Melodies in Marketing

Authentic Green Marketing & Sustainable Product Development

Green News Roundup October 4, 2008

Filed under: Sustainability — Mario Vellandi @ 6:40 pm

UN Green Jobs Report shows highly promising growth particularly in the renewable energy sector. There is concern however for worker safety in recycling and waste handling & reclamation.
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EDF and Wal-Mart Launch Shopping Bag Reduction Initiative - The Environmental Defense Fund will “develop reduction, reuse and recycling strategies as well as monitor efforts to reduce plastic shopping bag waste by an average of one-third per store from 2008 levels by 2013.”
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Green Plastic for Asia - The Brazilian company Braskem, Latin America’s largest petrochemical company, announced a partnership with Toyota for the production and distribution of HDPE and LDPE (high/low density polyethylene) made from cane-based ethanol.
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California’s “No Drugs Down the Drain” Campaign - It’s all about getting people not to flush pharmaceuticals down the toilet or drain because of their water contaminating effects.
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USDA Pesticide Testing Program Stopped - Whoah, say what? It’s apparently $8 million per year to run, and the EPA has been using its data for measuring the levels of pesticides in fruits, vegetables, and field crops since 1990. The program’s been slowly cut back in the last few years; scientists are pretty upset.
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Sweden and Denmark’s Low-Carbon Diet - It’s taken years, but the time invested has well paid off as the Toronto Star reports.
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Ports of LA and Long Beach Begin Clean Trucks Program - This $1.6 billion initiative is designed to reduce diesel truck emissions by 80 percent within five years, by reducing the number of older trucks on the road.
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U.S. Clean Coal is a Far Off Dream - The Government Accountability Office has reported that carbon capture and storage technologies for coal-fired electricity plants aren’t ready now, may not be for some time, and that
the “widespread deployment of CCS is unlikely to happen unless Congress passes binding limits on carbon dioxide emissions.”
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Waste Management’s E-Waste Recycling Commitment - One of the nation’s largest refuse companies has adopted a stewardship pledge by the Basel Action Network in addition to establishing some pretty substantive goals.
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Sustainability Strategies for Manufacturing - Supply Chain Digest offers this great short article on how manufacturers can look at 11 strategies for sustainable operations. Check out the diagram.
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Reducing Water Usage in Plastic Recycling Programs - ECO2 is a firm whose solvent helps clean PET bottles easier, thereby reducing water usage in recycling facilities
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Green Seal’s Revised Standards on Soap and Detergent Stir Ire - ICIS describes the basics of Green Seal’s updated standard and how some industry organizations are upset.
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FDA Expands Internationally for Overseeing Drug Manufacturing - Since more drugs are being manufactured in developing countries, the FDA is stepping up its presence abroad too.
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U.S. Sustainable Agriculture Standard in Development - Multiple parties recently came together to discuss opportunities and direction for what a standard would look like and cover. This PR release goes further in depth.
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Europe’s Advanced Chemical Toxicity Regulation and U.S. Implications - Seriously, just read this by the EDF. It just goes to show how much the U.S. needs to update its Toxic Substances Control Act.

 

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