Environmentally Friendly Plastic Bottles

There have been great advances in the manufacturing of sustainable product packaging, rather than using plastic (three million tons of plastic are thrown away in the UK annually).

British company Greenbottle make a biodegradable milk bottle that uses a smart two-part system to aid recycling. The bottles are composed of a cardboard outer manufactured from pulped, recycled cardboard, which is lined with an inner sleeve of biodegradable plastic made from corn starch. The plastic keeps the cardboard from becoming soggy, and the cardboard makes for easy transport, storage and pouring. Once the bottle is empty, the inner sleeve can be pulled out and will decompose in a landfill within six weeks. The cardboard outer can be put out for recycling with other paper or thrown in with kitchen and garden waste for home composting.

The bottles currently cost up to 30% more than their plastic counterparts, but costs will go down once production steps up.

Also a French company called Sidel have created a new bottle called “water skin” that is a lighter alternative to traditional PET bottles. A regular plastic half-litre water bottle weighs 13 - 16 grams, however Sidel’s NoBottle weighs just 9.9 grams. According to Sidel, “Water is the largest beverage market by volume with 160 billion litres consumed in 2006. It also represents the highest growth sector and is expected to expand by 5.7 percent annually between now and 2010.” On that scale, waste reduction of 20-30% adds up.

By using a highly flexible type of plastic with shape-memory, which lets the bottle bounce back into shape after being gripped or otherwise compressed, they can achieve these impressive gains. Whilst clearly using plastic at all isn’t eco-friendly it is definitely eco-friendlier than current bottles.

Do you know of any better or innovative solutions to reducing plastic bottle waste?

[Via: Springwise here and here]

Is Organic Food Better For Your Heart?

According to the BBC and researchers in the USA, organic fruit and vegetables may be better for you than conventionally grown crops.

“A ten-year study comparing organic tomatoes with standard produce found almost double the level of flavonoids - a type of antioxidant. Flavonoids have been shown to reduce high blood pressure, lowering the risk of heart disease and stroke.”

Read more at the BBC.

Envrionmentally Friendly Coffee

Coffee addicts who want to start their day on an ecologically friendly note may want to fill their mugs with Solar Roast Coffee - a fresh new brew for java lovers that is roasted using clean abundant solar energy.

Based in Pueblo, Colorado, Solar Roast Coffee uses only 100% organic or fair trade coffee beans. Their special solar-powered roasting technique ensures the least impact on the environment. Not just a regular roaster powered by solar panels, Solar Roast’s Helios 2.0 catches rays of sunshine directly on a drum roaster filled with beans. The roaster is capable of reaching temperatures upwards of 550 degrees Fahrenheit, and swivels and tilts allowing it to track the sun throughout the day. No fossil fuels are burned to heat the beans, and no electric connection is needed to power the roaster’s fans and motors. The result? Likely the most earth-friendly coffee available on the market.

The first Solar Roast Cafe opened in Pueblo early this year, and the company already has plans to open more locations in the western U.S, and also operates an online store. Coffees begin around $12 per pound.

[Via Springwise]

Latest Green News

There hasn’t been a latest green news for a while, so here’s an extra long one for you to enjoy.

Marks & Spencer is to ban petrol-fuelled company cars, recycle more coat hangers and give its chickens more room to roam, according to new eco-pledges to be announced today. The 33-page report, contained in its annual corporate social responsibility review published alongside its annual report and accounts, makes 100 commitments to tackle climate change, cut waste, increase sustainability, encourage healthier lifestyles and make M&S a ‘fair partner’ to do business with.

Ikea is switching its entire UK company-car fleet to hybrid vehicles as a prelude to a possible company-wide shift to greener vehicles. The company said it would trade in its Skoda company cars for Honda Civic hybrids by next year in a pilot programme that it is considering extending to other countries.

The cost of organic fruit and vegetables could fall after the discovery of a new technique which extends the shelf life of fresh produce. Scientists have found that treating apples with short bursts of oxygen allows them to be kept in cold storage for as long as eight months without them developing any blemishes.

B&Q will this week pledge to abandon the sale of the endangered hardwood merbau at its Chinese stores amid criticism of China’s timber trade and mounting concern about the contribution of illegal logging to global warming. Executives from the company will hold a joint press conference with Greenpeace in Beijing on Tuesday at which they will outline plans to
abandon the wood which is currently used in flooring and furniture.

The Daily Express reported that Superfoods are not only enjoying a popularity boom, they are fuelling a multimillion-pound industry. Blueberries have enjoyed the biggest sales surge of all, up 132% in two years, with Britons spending 95m on them in the year to last month. Other foods renowned for their health benefits, such as broccoli, salmon and spinach, have also been selling strongly. The Evening Standard also reports that demand for organic and Fairtrade produce has soared. A poll has shown that the proportion of people agreeing that it is worth paying more for organic food has risen from 24.3% in 2002 to 33.4% this year.

The Guardian reported on a campaign to encourage shoppers and retailers to support the first ever national plastic bag-free Christmas. We Are What We Do has announced it plans this week to build on heightened public awareness about the issue to end the wasteful use of plastic bags and excessive packaging over Christmas. It hopes to persuade retailers to
tell shoppers that they will not automatically get a plastic bag, and to display a colourful logo saying “Plastic Ain’t My Bag”.

The government’s chief scientist Sir David King has advised that all food products should carry a carbon emissions label to enable shoppers to buy greener goods. He also called excessive packaging “a consumer tragedy”.

The Financial Times today reports that Europe’s agricultural ministers have agreed on a compulsory logo for organic food as new figures have revealed that an increasing number of farmers are switching to the production method in response to consumer demand. The logo will be used from 2009, however some producers have stated that standards have been set too low as they permit genetically modified material that accidentally enters the food chain.

Royal Mail, the UK postal services company, is to conduct trials of electric vehicles after awarding a contract to Tanfield. Royal Mail, which boasts a fleet of over 33,000 vehicles, has taken a single 7.5-tonne Newton electric truck and a single 3.5-tonne Edison van on trial. A successful trial could see Royal Mail place an order for more electric vans in a deal
that could potentially be the largest signed by Tanfield.

The Sunday Mirror today reports that sales of organic food have reached over £1b-a-year for the first time, increasing by 9.3% in the year to March 2007. A new report has revealed that the food has grown so popular that it is leading to new supply shortages. Dairy goods and fresh produce were the biggest sellers, with milk accounting for 19% of organic sales growth. Sales of organic poultry, fish and meat also rose by 11.5%.

The Evening Standard City Spy claims that Marks & Spencer’s new plastic bags, made with 20% recycled material, do not work. The article claims they are thinner and flimsier than the old bags, meaning that customers are forced to ‘double-up’.

The price of organic food could increase because of new rules about GM labelling, campaigners warn today. The Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers have pledged to keep their criteria of accidental GM contamination at 0.1%, despite EU agricultural ministers agreeing that 0.9 per cent should be the cut-off point for GM-free labelling. Maintaining this standard could incur extra costs to farmers and growers which would in turn push prices up.

Waitrose has started selling milk in plastic pouches after campaigners complained that the sale of millions of plastic milk bottles was threatening the environment. The pouches will be sold alongside special jugs to use them with.

All news is copyright of it’s original owner and reproduced for information only.

Providing Better Prices For Tea Farmers

Based just around the corner from where I work in London, Cafédirect is the UK’s largest 100% Fairtrade hot drinks company, with a 35% share of UK Fairtrade tea and coffee sales.

They have just launched Teadirect, a unique minimum pricing scheme that means growers are always protected from the extreme lows of the commodity market.

Cafédirect has recently increased its minimum price to ensure that all growers supplying Teadirect are rewarded for the quality of the tea that they produce. This way they can make a decent living from their crop and you can enjoy a decent cup of tea. Teadirect is available in packs of 40, 80 and 160 tea bags and for those who wish to cut down on caffeine there is also a decaffeinated version. Expect to pay around £2 for a box of 80 Teadirect tea bags.

Cafédirect’s range of teas, coffees and drinking chocolate is 100% Fairtrade and is available from most supermarkets, Oxfam shops, Traidcraft mail order and independent wholefood retailers. You can also enjoy Cafédirect and Teadirect away from home, as more and more offices and public places stock the range.

Cafédirect’s new minimum tea pricing structure consists of three elements:

1. A base price, which covers the total cost of production for most of Cafédirect’s tea partners.
2. A sustainability allowance, which covers any remaining costs of production and for the most efficient groups, provides a business income. This is used by the factories to further strengthen and stabilise their businesses through investment in infrastructure such as buildings, human resources, systems or additional payments to the farmers.
3. A quality differential, which differs according to the standard of tea produced. This is to provide an incentive and reward to the growers for continual improvement in the quality of their crop.

For further details check out Cafédirect.

Organic Food Takes On The Empire!

It might be rather silly, but I’ve a soft spot for Store Wars, the spoof Star Wars film made by the Organic Soil Association in America. You can view it here or watch the dodgier quality You Tube version below and see the story of a plucky young cucumber learning the ways of ‘the Farm’ and fighting the ‘Dark Side of the Farm’.

Of course it’s all got a serious message, promoting organic food, but it manages to raise a smile or two. The cantina scene is brilliant.

Lick Global Warming

Strangely Ben & Jerry’s and The Dave Matthews Band have teamed up, along with SaveOurEnvironment.org to form Lick Global Warming.

On the site you can offset your travel emissions (so to speak) by supporting renewable energy projects and send a letter to the US Congress about how far behind they’ve fallen on cutting greenhouse gases. Also you can enter to win a trip to the first 100% carbon neutral festival in America - The Telluride Bluegrass Festival on June 21st - 24th.

There are other nice features, such as an interactive map of global warming and some other games to help kids learn more about global warming.

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