Snips, an Italian company, has partnered Eastman, with global headquarters in Kingsport, Tennessee, and European headquarters in Rotterdam, Netherlands, to launch a line of water bottles and food storage containers made with Eastman Tritan Renew copolyester. The items in the line will contain 50 percent International Sustainability and Carbon Certification- (ISCC-) certified recycled content made possible through chemical recycling.

"Sustainability is at the core of our business," says Snips owner Raffaele Piacenza. "Reusable housewares are a practical way to eliminate single-use plastic waste. We need to start thinking about new solutions to enjoy the advantages that plastic offers while reducing waste. Eastman shares our commitment to sustainability and recycling. Now and in the future, Snips will be a steadfast participant in the circular economy."

Tritan Renew is made using Eastman’s polyester renewal technology (PRT), one of its Advanced Circular Recycling technologies. The company uses glycolysis to produce Tritan Renew. Its other PRT is methanolysis, which Eastman is using at pilot scale today with a commercial facility planned at its Kingsport campus.

Unlike those made from mechanically recycled plastic, products made with Tritan Renew present no trade-offs in quality because Tritan Renew is chemically identical to legacy Eastman Tritan copolyester, the industry standard for clarity, shatter resistance and dishwasher durability, according to the company.

The new 4 Recycle line of Snips water bottles and plastic storage containers represents the first adoption of Tritan Renew in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) market. "We're excited to help Snips augment its eco-friendly lineup," says Eastman Market Development Manager Arnold van den Berg. "We believe Tritan Renew, as a way of reducing plastic waste, will resonate with their customers. These durable bottles and containers represent every 'R' in the eco-conscience mantra we embrace at Eastman: reduce, reuse, recycle. We look forward to a long and collaborative relationship."

Kentucky’s Louisville Metro Council has approved grant funding to roll out large, lidded, rolling recycling carts to residents in its Urban Services District who currently recycle with small, 18-gallon bins. The new carts will be delivered to residents in the summer.

Louisville, Kentucky, applied for and received a grant from The Recycling Partnership, a nonprofit based in Falls Church, Virginia, that works with city governments to transform recycling programs. According to a news release from The Recycling Partnership, Louisville was selected to receive grant support because of its dedication to advancing recycling in the community. The grant helped to pay for 28,000 new carts and includes funding for education and outreach about how and what to recycle.

Louisville Councilman Bill Hollander, who sponsored the grant, says the local waste management district provided matching funds for the grants as well.

“I want to express my gratitude to the Southeast Recycling Development Council and all our partners for their support of this program, which is so important in supporting our efforts to protect the environment and helps us enhance cleanliness and health in our communities,” says Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer about the program.

Hollander adds that the city has “big, important goals for reducing the amount of material going to a landfill, and more recycling carts, and additional education and outreach, will help us meet them.”

California’s Berkeley Public Works Department Zero Waste Commission has signed on to use the AMCS Platform to modernize and unify its Zero Waste operation.

According to AMCS, with U.S. headquarters in Boston, its AMCS Platform best fit the requirements of the city’s Zero Waste division and scored highest in the city’s evaluation criteria.

Berkeley, located 10 miles northeast of San Francisco, is a densely populated city of more than 118,000 residents. The city is defined to a large degree, culturally and economically, by the presence of the University of California campus. As such, the city prides itself on being progressive, especially as it relates to the environment.

The city’s Zero Waste philosophy adheres to the definition adopted by the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA), “Zero waste means designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources and not to burn or bury them.”

The city of Berkeley established the Zero Waste Commission to help divert waste from its landfill and maximize the benefits of recycling. In addition, a municipal transfer station and landfill, the commission operates a 32-truck fleet to service the community’s waste and recycling operations.

The program has been wrestling with a legacy billing and work order system, supplemented by—but not integrated with—its customer relationship management (CRM) system. After long-term internal and third-party evaluation of its technology needs, the existing solution was deemed outdated, inadequate and incapable of providing functionality for running a modern-day zero-waste program.

The inefficiencies in business workflow, delayed community response times, and limited reporting and analysis capabilities hampered efforts to manage city refuse, recycling and organics collection effectively, according to the city. In addition, the legacy tools required heavy support from its IT staff.

According to AMCS, the AMCS Platform will help alleviate inefficiencies through some of the following measures:

• It will broaden constituent self-service capabilities, including online bill payment, and the AMCS self-service customer portal will empower residents and other stakeholders to access and manage their accounts online, 24/7. Via the portal, users will be able to manage and safely pay invoices, sign up for autopay, make order requests and changes, update their account information and view their account history.
  

• It will allow the city to optimize waste routes and provide real-time mobile communications. The AMCS Mobile solution also provides GPS-based routes that are preplanned and distributed to drivers on mobile devices. Drivers will use an advanced point-and-click interface to prevent missed pickups and provide proof of service for invoicing. Should route conditions, such as traffic jams, arise and threaten to slow progress, automatic rerouting will help improve efficiency. Live interaction between the office and drivers also will enable the city to update orders in real-time, eliminating the need for extra trips or paper orders. These new efficiencies will bring significant reductions in fuel and labor costs and improvement in vehicle mileage and emissions, supporting the city’s reduction of carbon emissions efforts and its Climate Change Action Plan.
  

• The AMCS integration also will help improve business processes based on best practices, improve business and system integration, eliminate duplicate data entry and improve access to data and user-friendly reporting tools. The AMCS Enterprise Management solution will streamline all processes across the business into one system with end-to-end visibility using automation to maximize efficiency.
  

Samantha Grierson Schwarz, director of change and chair of the Inclusion Steering Group at international metal recycling company EMR, says that company is working to encourage more women to enter the metal recycling industry.

What some might not know is that the U.K.-headquartered company with locations around the globe has a history that dates back to the 1950s and a woman’s dream of a better life for her family.

In the 1940s, Winifred Sheppard left wartime London for the relative safety of Rochdale after a bomb destroyed the factory where she worked and her job was relocated to Greater Manchester. With her husband and children, Sheppard started the business now known as EMR, in central Rochdale, according to a news release from the company in honor of International Women’s Day, March 8.

“When you think of metal recycling, you may have in mind an industry that is male-dominated,” Grierson Schwarz says. “You are not wrong.”

While Grierson Schwarz says she has not found her gender to be a factor in her success, she acknowledges that women globally might not share that sentiment.   

“The question arises, what are the obstacles preventing women from pursuing a career in these industries? An article published by International Women’s Day illustrated how inflexible working environments prove a big barrier for women who look to balance their careers with family life. Part-time working, job shares, remote working and maternity/paternity benefits are increasingly offered and frequently reviewed with the aim of increasing female participation in the workplace. After all, ‘Women belong in all places where decisions are being made,’” she says, referencing a quote from former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  

To encourage more women to enter industries traditionally viewed as being “male territory,” Grierson Schwarz says, “We must celebrate the individuals in roles that are not traditionally perceived as open to them, sharing the positive experiences which they have had within these positions. With this, we show their peers that their aspirations are attainable.”

She adds, “It is also important for businesses to review the way that positions are advertised and recruited. Unconsciously there is a tendency to use language which can be uninviting for women. Many businesses, like EMR, now use their recruitment process to highlight their commitment to equality in the workplace, and at EMR we aim to ensure that recruitment decisions are made solely on experience and talent.”

Grierson Schwarz adds that companies must go beyond hiring practices to create an “inclusive environment” that encourages everyone to bring “their whole self to work each day and feels valued, heard and able to make an impact while progressing their careers.”

She continues, “At EMR, we are working hard to create an environment where women can achieve their potential. Our culture is described by ‘The EMR Way’ – ‘We Care’ and ‘We Do’. It’s built on our values of ‘caring’ about what we do and getting the job ‘done’ for our customers and suppliers. These principles and values guide all of our actions and decisions. We ask that all of our employees uphold our values, try to inspire them in others and hold us to account if we fall short of them, so we can learn and improve.”

Grierson Schwarz says EMR “is already on the journey to ensuring the workplace is as inclusive as possible.” She adds, “To continue to build a more equal and inclusive future, our Learning and Development Team are already working hard to educate and better equip people for jobs, addressing skill-gap shortages and developing clear career plans to develop people and to keep them.”

The company’s new Inclusion Steering Group will help to “further the discussion and the development of a more inclusive environment where everyone can prosper,” Grierson Schwarz says.

“It was one woman’s determination that created the EMR we know today,” she continues. “EMR’s heritage and family values certainly shape the business, and I am proud to say I work for a company that aims to treat everyone equally and that puts their people first.”