2017
by Libby MacCarthy
Changing consumer attitudes and the reality of climate change have shifted the conversation about the business case for sustainability. For more and more companies, embedding sustainable business practices into operations, business models and missions is no longer optional — it is now imperative in order to remain competitive.
New case studies and data are emerging all the time further validating this point, and a new report published by WWF and ISEAL is the latest example of how forward-thinking businesses can unlock new market opportunities by implementing intelligent and credible sustainability standards across their operations.
Entitled SDGs Mean Business: How Credible Standards Can Help Companies Deliver the 2030 Agenda illustrates how such standards can deliver direct benefits to companies and small-scale producers, while also accelerating progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Poverty, inequality, water scarcity, climate change and the loss of biodiversity are significant risks for businesses and aligning with the SDGs represents an opportunity,” said Richard Holland, director, Global Conservation Division at WWF International. “While leading companies have already made far-reaching commitments to help address climate change, deforestation and decent work, the majority of business sectors are not yet delivering on their responsibility towards the Agenda 2030.”
Sustainability standards translate the broad concept of sustainability into specific, concrete measures for companies and their suppliers. With broad uptake, they can move whole sectors toward improved social, environmental and economic performance. They are also an important mechanism to help companies reach their targets by scaling-up sustainable practices, and can be used at every point in the value chain — enabling producers, harvesters and processors to achieve a recognized level of sustainability, and traders, manufacturers and retailers to address the impacts of their supply chains. This can make a major contribution to the SDGs.
Read more at Sustainable Brands.
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February 20, 2017
Colombo, February 20, 2017— Today, Sri Lanka welcomed the Heads of Public Procurement Agencies or Authorities of eight South Asian countries to the Fourth South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference. The conference was inaugurated by H.E President Maithripala Sirisena.
The theme of the conference, “E-GP in South Asia – Achievements, Opportunities and Challenges,” throws the spotlight on how E-Government Procurement can support countries in boosting the efficiency, transparency and competitiveness of their public procurement systems.
While South Asian countries find themselves at different stages in the introduction and operationalizing of E-GP systems, it is seen as a tool that not only enables strategic public procurement, but can provide a wealth of data that feeds back into the steady improvement and increasing effectiveness of E-GP services.
Addressing the gathering, Idah Pswarayi-Riddihough, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka said: “At the World Bank, we are committed to procurement reforms with a view to improving market efficiency and better service delivery.” She added, “It is well understood, and illustratable with examples from many parts of the world, that weak procurement systems steer investments away from development and hence minimize the impact on poverty reduction and shared prosperity.”
The Colombo conference is the fourth in a series of South Asia Region Public Procurement Conferences. The first installment was in Kathmandu, Nepal in April 2011, the second in Islamabad, Pakistan in March 2014, and the most recent in Dhaka, Bangladesh in November 2015.
Read more at The World Bank.
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February 17, 2017
February 17, 2017
by Tom Idle
Beatrice Akyoo doesn’t need to spend as much money lighting her home, and her children have more time for homework without inhaling the nasty fumes from kerosene lamps. She also earns extra income by charging her neighbours’ mobile phones.
“I am proud to own my personal electricity source,” she says. “At night, my family now has clean and bright lights - and we can even power a refrigerator."
It may not sound like much to those in the West, but some two billion people around the world don’t have a reliable electricity source to meet their daily energy needs. In the 90 percent of households in rural Tanzania, Kenya or Rwanda that don’t have electricity, they use kerosene lamps, batteries or - if they’re very wealthy - a generator.
“All of these options are fairly bad news,” Thomas Duveau, head of business development at Berlin-based solar energy company Mobisol, said in a recent interview.
The answer for Ankyoo – as you may now guess – is solar power. With ample capacity in Europe, scaling it in Africa is a no-brainer: As Duveau points out, “There’s certainly a lot more sun in Tanzania than in Germany.”
Mobisol harnesses two realities: Affordability is a challenge (“very few people have $500 lying around their house in Tanzania”); and there is an existing, developed technology on the ground – using SMS on mobiles phones to wire money.
The company offers households in Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya a small leasing model where recipients can pay for a solar system in installments with their mobile phone over three years. This gives low-income people in developing countries a clean alternative to fossil fuels – and after the three years, they own the electricity source.
The sun-harvesting system – which Mobisol designs, procures, distributes and services – is high-tech, long-life and a better value proposition for users than their previous energy sources. Powering three kerosene lights for four hours, as is typical in a Tanzanian household, would use about half a litre of kerosene and cost 50¢ a day.
“For exactly the same price, we bring in a solar system,” Duveau explains. “So we put a panel on your roof, bring a battery, bring you LED lights – which are much brighter, and much nicer – we bring a machine that recharges mobile phones, we bring a radio and a TV.”
Mobisol solar systems vary from 80 to 200 watt-peak (Wp), depending on the recipient’s needs. They provide enough electricity to power household appliances, as well as small businesses, giving the entrepreneurial the opportunity to create an income. In fact, around a third of Mobisol customers earn incremental income with the system. The largest model has the capacity to power a fridge, so some customers sell beverages or farm produce. Many charge phones, like Akyoo, or sell their surplus energy to their community.
The business is scaling up the use of renewable energy systems across the region: Since being founded in 2010, Mobisol has installed over 70,000 solar home systems on households and businesses in East Africa, giving roughly 350,000 people access to clean, affordable and reliable solar energy.
Read more at Sustainable Brands.
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February 16, 2017
16 February 2017
The GPP capacity-building project GreenS has made a series of recent webinars publicly available on its YouTube channel. The webinars will be of considerable value for public procurers at various levels including those at an early stage in developing GPP.
The GreenS project aims to expand the implementation of Sustainable Energy Action Plans at the local and regional level, and has produced a library of GPP and SEAP training materials in several languages.
Topics covered by the webinars include: how to prepare a good GPP training package; introducing GPP; legal aspects of GPP; calculating CO2 and energy savings; using GPP strategically in your organisation; and market engagement practices to ensure GPP success.
Read more at Sustainable Procurement Platform.
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February 12, 2017
Mary Catherine O'Connor
Sunday 12 February 2017 15.00 GMT
For the past three years, Alexander Nolte and Oliver Spies, surfing buddies and co-owners of Langbrett, a German retailer with four stores that sells surf gear and outdoor apparel, have been haunted by news reports connecting many of the products they sell to an emerging but serious environmental threat: microfiber pollution. Synthetic textiles, such as fleece jackets, send tiny plastic fibers into wastewater after washing. These bits eventually make their way into rivers, lakes and our oceans, where they pose health threats to plants and animals. The two men knew they had to act.
“We said, ‘either we have to stop selling fleece [apparel] or we have to think of a solution’,” explains Nolte. “So we went out to our beer garden and said ‘what can we do?’”
The beer-filled brainstorming session eventually led to Guppy Friend, a mesh laundry bag, that goes into the washing machine. The bag captures shedding fibers as clothes are tossed and spun, preventing the fibers from escaping. It’s roomy enough for a couple of fleece jackets or other apparel made of synthetic fabric. In two weeks, Langbrett, in partnership with outdoor clothing company Patagonia, will start shipping the Guppy Friend to the backers of their Kickstarter campaign. Patagonia will then begin selling the bag to customers.
The Guppy Friend is the first device designed and marketed specifically to prevent microfiber pollution. Microfibers are tiny, so they can easily move through sewage treatment plants. Natural fibers, such as cotton or wool, biodegrade over time. But synthetic fibers are problematic because they do not biodegrade, and tend to bind with molecules of harmful chemical pollutants found in wastewater, such as pesticides or flame retardants. Plus, fibers from apparel are often coated with chemicals to achieve performance attributes such as water resistance. Studies have shown health problems among plankton and other small organisms that eat microfibers, which then make their way up the food chain. Researchers have found high numbers of fibers inside fish and shellfish sold at markets.
Read more at The Guardian.
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February 10, 2017
By Kelli Barrett, Ecosystem Marketplace
10 February 2017 | More and more companies are incorporating sustainability criteria into their procurement activities, according to new research released February 7.
The 2017 Sustainable Procurement Barometer, published jointly by Paris-based sustainability consultancy EcoVadis, and the Hautes études commerciales de Paris (HEC Paris) business school, is the first Barometer report since 2013, and it shows a sharp increase in sustainability awareness. The findings echo those of the Forest Trends Supply Change project, which shows steadily increasing corporate action to halt deforestation.
The new Barometer report is built on a survey of 120 procurement officers, primarily in the manufacturing and retail sectors. Ninety-seven percent of the respondents listed sustainability it as one of their top five priorities, up from 93% in 2013. Sustainability, however, has yet to make the top three overall, which are: cost savings, compliance and risk reduction.
This increase in intent is also reflected in Supply Change, which tracks corporate commitments to reduce deforestation related to the “big four” commodities responsible for most deforestation – namely, soy, palm, cattle and timber & pulp, . It’s seen the number of commitments increase from 307 in early 2015 to 579 in June of last year to 764 now. A new analysis of findings, due in March, is expected to show a dramatic increase in transparency around the implementation of those pledges.
Read more at the article from the Ecosystem Marketplace.
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February 9, 2017
February 9, 2017
by Sustainable Brands
Food waste and plastic packaging pose significant sustainability challenges for the food industry, but two new labeling initiatives in the US and abroad endeavor to change that.
“Best by” and “sell by” labels intended to inform consumers about food quality and safety have never been touted for their clarity. The terminology often confuses consumers, leading them to throw out food items prematurely.
In an effort to reduce food waste, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food Safety Inspection Service (USDA/FSIS) will be introducing a new regulation this year requiring brands to use the term “Best if Used By.”
A 2013 study co-authored by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic found that approximately $165 billion worth of food is wasted each year, simply because consumers do not fully understand the meaning of the dates that are printed on food packaging.
“We’ve all been there. We’ve taken milk out of the refrigerator, ready to pour it onto our bowl of cereal, when we notice yesterday’s date appears on the milk jug. The milk gets poured down the drain, and there goes our breakfast,” said Jill Carte, category manager of Food Safety at DayMark Safety Systems, a manufacturer of grab-and-go food labelling systems and other labelling systems for the food service industry.
“Much of the problem stems from the old ‘best by’ and ‘sell by’ date-marking system. The study reports that 90 percent of consumers assume that a date printed on a food package represents the date that the item expires — which is not always the situation,” she added.
According to Carte, the ‘best by’ and ‘sell by’ date often represents the food item’s peak freshness — not its edibility.
The change in terminology is not only expected to help reduce food waste, but it could help consumers save big at the supermarket. Carte estimates that families could save approximately $1,000 annually, allowing food to be consumed, marketed or donated past the freshness date, which will also provide a boost for the food industry as a whole.
Read more at Sustainable Brands.
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February 9, 2017
by Umberto Bacchi
Thursday, 9 February 2017 18:20 GMT
ROME, Feb 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A British supermarket has become the first retailer in Europe to use a new type of tank that keeps trucks motoring on fuel made from food waste for 500 miles, almost twice the current average.
The longer driving range - capacity had held back earlier green fuel options - could entice more business to turn to low-emission lorries and thereby help fight global warming.
"We will be able to make deliveries to our stores without having to refuel away from base," Justin Laney of the John Lewis Partnership, which runs the Waitrose grocery chain, said in a statement on Thursday.
Gas provider CNG Fuels said the upmarket grocery chain had added 10 trucks to its fleet, all powered by renewable biomethane gas, which emits 70 percent less carbon dioxide than diesel.
Transport accounts for about a quarter of Europe's planet-warming emissions, which the European Union has pledged to cut by 40 percent before 2030 under the 2015 Paris climate deal.
Biomethane gas is made from food waste, which is also a source of greenhouse gases.
The lorries, manufactured by Swedish truck maker Scania, can run on the green fuel for 500 miles, 200 miles more than the average, thanks to a carbon fibre tank that is lighter and holds more gas, the companies said in a joint statement.
Biomethane trucks' low range was previously an issue for many European hauliers and CNG Fuels CEO Philip Fjeld says they are now more likely to switch from diesel to natural gas.
Read more at Thomas Reuters Foundation News.
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February 9, 2017
9 February 2017
A new toolkit to help public procurers purchase better catering services has been launched by the French Ministry of Agriculture, Agrifood and Forestry (MAAF). The toolkit aims to increase demand for locally supplied, high-quality and environmentally friendly foods.
Titled Localim, the toolkit provides buyers with methodological support in their purchasing practices, as well as extensive information on products, channels, suppliers, product purchasing arrangements and regulatory frameworks. Through using the toolkit, it is foreseen that procurers will be able to significantly improve their purchasing practices.
Read more at Sustainable Procurement Platform.
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February 8, 2017
February 8, 2017
by Sustainable Brands
Communications provider Three UK is attempting tackle the ever-growing e-waste problem while connecting disadvantaged citizens to the digital world with a new recycling initiative aimed at redistributing unused mobile phones across the UK.
Three’s Reconnected scheme encourages the public to donate their old or unused mobile phones to people at risk, including the homeless, individuals who have left the military and victims of domestic abuse.
The company has partnered with recycling firm GSUK to review the quality and condition of the phones being delivered, and any handsets that fail to meet testing standards will be recycled. Three has also teamed up with the charity Good Things Foundation, an organization that helps people develop digital skills.
“Reconnected is a simple but very effective way to help those in need to get online. Initially, we rolled the scheme out internally and the feedback from our employees has been fantastic,” said Vicki Blenkarn, Three’s director of engagement.
“We are therefore so excited to launch Reconnected with the public to get even more people involved. Whether it’s keeping touch with family or checking updates on job websites such as LinkedIn, phones have become part of our lives. Handing over an unused phone is a small gesture that can make a huge difference.”
Individuals that receive the re-distributed handsets will receive 90 days of free access to the Three network, after which they can keep the handsets and choose a contract that best suits them.
Read more at Sustainable Brands.
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February 6, 2017
February 6, 2017
by Libby MacCarthy
Government-led initiatives designed to cut carbon emissions and reduce air pollution in cities, though well-intentioned, often come under fire from those who stand the most to gain from them — the public. Clean air is a high priority for government and citizens alike, but the burden of measures such as carbon taxes on vehicles that don’t meet certain environmental criteria often penalize citizens who commute and don’t have the resources to expend on the purchase of a less-polluting hybrid or electric vehicle — or inner city rent.
Like many other cities across Europe and the UK — including London, who surpassed its annual pollution limits within the first week of 2017 — Oslo’s air quality has been anything but stellar so far this winter, leading the Norwegian capital to put into place a temporary ban on diesel vehicles in an attempt to quickly reduce pollution levels.
Keen to further shift away from cars, Oslo has created a new incentive program to encourage citizens to embrace cleaner forms of transport. The scheme offers up to $1,2000 to residents to purchase electric cargo bikes — bikes equipped with electric motors that allow them to transport heavier loads via trailers or baskets. All residents, regardless of income, are eligible to apply for the funds.
Read more at Sustainable Brands.
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February 2, 2017
New and established regional procurement networks looking to gain access to useful resources and networking opportunities are invited to join the EU-funded SPP Regions project. By joining the project, procurers will be put in touch with other networks from across Europe, allowing them to learn from others’ experience of implementing sustainable and innovative procurement and to share their own.
All regional networks that include municipalities working together on sustainable public procurement (SPP) and public procurement of innovation (PPI) are encouraged to join. New members will be alongside the seven European regional networks that are already working closely with the project. SPP Regions offers support with developing networks, assistance with sustainable tendering, access to specialist workshops and webinars and mentoring from existing SPP Regions Networks.
Regional networks are extremely helpful in developing a successful sustainable procurement strategy, as they allow public authorities to learn from others’ good practice. They also enable procurers to develop a regional supply base, increase influence through joint market engagement and benefit from economies of scale through joint procurement.
Read more at ICLEI Europe.
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February 1, 2017
By George Ogleby | edie.net
1 February, 2017
The European Remanufacturing Council (ERC), a new industry-led body, was launched on Friday (27 January) to represent businesses currently producing £25.5bn (€29.8bn) worth of remanufactured goods that contribute to the circular economy. Euractiv’s media partner edie.net reports.
By raising policy awareness at an EU level, the ERC aims to increase the proportion of goods that achieve extended life through remanufacturing, from the current rate of 2% to 5%.
The Council was borne out of the Horizon 2020-funded European Remanufacturing Network (ERN), operated by UK-based research and consultancy group Oakdene Hollins. The consultancy firm works with public and private actors to embed sustainable products and services into business operations. This includes running the UK delivery of the EU Ecolabel on behalf of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
“Recycling grew from 5% in the 1980’s to 50% – let’s see if we can do the same for remanufacturing. If we can…jobs and growth will be our measure of success,” Oakdene Hollins managing director Davis Fitzsimons said on the ERC’s website.
The ERC will represent small and large firms from all remanufactured product sectors, and will look to highlight the potential for the sector to become an important part of the circular economy. Research suggests that the European remanufacturing sector could be worth €90bn by 2030 if it receives cross-sector policy support and investment from industry.
The Council will publish its annual recommendation on research priorities for national and EU-level innovation funding that will most benefit remanufacturing in Europe. ERC members will have an influence upon the definition of these priorities. Individual companies and European-level trade associations are invited to join the programme.
Read more at EurActiv.com.
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