Story from Electronic House
Consumer electronics manufacturers have long been an easy target of environmentalists for the industry’s harmful materials, lack of recycling, and marketing strategies that constantly encourage consumers to run out to buy the latest and greatest offering. The past couple of years have seen a dramatic shift in strategy from the manufacturers and Sony Ericsson is promoting its latest round of “green” efforts.
Press release from Sony Ericsson
Bremont, the luxury watch maker, has unveiled a new line of limited edition watches made in part from materials saved from the restoration of 
a 1942 Spitfire war plane. The famous plane was responsible for shooting down six German aircrafts in one day and has been featured in films including Pearl Harbor.
Each hand crafted watch is unique and parts of the old plane are used in the dial and movement.
Press release (pdf) from Bremont and story from Style.com
From coast to coast, college students at several campuses are learning to make due without their trusty cafeteria trays. Long used to haul mounds of pasta and pizza, the trays are falling out of favor as schools look to green-up their operations. Eliminating the trays encourages diners to select only the food they really want (cutting down on waste) and reduces the amount of water used in cleaning up after meal time. A side benefit not mentioned in the article is that reduced portions may just help out with the “freshman 15”.
The University of Maine at Farmington is already seeing the benefits of going sans trays, having saved nearly 300,000 gallons of water since February 2007.
Story from Time
Today is recycling day in our neighborhood and just about everyone on the street had their blue bins out for the weekly pick-up. It’s great to see the participation rate so high and what was once seen as fringe activity has firmly planted itself in the everyday activities of mainstream America. However, now that recycling is being done by everyone, it’s time for the thought leaders to take it a step further with precycling.
Unlike recycling, which is a reactive action, precyclers take more initiative on the front end of purchase decision to minimize their impact. For example, rather than recycling a cereal box and throwing away the liner, precyclers buy cereal in bulk and thus never use the box in the first place. Precyclers also avoid buying bottled water and are using cloth shopping bags as well. (Note: Brand Week helpfully points out that this has caught on with stores and the public alike. Not exactly a cutting edge revelation.)
Story from Brand Week
Playing second fiddle to Starbucks is probably quite tiresome for Peet’s so it’s good to see that the company is getting some press for their environmental initiatives. The coffee roasting facility is the first in the United States to be LEED certified and is the first LEED Gold building in all of Alameda (California) County.
The new facility includes:
Story from QSR and press release from Peet’s
“Reuse” is a key component of keeping waste out of landfills and slowing down the production of new stuff. The official term for the industry that is reusing castoffs to create “new” versions is “Upcycling”. Think of it as a fancy word for turning $5 sweatshirts into $100 sweatshirts.
Story from MSNBC
Much has been written about new tops for wine bottles, but cork remains by far the most popular. So popular in fact, that more than 13 billion corks are produced each year. Corks are produced from the bark of cork oak trees in Portugal and are a renewable resource, as the trees are harvested just once every nine years and are not damaged in the process.
However, just because cork is renewable doesn’t mean it should be recycled and used for other products. ReCork America is a new program aiming to do just that. Participating wineries and restaurants collect the used corks which and then sent on to a new life as flooring, building insulation, and lots more.
Story from the Napa Valley Register
Wow, that’s a lot of cups and it doesn’t even count licensed (grocery stores, airports, etc.) or international stores. In addition to cups, the company also produces a tremendous amount of waste and recycling in the form of milk jugs, pastry boxes (you mean those aren’t made fresh on site?), and other packaging materials. In fact, the recycling rate of Starbucks stores actually decreased from 2006 to 2007.
With that said, the company is testing several ways to reduce its environmental impact and is currently the ninth largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy certificates. Some of the newer initiatives include more efficient roasting equipment, turning up the thermostat during the summer, building more efficient stores, and using coffee sleeves with 60 percent post consumer paper.
Customers also receive a 10 cent discount when they bring in their own cup.
Story from The Seattle Times
Somewhat common in other countries, Detroit developers are taking on the task of developing a stylish condo project using discarded shipping containers. According to the article, there are some 700,000 such containers around the U.S., as it’s cheaper to buy new ones than to send the old ones back to their country of origin.
The condos will be priced under $200,000 and will be up to 1,920 square feet. In addition to the obvious environmental benefits of repurposing the containers, units will feature energy efficient products and special insulating paint.
Story from the Detroit Free Press
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