
Dixie Divers.
Sony Electronics Inc., San Diego, has become the first consumer electronics manufacturer to sign the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's America Recycles Pledge, which affirms interest of organizations to “take action” to improve America’s recycling system. Sony Electronics, along with 76 organizations, including the EPA, have signed the pledge and begun collaborative work exploring “new models and methods for collecting and reusing recyclable materials,” according to a news release.
"The America Recycles Pledge is our commitment to increase domestic recycling, and we are excited to welcome Sony Electronics as our first consumer electronics manufacturer to join the group of pledge signatories," EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler says. "Strengthening the domestic recycling industry, along with creating new markets for recycled materials, not only improves the environment, but it also saves local governments valuable resources and provides high-quality materials for American manufacturers. Improving recycling is a top priority at EPA, and we encourage all levels of the recycling value chain to sign the pledge and join our efforts to bolster the nation's recycling industry."
Sony Electronics leads its own electronics scrap recycling efforts and partners with Fresno, California-based electronics recycler ERI to make it easier for consumers to recycle Sony products. Sony has also developed a recycled plastic resin that can be repalletized for use again in new Sony products, including TV models, cameras and other devices. In addition, the company’s global environmental plan, Road to Zero, strives to achieve a zero environmental footprint through the lifecycle of Sony’s products by 2050.
"As part of Sony's comprehensive environmental plan, we think about our manufacturing materials in terms of having more than one life and we constantly look for ways to extend the lives of these materials further and further," says Mike Fasulo, president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics North America. "Recycling is critically important to protecting the environment and to Sony's broad sustainability efforts. We are proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the EPA and other like-minded organizations toward collectively expanding and improving America's recycling capabilities."
Colgate and other consumer companies join TerraCycle’s Loop pilot program
The Clorox Company, Oakland, California, Colgate-Palmolive, New York, and Earth Friendly Products, Cypress, California, have joined Trenton, New Jersey-based TerraCycle’s Loop initiative, the first distribution platform that helps consumers reduce dependence on single-use plastic packaging.
Colgate is developing durable packaging designs for Loop and plans to begin with mouthwash in the pilot programs, according to a news release. Based on findings in the U.S. and France and later this year in London, the company says it hopes to expand to other Colgate oral care products and additional product categories as it assesses the viability of the new model. Earth Friendly Products will offer new Loop packaging options for laundry detergent and hand soap in late 2019, while Clorox will add Glad food protection product to the platform later this year. Loop launched in Paris and New York and will begin test markets in London, Toronto and California in 2020.
Colgate has worked with TerraCycle in countries around the world for nearly a decade to collect “hard to recycle” toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes. Through this partnership, more than 48,000 locations have engaged in recycling, helping the company divert nearly 9 million pieces of oral care waste from landfills.
“Loop offers an intriguing new option for reducing packaging waste and we’re excited about its potential,” says Ann Tracy, vice president of global sustainability at Colgate-Palmolive. “Colgate is constantly experimenting with different approaches to conservation and waste reduction, so we’re eager to see how we can make this new model work for retailers and consumers.”
Ellen MacArthur Foundation launches Jeans Redesign initiative
United Kingdom-based Ellen MacArthur Foundation has launched a new Jeans Redesign initiative, which creates new guidelines encouraging leading fashion brands and manufacturers to “transform” the way they produce jeans to tackle waste, pollution and the use of harmful practices.
Bringing together more than 40 denim experts, brands, retailers, manufacturers, clothing recyclers and sorters to develop the guidelines, including GAP, H&M Group, Mud Jeans and Tommy Hilfiger, the initiative is based on the principles of the circular economy and “works to ensure jeans last longer, can easily be recycled and are made in a way that is better for the environment," according to a news release.The first pair of “gold certified” redesigned jeans will be on sale in 2020.
Under the guidelines, jeans should be produced using cellulose fibre from organic or transitional farming methods. Metal rivets should also be designed out and reduced to a minimum to increase recyclability and any additional material added to jeans should be easy to disassemble.
Divers break Guinness World Record with largest underwater cleanup
More than 600 divers spent two hours cleaning waters off Florida’s Deerfield Beach International Fishing Pier, recovering about 3,200 pounds of marine litter from the ocean floor and breaking the Guinness World Record for largest underwater cleanup, which was previously held by a group of 614 divers collecting ocean litter from the Red Sea in Egypt.
Recovered material included lead fishing weights, fishing line, metal and debris. The dive was part of the 15th annual pier cleanup organized by Dixie Divers. In 2018, the annual cleanup removed 1,000 pounds of lead sinkers, 52 pounds of wood, 161 pounds of fishing line, 104 pounds of metal and 102 pounds of other debris, with a total of 1,465 pounds of material removed from the ocean, the group says on Facebook.
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