Packaging & Waste Briefing: PepsiCo, Virgin, The North Face

by | Jul 18, 2011

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PepsiCo Beverages Canada has announced the introduction of the 7UP EcoGreen bottle, Canada’s – and North America’s – first soft drink bottle made from 100 percent recycled PET plastic. The drinks company says that creating a bottle made from 100 percent recycled plastic for soft drinks is more challenging than creating a bottle for non-carbonated beverages because of the stress on materials from carbonation pressure.

Virgin America is placing water refill stations in airport departure lounges, to encourage flyers to bring refillable water bottles through airport security. Currently there are four such “Hydration Stations” located in Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport.

The North Face and Terracycle have launched an initiative to improve recycling rates of the poly bags that the outdoor gear brand’s products come shipped in. Terracycle will provide pre-paid postage for green-minded consumers to mail their polybags in. The firm says it will then “upcycle” the bags into consumer products such as park benches and trash cans.

Using wood products for construction instead of steel and aluminum would cut carbon emissions massively, according to research by the University of Washington, reports ScienceDaily. The report says that sustainably managed forests are essentially carbon neutral as they provide an equal, two-way flow of carbon dioxide: the gas that trees absorb while growing eventually goes back to the atmosphere when, for example, a tree falls in the forest and decays, trees burn in a wildfire or a wood cabinet goes to a landfill and rots.

Bellingham, Wash., has become the 23rd community in the United States, and the second in the Evergreen State, to ban single-use plastic bags, reports Waste & Recycling News. The ban goes into effect July 11, 2012 and also requires retailers to charge shoppers at least five cents for each paper bag used at checkout. The other city in Washington to ban the use of plastic bags is Edmonds.

Paper in landfills is down significantly since 2005, according to research by the Environmental Paper Network. The average North American used 504 lbs of paper in 2009, versus 652 lbs in 2005. The report also says that sustainable tree farms are on the increase. The number of acres certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council in North America grew by 66 million acres between January 2007 and January 2011.

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