By Joe Iles     March 15, 2018

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/5-innovations-could-end-plastic-waste

There's no love lost for plastic packaging. Whether it's complicated recycling instructions on the products we buy, startling images of the impacts on wildlife or simply the economic value lost through waste, plastics have been climbing the international agenda for years. So how do 8 million tonnes of plastic still end up in the ocean each year?


​Searching for the right solutions
The urgency of the issue has led to brands, governments, NGOs and celebrities promoting a host of solutions. Reusable packaging is part of the answer, and shopping bags, water bottles and coffee cups have become popular purchases for those trying to do their bit. This works to replace certain types of packaging, but think about all the other pieces of plastic we come into contact with every single day. Plastic film can keep food fresher for longer, and wrappers ensure medical equipment is safe for patients. In many cases, it wouldn't be hygienic, convenient or feasible to go fully reusable.

A number of initiatives also aim to tackle the impacts of the problem, from scooping plastics out of the ocean to collecting litter from beaches. Again, these are valuable efforts and must continue. However, the three best known major international ocean clean-ups combined deal with less than 0.5 percent of those 8 million tonnes of plastics that enter the ocean annually. We need to treat the cause as well as the symptoms.This means looking upstream to design a plastics system that works, in which this material never ends up as waste in the first place.

The challenge here is that when it's used, plastic packaging becomes dispersed. These items are distributed throughout the world in endless configurations and uses, with billions of customers. They're often tiny, lightweight, difficult to collect and individually aren't worth that much. So to truly rethink the way we make and use plastics, we need to come up with new approaches and systemic solutions.

Designing a better system
That's the thinking behind the New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize, launched in 2017 by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, together with the Prince of Wales's International Sustainability Unit, and funded by Wendy Schmidt. The competition invites designers and materials scientists to reinvent the types of plastic packaging that are almost never collected and recycled, and end up in landfill, incinerators or in the environment.

The winners are awarded a share of the $2 million prize, as well as a 12-month accelerator program, in collaboration with Think Beyond Plastic.

​The Innovation Prize comprises two parts. At the Our Ocean conference in October, the organizers announced the first batch of winning submissions. For this Circular Design Challenge, teams were tasked with coming up with superior alternatives to items such as shampoo sachets, wrappers, straws and coffee cup lids. These "small-format packaging items" account for 10 percent of all plastic packaging. They are not recycled and often end up in the environment.

Inventing circular materials
The second group of winners was announced at this year's Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The Circular Materials Challenge seeks ways to make all plastic packaging recyclable. This means inventing better solutions than conventional packaging, and the features that we take for granted. For example, many plastic films aren't just made of one type of polymer but a range of materials all mixed up. Each material has a function — water resistance, airtightness, appearance — but they also make common packaging items unrecyclable.

"The intention is that these innovations not only inspire further progress but are adopted, scaled and integrated into a working plastics industry."

The Circular Materials Challenge invites innovators to find alternative materials that could be recycled or composted. The five winning entries show what's possible when the principles of a circular economy are used to guide the research and development process. The intention is that these innovations not only inspire further progress but are adopted, scaled and integrated into a working plastics industry.

1. Packaging inspired by nature
The University of Pittsburgh team applies nano-engineering to create a recyclable material that can replace complex multi-layered packaging that is unrecyclable. This mimics the way nature uses just a few molecular building blocks to create a huge variety of materials.

 2. Recyclable packaging, with help from magnets
Aronax Technologies  Spain proposes a magnetic additive that can be applied to a material, creating better air and moisture insulation — making it suitable to protect sensitive products such as coffee and medical products, while still being possible to recycle. The additive — small, plate-like particles of silicates and iron oxide — will provide plastics with much better abilities to block gases such as oxygen, but can be identified and separated at the recycling stage.

3. Packaging from food waste
Working together, Full Cycle Bioplastics, Elk Packaging and Associated Labels and Packaging make a compostable high-performance material from renewable materials, agricultural by-products and food waste to pack a broad range of products from granola bars and crisps to laundry detergent.

4. 'Plastic' made from wood
The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has created a compostable multi-layer material from agricultural and forestry by-products, which could be used for stand-up food pouches for products such as muesli, nuts, dried fruit and rice.

​These wood by-products contain cellulose, the most abundant renewable polymer on the planet, making this new material an environmentally benign alternative to fossil fuel-based, multi-layered plastic packaging.
5. Compostable coatings
The Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC has developed a coating with silicate and biopolymers that can be used in many food packaging applications, protecting biopolymer packaging and food against premature degradation and is fully compostable.

The new coatings can improve the performance of bio-based and biodegradable packaging, which alone cannot guarantee the required minimum shelf life of many food products.

The circular economy transition
"These winning innovations show what’s possible when the principles of a circular economy are embraced," said Ellen MacArthur, responding to the announcement of the winning entries. "Clean-ups continue to play an important role in dealing with the consequences of the waste plastic crisis, but we know we must do more. We urgently need solutions that address the root causes of the problem." In 2016, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation released the first New Plastics Economy report, which provided the alarming and widely shared statistic that if we don’t change how we make and use plastic, by 2050 the oceans could contain more plastics than fish, by weight. Viewers of the BBC series "Blue Planet 2" saw this concern brought to life last year, resulting in another spike in public attention.

"The recycling symbol has been around for over 40 years, but just 14 percent of plastic packaging is actually collected; only 2 percent is properly recycled."

The New Plastics Economy reports have called for a redesign of the plastics system in line with the principles of a circular economy, a shift that will require a change in mindset. Because try as we might, as a society we haven't made much progress on the plastics problem. The recycling symbol has been around for over 40 years, but just 14 percent of plastic packaging is actually collected, and of that only 2 percent is properly recycled. The rest is lost during the recycling process, or goes to lower value goods. Despite best intentions, that yogurt pot you recycled probably won't be reborn as another yogurt pot.
So the new goal, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, is "a New Plastics Economy, in which plastics will never become waste or enter the ocean in the first place."
Creating system-level change
While the winning innovations represent the type of solutions needed to build a plastics system that works, these teams cannot drive the transition alone.

That's why the Innovation Prize is part of the New Plastics Economy Initiative, an ambitious collaboration led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, with participation from a broad group of leading companies, cities, philanthropists, policymakers, academics, students, NGOs and citizens.

Following the announcement in Davos, 11 leading brands, retailers and packaging companies are working towards using 100 percent reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025 or earlier.

Together, these bold commitments, along with the right policy incentives and demonstrators of radical innovation, provide us the best chance of creating a plastics system that works.

Emblematic of the "take, make, dispose" world we live in, if we can make plastic packaging fit within a circular economy, there's reason to believe that other industries can follow suit.

Article by Rick Leblanc | October 15, 2019

www.thebalancesmb.com/29-cost-saving-sustainability-ideas-for-businesses-4097466

Cost reduction has always been a priority for business operators, but in recent times, sustainability has also become an urgent concern. There's a common misconception that these two goals are opposed, though. The truth is, many moves to green your business can also save money. Whether you operate a small business or work for a large corporation, finding measures that reduce costs and increase sustainability should be a big part of your business plan. Here are 29 ways to go green while also saving money. 

Energy Cost-Saving Sustainability Ideas

1. Know the biggest energy costs: The U.S. Department of Energy has identified lighting, space heating, and cooling as the three most energy-consuming operations in an office. Whatever type of facility you operate, identify which equipment and operations are using the most energy. Then determine the most effective ways to cut that energy use without a negative impact on your business.

2. Understand energy bills: Don’t just blindly pay the energy bill that comes your way at the start of every month. Try to understand the invoice completely and consult your energy supplier for ways to reduce costs.

3. Implement a switch-off campaign: If you have a significant energy bill, implement a switch-off campaign. These campaigns raise awareness among employees and workers about the role they can play in reducing energy consumption. Start by designating a specific period—probably a week or month—for the campaign to run. Provide instructions to employees about switching off lights and energy-consuming appliances before leaving the workplace or when rooms are otherwise not in use. Use the intensive campaign to jump-start a new energy-saving culture.

4. Label switches: Labeling switches is a good way to ensure the employees don’t switch on unnecessary lights and appliances or turn off ones that should be left on.

5. Charge appliances overnight: If your utility provider offers a time-of-use plan, the costs of energy at night are cheaper than during the day. With this in mind, if your office or factory uses heating units and other appliances that need to be charged, charge those overnight. Consider other options to lessen energy use during peak hours and move that usage to off-peak hours, where possible.

​6. Install only energy-efficient light bulbs: Instead of installing low-cost, energy-devouring bulbs, consider investing in CFL, LED light bulbs, and halogens for significant long-term energy savings. CFL and other energy-efficient bulbs use up to 75% less energy.

7. Run an energy audit: Many energy suppliers offer free energy audit programs for their customers. Consider making a call to your provider to request one. You can hire a separate energy audit company as well. Take the time to carefully analyze the results. Look for quick wins that won't require significant investment, and make plans to budget for more expensive solutions.

8. Be aware of over-lighting: Make sure your employees know the perfect level of lighting in a room. Just as insufficient light in a room can hamper the productivity of your employees, over-lighting can cause the employees headaches, eye strain, and glare. Eliminate unnecessary lights throughout the workplace.

9. Make use of natural light: If your office has an adequate supply of natural light, make use of it where possible by keeping blinds and curtains open. Installing light dimmers is a good way to compensate for varying levels of natural light in a room.

10. Consider installing solar panels: Solar energy is a renewable, clean, and free source of energy that you can use in your office. It requires a substantial amount of initial investment but cuts energy costs in the long run. While low-maintenance solar panels won't be the best fit for every business, they are well worth investigating.

11. Install occupancy-sensor lighting: Consider installing motion- or occupancy-sensor lighting in conference rooms, bathrooms, storage cupboards, the warehouse, the plant or other areas that are not used continually.

12. Keep windows and doors closed when running any HVAC: This is common sense. But sometimes people can get careless and keep doors or windows open, causing the heating or cooling equipment to consume more energy than necessary. Also, check doors and windows for leaks.

13. Avoid cooling or heating unused areas: Sometimes heating or cooling appliances are installed in a way that they heat or cool unused areas such as corridors and storerooms. Shut vents to unused areas, and condition only the areas that need it.

14. Use hibernation mode: When you are away from your desk, make use of the hibernation feature to ensure your computer consumes less energy. Printers, air conditioners, microwaves, and other appliances also have energy-saving features. Educate your employees about those features and encourage them to use them.

15. Unplug appliances after turning them off: Many appliances continue to consume energy even after they are switched off. So, consider unplugging the appliances before leaving the office. Similarly, unplug battery chargers when batteries are fully charged.

16. Replace desktops with laptops: Laptops consume considerably less energy than desktops. If a lot of desktop computers are used in your office, consider replacing them with laptops in your next computer upgrade.

Green Waste Management Ideas

17. Use both sides of paper: Use both sides of papers when printing, photocopying and faxing. You can cut your paper usage, costs, and waste nearly in half this way.

18. Make use of reusable packaging: Packaging materials account for a significant portion of the waste we generate. Avoid using single-use paper or plastic cups bu substituting your office glasses or mugs. For office moves, take advantage of reusable moving crates. And in production and distribution, reusable transport packaging systems can offer whopping cost savings and sustainability benefits to supply chain stakeholders.

19. Use email or other communication software: When sharing information among employees, consider using emails or other digital communication instead of printed documents. Another simple change that can reduce waste is to proofread documents on the computer screen instead of printing them out.

20. Print only what is necessary: Many documents have little or no future purpose and should not be printed. As such, print only what is absolutely necessary. Decrease printing by making use of different online document sharing applications such as Dropbox or Google Docs. While a completely paperless office might not be practical for many businesses, you can probably digitize a lot of your document sharing.

21. Remove personal bins: Invest in quality bins and waste containers that last a long time. Reduce the number of bins in the office by placing a few centrally located bins and removing personal bins under each employee’s desk.

Water Consumption Minimization Ideas

22. Purchase water-efficient equipment: Some types of equipment consume a considerable amount of water. Often, more water-efficient models are available. The next time you upgrade any water-consuming equipment, consider water-efficient models that have a smaller water footprint.

23. Go low-flow: Make sure the showers, taps, and faucets are outfitted with low-flow technology wherever possible.

24. Install motion-sensor taps: Employees and workers can unintentionally leave taps running. Installing motion-sensor taps can solve this problem and reduce overall water consumption.

25. Put water hippos in the toilet cisterns: using water hippos in the toilet cisterns is a good idea to reduce flush volume and reduce water consumption.

Miscellaneous

26. Allow employees to work remotely: Allowing employees to work from home and away from the office can save costs in many ways. All you need to ensure is that they get the job done on time. You can also experiment with allowing staff to work longer hours in fewer days at the office.

27. Choose videoconferencing: Arranging meetings in your office incurs costs. Similarly, if you and your team travel to another place, it takes time and money. So, whenever possible, consider arranging videoconferences instead of having in-person meetings.

28. Buy used furniture: When decorating your office, consider buying quality used furniture. It enables you to save big without impeding the overall operations of your business. Commercial auctions can provide near-new office furniture at a substantial discount. Look for other recycled or used items as well.

29. Recycle and reuse: Identify recycling and reusing options in your company. Commit to a recycling program, develop a plan, assemble a team, and launch the program. Many items such as paper, file folders, cardboard, ink and toner cartridges, computers, and computer accessories can effectively be recycled.
Nothing can be achieved overnight. Commitment is the first step in converting your business into a green and sustainable one. Some cost-saving sustainability ideas mentioned above may require an initial investment but will yield a positive result in the long term. Try implementing the ideas one by one, not all at once. Who knows? One day you may be able to achieve zero waste in your business. Make your commitment today to reducing energy, water, and waste management costs. Cutting costs can deliver sustainability wins for your company while also helping create a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

The world is having to confront the toxic results of our love affair with plastic. Could nature offer some alternatives?
Article by: Adrienne Bernhard January 28th 2019 

Drinking straws and polythene bags may be bearing the brunt of the backlash, but the true scourge of single-use plastics is our sheer overreliance on them. From transport to manufacturing to food services, plastic is everywhere, and combatting this “white pollution” will require a sea change in the material itself.
Fortunately, scientists, engineers and designers are shifting their focus to ecologically friendly alternatives that create circular, low-waste ecosystems – liquid wood, algae insulation, and polymer substitutes made from fermented plant starch such as corn or potatoes, for example.
These alternatives do more than stem the growing tide of plastics: they also address issues such as safely housing a growing population, offsetting carbon emissions, and returning nutrients to the earth.

Stone wool
To transform one of the world’s most abundant resources into something with utility and sustainability takes a special kind of alchemy. Stone wool comes from natural igneous rock—the kind that forms after lava cools – and a steelmaking byproduct called slag; these substances are melted together and spun into fibres, a little like candyfloss.
 Unlike fibreglass insulation (made with recycled glass), or foamed plastic (the conductive materials often used to block heat transfer in attics, roofs and crawlspaces), stone wool can be engineered to boast unique properties, including fire resilience, acoustic and thermal capabilities, water repellancy and durability in extreme weather conditions.  
Over the past few years, stone wool has gained traction with eco-conscious architects and designers as they search for more sustainable building materials that are still cost-effective and aesthetic. The Rockwool Group is a leading manufacturer of stone wool insulation, running production facilities in Europe, North America and Asia. The company has installed stone wool in commercial and industrial buildings across the globe, including London’s O2 Arena and the Hong Kong Airport.
As wildfires and floods increase in frequency and severity, Stone Wool may also give homeowners an extra measure of safety in natural disasters. 

Mycotecture
Mushrooms aren’t just a flavour-packed addition to ravioli or ragu (or a sparkplug to the occasional psychedelic adventure); soon, tree-hugging fungi and forest-floor toadstools may replace materials like polystyrene, protective packaging, insulation, acoustic insulation, furniture, aquatic materials and even leather goods.
MycoWorks, a team of creative engineers, designers and scientists, is working to extract the vegetative tissues of mushrooms and solidify them into new structures, curating fungi as one might other organic materials like rubber or cork. Another company, New York-based Evocative Design, uses mycelium as a bonding agent to hold together wood paneling, as well as for flame-retardant packaging.

Mushrooms consist of a network of filaments called hyphae. When growth conditions are suitable, fruiting bodies – the structures specialised for the production of spores – make an often sudden appearance; so-called mycelial products are thus easy to culture and germinate.  

Mycelium can be grown in almost any kind of agricultural waste (think sawdust or pistachio shells); mushrooms grow together within the material, which can be configured into any shape, forming natural polymers that adhere like the strongest glue. By baking the fungi at precise temperatures, they are rendered inert, thereby ensuring that the mushroom doesn’t suddenly sprout again in a rainstorm. While chanterelles, shiitaki and portobello may go better with pizza than mushroomy plaster, one thing is clear: the future is fungi.

Urine bricks
Cement, concrete’s primary ingredient, accounts for about 5% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. Researchers and engineers are working to develop less energy-intensive alternatives, including bricks made with leftover brewery grains, concrete modelled after ancient Roman breakwaters (Romans made concrete by mixing lime and volcanic rock to form mortar, a highly stable material), and bricks made of, well, urine.
As part of his thesis project, Edinburgh College of Art student Peter Trimble was working on an exhibit that was supposed to feature a module on sustainability. Almost by accident, he created “Biostone”: a mixture of sand (incidentally, one of Earth’s most abundant resources), nutrients, and urea – a chemical found in human urine.

Pumping bacterial solution into a sand-filled mould, Trimble devised hundreds of experiments over the course of a year until he tweaked the recipe. The microbes eventually metabolised the mixture of sand, urea, and calcium chloride, creating a glue that strongly bound the sand molecules together.

Trimble’s design offers an alternative to the energy-intensive methods with a low energy biological process of microbial manufacturing. Biostone produces no greenhouse gases and uses a widely available raw material. While Trimble's material would require reinforcement to be as strong as concrete, it could become a low-cost way of building temporary structures or street furniture.
At the very least, Biostone has spawned a discussion on ways in which industrial manufacturing can be made more sustainable, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries where sand is readily available.
These bio-bricks do have an environmental downside, however: the same bacterial metabolism that solidifies them work also turns the urea into ammonia, which can pollute groundwater if it escapes into the environment.

​A greener particleboard
Despite what it sounds like, particleboard – those rigid panels made of compressed and veneered wood chips and resin used in furniture and kitchen cabinetry throughout the world – hasn’t actually a place in the green-building pantheon. That’s because the glue that binds particleboard’s wood fibres traditionally contain formaldehyde, a colourless, flammable, strong-smelling chemical and known respiratory irritant and carcinogen. That means your faux-wood Ikea shelf is quietly “off-gassing” toxins into the air.
One company, NU Green, created a material made from 100% pre-consumer recycled or recovered wood fibre called “Uniboard”. Uniboard saves trees and avoids landfill, while also generating far fewer greenhouse gases than traditional particleboard, and contains no toxins. That’s because Uniboard has pioneered the use of renewable fibers like corn stalks and hops, as well as no added formaldehyde (NAF) resin instead of glue.

It’s no secret that petroleum extraction, which is required to produce plastic, has devastating environmental consequences. Worse still is disposing of the plastic itself: the toxic chemicals contained in plastic often leach into foods, beverages and groundwater.

Shockingly, recycling merely slows down the journey of plastics to landfills or oceans, where the material simply fragments into smaller and smaller bits that never completely biodegrade. Some reports predict that, by 2030, 111 million metric tons of plastic will wind up in landfills and oceans . Recycling is a step in the right direction, but to truly reverse course, we need to look toward plastic alternatives and renewable resources for a sustainable future.

Author: Rinkesh 

The motivation to go green has not only increasingly become part of many company’s corporate social responsibility but also as an aspect of remaining relevant in the future business environment. Besides, there are more and more environmental concerns that can only be addressed through green initiatives in terms of production, servicing and manufacturing.
Companies are therefore seeking more innovative methods of promoting eco-friendly environments by integrating green practices in their business functions. The following are the top companies that are taking the lead in incorporating eco-friendly practices by going green.

McDonald’s
McDonald’s as one of the world’s largest food stores is taking the lead in going green by incorporating the outcomes of fast foods on people’s health while reducing their overall energy consumption. Particularly, the company uses energy-efficient appliances thereby cutting energy wastage by 25% during in their business activities. McDonald’s have also set up green parking lots by preserving them for only hybrid vehicles. The parking lots equally have permeable concrete with the capability of recharging the vehicles and cleaning ground water. Furthermore, McDonald’s use considerate means to obtain their animal products so as to limit their impacts on destroying animal habitats.

Dell
Dell is a leading manufacturer of computer equipment. With an aim of limiting environmental impacts, Dell has promoted the safe disposal of their products by coming up with an effective and efficient recycling program. Dell allows customers to give back any Dell-branded equipment to the company for free which encourages safe disposal and reduces the overall e-waste count. The company even accepts computers, printers and monitors from other brands for safe disposal.

Google
Google has also made some tremendous efforts in going green by slashing their energy usage and supporting green energy projects. For instance, Google has constructed the world’s most energy efficient data centers and continuously campaigns for the need for energy conservation and the use of renewable energy sources as well as clean energy products. Google has supported and funded green energy projects by buying and installing numerous windmills and solar panels.

Bank of America
The Bank of America went green when it realized the need for promoting a sustainable environment. Within a period of five years, the bank was able to cut its paper requirements by 32%. The bank also started an internal recycling program and it has achieved success by recycling about 30,000 tons of paper every year. This translates into conserving about 200,000 trees. What’s more, the company offers 3000 dollars cash-back reward to workers who shift to the use of hybrid cars.

Tesla Motors
Telsa Motors is a business involved in the manufacturing of cars that are eco-friendly. The amazing aspect about it is that it does so without forfeiting the power and speed of the cars. The electric powered cars made by Tesla Motors are very efficient and can go from 0 to 60 in just 3.9, with a tantamount of 256MPG from its electric output. The cars are sleek and their overall maintenance costs are also cost-effective.

Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart has made significant advances in positioning itself to further green courses in their supply chain operations. As one of the world’s biggest retailers, the company startled many and its competitors when it placed a strict policy to cut off suppliers whose manufacturing, processing and distribution methods contributed to vast carbon emissions. The Wal-Mart retail stores also utilize 100% renewable energy sources and their transportation systems maintain on fuel-efficiency.

Honda
Honda has taken various steps to be 100% at par with their environmental protection duty as an auto company. The company has invested a lot of resources in producing fuel-efficient vehicles and is constantly seeking ways to develop a hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicle.  As such, Honda is ranked as one of the most fuel-efficient auto producers in the US. At the same time, the company promises to cut down its carbon dioxide emissions. The company is also carrying out research with an aim of foreseeing a day when most cars will depend on hydrogen fuel as opposed to gasoline.

United (Continental Airlines before the merger)
The continental Airline (now United after the merger with united airlines) is another company that joined the worthy course of going green. It spent more than 16 billion US dollars to replace all their airplanes with those that are more fuel-efficient. This aimed at reducing emission by 5%. Further, since the year 2000, the airline has managed to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 75%. The airline has also employed about a dozen environmentalist staff members who work hand in hand with engine manufacturers to ensure more efficient processes and greener designs. The company also sorts its trash for recycling.

Tesco
Tesco, a British grocery supply chain company, is not left behind in integrating green elements in its processes. Specifically, it offers shoppers who return shopping bags savings. Besides that, the energy powering its stores is from wind power. It has also heavily invested on recycling, the use of biodiesel truck for making deliveries, and estimating its carbon footprint on each item sold to have a better approach towards environmental sustainability.

Brooks
Brooks has impressively joined the band wagon of green-oriented companies introducing a completely biodegradable running shoe. The shoe is as durable as the conventional ones that exist in the market. The technique used ensures the shoe only begin to biodegrade when it is in an active enclosed landfill. The biodegrading period takes 20 years as opposed to the conventional ones that take about 1,000 years. In other words, this approach can save up to 30 million pounds of landfill dumping within the same 20 year period.

S.C. Johnson
S.C. Johnson, a company dealing with the manufacture of household products, has also joined the league of green companies. Its mission is to lessen the implications its products have on the environment. On this account, the company has managed to reduce 1.8 million pounds of volatile organic compounds from its Windex artifacts and another 1.4 million pounds of polyvinylidene chloride from Saran Wrap. The company has minimized the use of coal to generate power by replacing most of it with natural gas.

​Coca-Cola
Coca-cola has made substantial strides in narrowing down to three most-important environmental goals. These include water preservation, energy and climate protection, and sustainable packaging. These initiatives imply a determination to be environmentally conscious. Accordingly, Coca-cola is actively involved in community recycling programs, use of efficient energies in production and supplies, and green packaging designs.

Starbucks
Starbucks is known worldwide as a top-ranking coffee shop. Besides that, it’s among the list of top companies that are going green. It has managed to do this by enforcing measures such as the bean-to-cup approach and the ingenious use of recycled coffee grounds in the making of their coffee tables. Starbucks is also in partnership with numerous environmental organizations, one of them being Earthwatch Institute, and continues to execute various environmental initiatives.

Toyota
Toyota, the world’s largest car manufacturing company, has also come up with innovative cars that reduce the overall carbon footprint. One of the most outstanding cars is the Prius model which is also celebrated as the world’s first mass-market hybrid vehicle. The car has been sold to more than 38 countries worldwide and even EPA has acknowledged its efficiency in terms of fuel consumption. In the UK, it is categorized as the third least carbon-emitting vehicle.

Pratt & Whitney
Going green takes many aspects. One of them is scaling back on the use of raw materials. This is particularly how Pratt & Whitney company has made it to the list of top companies that are going green. Pratt & Whitney has cut back 90% of its ingots in the jet engine blades manufacturing process. With the use of this creative method, Pratt & Whitney has managed to lower the amount of wasted ingots while at the same time significantly reducing factory emissions.

HP (Hewlett Packard)
Hewlett Packard is another computing company that has consistently undertaken sustainable manufacturing and processes to reduce the harm its products pose on the environment. Particularly, it has taken impressive steps in ensuring the current HP branded materials are 100% recyclable. It has also revamped its computer disposal strategy by opening various operational e-waste recycling plants across the globe. Further, HP takes back computer equipments of all brands, and is committed to the use of renewable energy sources.

Target
Target has realized the positive outcome of keeping an eye on eco-friendly sound business practices. Target has devised an innovative way of going green by introducing an eco-clothing line. The eco-clothing line is fashioned and designed by environmentally sound and dynamic fabric which limits the over-reliance of raw products. The retail operations also prioritize on lighting conservation at its shopping centers. Furthermore, Target funds and supports various environmental sustainability programs in the areas of education and environmental conservation.