Tag: recycling

  • The North Face Showcases bags made from recycled tents

    The North Face Showcases bags made from recycled tents

    Outdoor gear firm The North Face is teaming up with British eco-designer Raeburn to make designer bags from recycled tents.

    The bags are currently available for purchase online as well as at The North Face’s Urban Exploration store on Carnaby Street in London.

    “The North Face has been inspiring a global movement of exploration and conservation for over fifty years,” said fashion designer Christopher Raeburn, “and we couldn’t be prouder to be collaborating on this special project, applying our said ‘Raemade’ ethos to transform surplus tents into unique bags.

    “At Raeburn we’re motivated to work with brands, other designers and individuals to drive positive change in our industry, and it’s been fantastic to work alongside the talented team at The North Face to bring this project to fruition.”

    Every product will have a distinct aesthetic based on the varied colours of source tent materials used in creating the bags.

    Raeburn has previously collaborated with Timberland and other international brands on products made from recycled materials. Likewise, The North Face has engaged in a number of closed-loop initiatives, including its “Renewed” program to sell refurbished returned products as well as its carbon “net-negative” product line.

  • Adidas Test to Sell Shoes Made of Ocean Plastic was So Successful

    Adidas Test to Sell Shoes Made of Ocean Plastic was So Successful

    Adidas has spent the last four years curbing ocean pollution by recycling plastic beach waste into shoes – and because their customers have been so eager for the product, the company is kicking it up a notch. Adidas produced more than five million pairs of recycled plastic waste shoes in 2018, and they plan to incorporate the waste into at least 11 million this year.

    The upcycled plastic waste is made into a yarn which has since become a key component of the upper material of Adidas footwear. In addition to shoes, the company has also used it to make the first ever football jerseys made from recycled materials.

    The sporting goods manufacturer first started making the shoes in collaboration with environmental group Parley for the Oceans back in 2015. They developed the slick kicks using plastic waste intercepted on beaches, such as the Maldives, before it can reach the oceans. The Parley shoes are recreated from editions of their UltraBoost shoe, and a new version of their Adidas Originals shoe.

    And, in 2016, Adidas stores stopped using plastic bags.

    “We also continue to improve our environmental performance during the manufacturing,” said Gil Steyaert, who is responsible for global operations. “This includes the use of sustainable materials, the reduction of CO2 emissions and waste prevention.

    “In 2018 alone, we saved more than 40 tons of plastic waste in our offices, retail stores, warehouses and distribution centers worldwide and replaced it with more sustainable solutions.”

    Additionally, Adidas is committed to using only recycled polyester in every product and application where a solution exists by 2024. As a founding member of the Better Cotton Initiative, Adidas meanwhile sources only sustainably produced cotton.

    Recently, Adidas signed the Climate Protection Charter for the Fashion Industry at the UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland—and agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% before 2030.

  • 8 Easy Startup Ideas For Asia

    8 Easy Startup Ideas For Asia

    We live in the times of so many possibilities. Therefore starting a new business to earn some extra money could be very easy and done very quickly wherever you are – it could even be Asia. People are really into new technologies there at the moment, especially mobile payments through various apps, so you could use the benefits of  this trend for your business idea.

    If you love the idea of making some money on your own, here you’ll find some original ideas you could use for your startup and maybe even start today.

    Specialist Of Education Progress Tracking

    Every parent wants their kid to do well at school and gain the best education possible. That’s why there are so many freelance tutors that help kids and students learn the subjects that they are failing at.

    An education progress tracking will help you reach the best result possible. This is done by tracking the progress of your child and comparing it to other students who are moving up to a similar goal. For example, the same degree in business management or biotechnology. Many criteria need to be evaluated and compared, like grades, honors, certificates, additional skills, and so much more.

    Develop An App For Coworking

    Coworking apps are in demand both for teams in creative and non-creative agencies and also for study groups. Therefore if you are not completely new to coding, you could build an entire network where people could work together on a digital platform. Surely there are already some apps that allow you to share, comment files, and work on projects together, but you can always research your competitors and make an even better product. Simply detect what’s lacking in these apps.

    Print On Demand Business

    Print on demand businesses are getting really popular lately. That is because it doesn’t require any investments and therefore is a perfect startup idea for young people like students. The best part is that you don’t need to be responsible for keeping items in stock, producing it or putting logos on it.

    One of the most popular forms of print on demand business is selling t-shirts. All you’ll need to do is come up with the design. If you want to learn more about how to sell t shirts online – there are POD platforms like Printify that are very easy to use and offer you articles that help improve your business.

    App For Acting

    This could be a similar idea to SnapChat or Instagram Stories, but with a completely different concept. Friends would be able to create short videos with specific timing, for example, 20 seconds. And other friends would have to continue the story. After finishing a story, you could watch it as a single movie clip. To access a group, you should have a special code, link or different kind of key to access. Some groups could be open to everyone thought.

    Job Interviews On Video

    Image credit: Seth Doyle

    Wasting time always means wasting money. Companies and their hiring specialist waste tons of time trying to find the best candidates for one or another job position. It’s hard to imagine, how many time has been wasted on candidates that weren’t a good fit for the company.

    And you could be the one to offer these companies a solution and create a platform with already prepared video interviews. They would be short and very specific – candidates would be asked a few questions and answer it on camera. This could be a really good filter for the hiring specialists.

    Local Social Media Network

    Social media is extremely popular nowadays. But what if you were to create a new platform that would be based only on location? You would be capable of connecting with people, see events and other information related only to the place you are currently in. This would filter out a lot of unnecessary information that we see on our Facebook every day.

    Create An App For Recycling

    Image credit: Paula Brustur

    A lot of people today care about nature and recycling, but really lack knowledge about ecology and how it works. It’s hard to determine what is truly toxic for us and our environment and sometimes we just don’t know how to properly utilize specific products.

    If you were to create a recycling app, it could help people understand recycling more, especially with all the pollution is Asia. For example, if someone would be thinking how to recycle one or another item the right way, they could type the product in your apps search and quickly find an answer.

    Sell Your Own Crafts

    If you have some skills for crafting, you should know that it’s a very trendy thing to do at the moment. Especially things like handmade jewelry and gifts. You could sell your crafts on Etsy, but you can also create your own e-store. All you need is to buy a domain, choose the design and add all needed forms for orders and contacting.

    To save some money, don’t pay the programmers for creating the forms for you, simply use CaptainForm wordpress form plugin that will offer you all the forms your website might need.

     

  • BMW, Northvolt, Umicore team up on battery recycling

    BMW, Northvolt, Umicore team up on battery recycling

    BMW will team up with Northvolt, which is building Europe’s largest battery factory in Sweden, and Belgium’s Umicore to develop a process for electric car batteries to be recycled, the automaker said in a statement. BMW had a funding investment of undisclosed size in the venture, the Swedish startup, which plans to build a factory in Sweden to produce 32 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery capacity a year by 2023, said on Monday.

    The partnership could indicate that BMW will source batteries from Northvolt, giving investors confidence to fund the project that is expected to raise debt and equity next year.

    The project aims to create a “closed life cycle loop” for battery cells, which will be manufactured using a recyclable design and used in electric vehicles, then possibly as stationary storage devices before finally being recycled and reused.

  • H&M invests in ‘new unique’ recycling technology

    H&M invests in ‘new unique’ recycling technology

    H&M Group has also invested in new unique recycling technology, after partnering with Swedish company re:newcell whose unique technology recycles used cotton, viscose and other cellulosic fibers into a new, more sustainable dissolving pulp.

    The pulp can be turned into new textile fibers and be fed into the textile production cycle.

    H&M said the partnership is another step towards H&Ms goal to use 100 per cent recycled or other sustainably sourced material by 2030.

    “Re:newcell´s technology has the potential to become a commercial and scalable solution for the industry and accelerate the journey from a linear fashion industry towards a circular one”, said Cecilia Brännsten, acting environmental sustainability manager and circular economy lead, at H&M group.

    Earlier this month, the fast fashion giant reported a quarterly earnings drop after reduced footfall in stores and increased competition in the fashion sector.

    Net profit for the three months to end-August, the third quarter of the retailer’s financial year, came in at 3.84 billion kronor ($470 million), a drop of 20 percent. Sales grew 4.6 percent to 51.23 billion kronor.

    The fast fashion giant recently  confirmed it will open its first Wellington store at Queensgate Shopping Centre in Lower Hutt on October 26.

    Queensgate will be the site of H&M’s third store in New Zealand and span 2,700sqm over two levels.

  • Singtel, SingPost launch e-waste recycling program

    Singtel, SingPost launch e-waste recycling program

    Singtel has teamed up with SingPost to launch a nationwide e-waste recycling program in conjunction with World Environment Day.

    As part of the ReCYCLE initiative, Singtel will deploy e-waste recycling bins at selected Singtel shops and Singtel exclusive retailers for consumers to dispose of their obsolete mobile or internet-related devices. SingPost will also deploy the bins at post offices across Singapore.

    Singtel will also be providing special envelopes at all its eight shops and 58 Singtel exclusive retailers to allow residents to mail their recycleables.

    “E-waste is one of the fastest growing categories of waste as consumers dispose of electronic equipment even faster these days. According to the National Environment Agency, Singapore generates more than 60,000 tons of e-waste every year,” Singtel VP for group sustainability Andrew Buay said.

    “Most e-waste is still finding its way into landfills which pollutes the environment. With our partnership with SingPost, we’ve gone a step further to bring greater convenience to everyone by doubling our reach and touchpoints. We hope this will encourage more people to recycle and think twice before disposing their electronic devices down the rubbish chutes.”

  • Unilever to Test New Packaging-recycling Tech in Indonesia

    Unilever to Test New Packaging-recycling Tech in Indonesia

    Consumer goods giant Unilever on Wednesday said it has opened a new facility in Indonesia as part of a pilot project for introducing a new technology for recycling sachets used to hold shampoos and other products.

    Single-use sachets are widely sold in developing and emerging markets such as Indonesia. The Anglo-Dutch company said billions of such packages — including its own — are sold every year, but that recycling them has long been a problem due to technological hurdles.

    To address this, Unilever said it has developed a technology it calls the CreaSolv Process together with the Germany-based Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV.

    “With this innovative pilot plant we can, for the first time ever, recycle high-value polymers from dirty, post-consumer, multilayer sachets,” said Andreas Maurer, head of the plastic recycling department at Fraunhofer.

    The facility, in Sidoarjo, East Java, will “test the long-term commercial viability of the technology.” If successful, it will be applied in other developing markets, especially in Southeast Asia, said Sancoyo Antarikso, director for governance and corporate affairs at Unilever Indonesia.

    The company plans to work with local waste collectors, waste banks and retailers to help collect used sachets. “Using this approach, we’ll be able to reduce our environmental footprint, while creating economic value and potential additional incomes for the communities, the recycling industry and other stakeholders,” Antarikso told reporters.

    Unilever Indonesia hopes the Indonesian government will promote the concept of separating household waste to make collecting sachets easier. Currently, most Indonesian households do not separate their recyclable and nonrecyclable waste, as the country’s outdated waste management system is not yet capable of accommodating the practice.

    Indonesia produces an estimated 0.5 million to 1.3 million metric tons of plastic marine debris every year, making it the second-largest producer of plastic waste polluting the world’s oceans after China, according to a study published at the Science journal in 2015.

    The new recycling facility will initially be able to process 3 tons of plastic sachets every day. Antarikso said once the operations prove viable from the business side, Unilever will let a “business partner” take over to handle commercial-scale production. He added that Unilever will use the end products as materials for packaging, which is expected to reduce costs.

    David Blanchard, chief R&D officer at the parent company, said: “We intend to make this tech open-source and would hope to scale the technology with industry partners, so others — including our competitors — can use it.” Unilever said it wants all of its plastic packaging to be “fully reusable, recyclable or compostable” by 2025.

  • How does electronic waste get recycled?

    How does electronic waste get recycled?

    The life cycle of electronics and electrical equipment (EEE) does not end when they stop working.If recycled properly, the precious metals found in electronic waste can go towards new EEE products.Discarded consumer electronics such as mobile phones, for instance, contain small amounts of precious and rare earth metals such as gold and silver.Scrapped cars and home appliances such as fridges and air conditioners also contain these rare metals, along with base metals of iron and zinc.In Singapore, there are several e-waste recycling initiatives for consumers.

    StarHub, for instance, partners recycling company Tes-Amm and logistics company DHL Delivery to place 328 specialised recycling bins in 277 locations under its Renew programme.Singtel has recycling bins placed at three of its shops for consumers to discard their used gadgets.Under the Project Homecoming initiative led by Canon and Epson, those with ink and toner cartridges can also drop them off at selected National Library Board locations.SORTED

    Once collected, the e-waste is sorted, labelled and dismantled according to their types – wires, LCD screens, hard disks and more.Measures, such as demagnetising hard disks, are taken to ensure data security.The e-waste is then exported to countries equipped to separate the metals through chemical processes.Once extracted, the metals are used in the manufacture of new products.

    Why recycle e-waste?

    When electronic waste is not disposed of properly, both the environment and public health suffer.This is because e-waste is very heterogeneous, National University of Singapore’s Associate Professor Tong Yen Wah explained.Apart from being made up of many types of components and materials, discarded electronics are also assembled in many ways, from simple devices like batteries to complex ones like smartphones.
    “All of these make e-waste very difficult to handle and recycle, and if their disposal is not done properly, these materials can get out and be circulated in the environment,” said the co-director of NUS’ Energy and Environmental Sustainability Solutions for Megacities programme.For instance, toxins from e-waste in landfills can seep into the groundwater that flows into rivers, causing water pollution.