Recycling

OG11 Morning Keynote: Ben Packard- VP, Global Responsibility, Starbucks

Posted on 10. Nov, 2011 by Sarah Hadburg.

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Adjusting Solution Sets to scale through Collaboration

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Part 1 of 2: TOP 4 Sustainable Breweries in Celebration of American Craft Beer Week

Posted on 16. May, 2011 by Patrick Haase.

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For the beer industry, “Reduce, Re-use, Recycle” isn’t just a convenient mantra or well-rehearsed platitude, it’s gospel. Many breweries are finding creative ways to reduce energy and raw material inputs, re-use water, and recycle waste outputs. Breweries are leaving no stone unturned, no avenue unexplored, to make their systems and processes more sustainable. There’s a synergy between profitability and sustainability – a good beer is an environmentally and socially conscious beer. So, as you knock back a few in celebration of American Craft Beer Week, you can drink knowing your suds are more than satisfying, they’re sustainable.

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Bag It: Is Your Life Too Plastic? An Interview with Suzan Beraza

Posted on 09. May, 2011 by Christopher Bay.

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In Bag It, Jeb Berrier, talk radio personality and modest “average Joe”, voyages into the world of plastics examining the single-use conundrum, marine contamination, corporate interference-to-progress and the truth behind recycling.

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Day 2 at OG: A Few Morning Highlights

Posted on 24. Sep, 2010 by AHA.

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Andreas Klugescheid, vice president of governmental affairs for BMW Group, illustrated the brand’s progress on sustainability issues this morning through a series of cartoons. Each depicted aspects of its “What’s Next” sustainability campaign, including zero emissions, use of alternative fuels and renewable energy, recycling, and demographic change.

One recent innovation from the group on the zero emission front is the Megacity Vehicle, which will be on the market in 2013. It is part of BMW’s Project I, Klugescheid said, and it features an emission-free electric drive train and a carbon-fiber body. This revolutionary vehicle is just one of BMW’s projects in looking at the future of mobility.

“The future driver will not buy a car; they will buy mobility,” he said.

Klugescheid also emphasized the point that CO₂reduction is now an aim for society as a whole, and solving it will require all stakeholders—private sector, NGOs, governments and consumers.

In addition to hearing from BMW on mobility issues, we heard from an expert in the building industry—another Andreas—Andreas Schierenbeck, president of building technologies at Siemens.

“To focus on making cities, and the world, greener and more sustainable, we must focus on the efficiency of buildings,” said Schierenbeck. “Zero-net-energy buildings will save significant energy and can even make money.”

Buildings now account for 40% of the world’s energy use and 21% of CO₂ emissions, he said. And while Schierenbeck admits that focusing on buildings isn’t the only answer, it is a huge opportunity for reducing emissions and energy use. He closed with the charge that there are “no excuses” for not making progress, because we have the tools and technologies to start making an impact in this area.

Behavioral change is another challenge—in both transportation and building industries—which both experts admitted is not as easy to tackle.

Written by AHA! for Opportunity Green.

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Panel: Green Product Design and the Drive Toward Zero

Posted on 23. Sep, 2010 by AHA.

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It was back to the Mad Men sound stage for a panel discussion this afternoon, and sadly, no sight of that rascal Don Draper. Sigh … But even better, messenger bag god and former CEO of Timbuk2 Designs, Mark Dwight, was among a group that discussed green product design. Dwight left Timbuk2 a few years back and now runs Rickshaw Bagworks out of San Francisco.

“Perfection is the enemy of progress in this journey,” he said. “Don’t wait around for the perfect solution. There isn’t one. There’s always an unintended consequence.”

Dwight said the ultimate goal at Rickshaw is to “drive toward zero.” The Power of Zero is the company’s rallying cry and a mantra on how to operate internally and communicate to the outside world, he says.

Also on the panel was Gopal Krishnan, senior director of global marketing innovation and new categories for The Coca-Cola Company. A participant asked which was better: recyclable or compostable packaging. “Recyclable is more important than compostable to us,” Krishnan said. “We believe it’s much more efficient to melt down a bottle and make another one instead of starting all over and creating a brand new bottle.”

Panel member Jason Foster, founder and CEO of Replenish, said his reusable bottle is getting a lot of attention, but he’s as excited about the cleaning solution inside. It’s non-toxic, pH neutral and biodegradable—a very rare combination for a cleaning product. Watch for Replenish’s flagship product to be out later this year.

Written by AHA! for Opportunity Green.

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Office Depot’s Yalmaz Siddiqui Talks About Reaching Consumers Across the Green Spectrum

Posted on 10. Sep, 2010 by AHA.

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When he became Office Depot’s director of environmental strategy in 2006, Yalmaz Siddiqui introduced a strategic framework that has become central to Office Depot’s environmental efforts: Buy green, sell green, be green.

The simple statement stretches across every aspect of the company’s operations, including procurement for its own use and for resale; efforts to reduce waste and the carbon footprint of its internal operations; and expanding the scope and scale of its environmental program to not only respond to customer demands, but proactively seek new solutions to meet their needs.

To accomplish that third goal in the B2B and B2C marketplace, Siddiqui says it’s important to recognize one important point: Green is not an all-or-nothing proposition.

“Different customers are different shades of green, and we can have the greatest impact by taking an inclusive position and recognizing that it’s a journey,” he says.

At Opportunity Green, Siddiqui will join Jeff Mendelsohn, president and co-founder of New Leaf Paper, to talk about Office Depot’s most recent “be green” project, a life cycle analysis of its 100% post-consumer recycled copy paper, which New Leaf supplies. Office Depot and New Leaf worked with the MIT Media Lab and the Carbon Trust to track the paper’s carbon footprint through every link in the supply chain, to create an on-product label reporting total environmental impact in terms of carbon.

“We’ll be telling the story of our desire to understand the life cycle of this product and the practical elements of how we did that, to share what we’ve learned so far and help others do the same thing with their products.”

Siddiqui says the Opportunity Green conference represents the arrival of a new way of looking at what it means to be green: “Opportunity Green is a unique conference because it focuses on the 80% of the green marketplace—the small and medium-size businesses and corporations that are just beginning to take this on,” he says. “That’s where we want to be. We want to help customers find the opportunity in green, find savings, and find where they can innovate using a green lens. It’s part of a new, more inclusive approach focused on profit and innovation rather than purity and perfection.”

Written by AHA! for Opportunity Green.

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OG 2010 Attendee David Nahai Shares His [Fascinating] Personal Thoughts on Business and The Environment

Posted on 18. Aug, 2010 by Jacqui Polk.

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Opportunity Green had the chance to speak with energy expert and community leader, David Nahai who will be attending OG 2010 at the Los Angeles Center Studios. In this video, Nahai offers his personal opinion on current issues relating to business and the environment.

A former CEO and general manager of the LADWP, Nahai is currently Senior Advisor to the Clinton Climate Initiative. He is also President of the law firm, David Nahai Associates, and the manager of David Nahai Consulting Services where he advises and assists public and private entities involved in the environmental sector, with a particular emphasis on renewable energy, energy efficiency, water conservation and waste water treatment and recycling projects.

To watch the full interview, click below.