Sustainability In Your Ear

Alice Bodreau, Strategic Partners Manager for Europe at the Ellen Macarthur Foundation joins Mitch Ratcliffe to discuss the new Circular Economy Glossary.  She led the development of the glossary in partnership with IKEA to help provide a common language for different industries to explore and activate the circular economy. We wanted to learn more about their approach to the building circular systems and future efforts to extend the reference for wider application. Alice also explains how the the Ellen Macarthur Foundation educational programs help to grow the community of companies, governments and non-profits needed to kickstart circular economies for many materials.The U.S. recycling system is a living example of the consequences of having no shared framework for collaboration. Our recycling system is a complex mix of local, state, federal, private and non-profit organizations that has been knitted together over the past 70 years. It’s no exaggeration to say that those organizations have difficulty communicating clearly, as recycling processes and rules vary by city, ZIP Code or the coverage area of the hauler that picks up your recycling. The result is a U.S. recycling rate in the low 30% range in contrast to Europe's 48% overall recycling rate. With a common language, we may accelerate the emergence of the circular economy. You can learn more about the Ellen Macarthur Foundation at https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/

Kevin Loria joins the conversation to talk about his recent Consumer Reports article about PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), in grocery and restaurant foods, Dangerous PFAS are in your food packaging. The magazine found PFAS in the majority of 100 food packaging materials they tested, including off-the-shelf foods at grocers and Burger King, Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, Taco Bell and other restaurants to-go packaging. Sometimes the chemicals were introduced in the manufacturing process accidentally but most were intentionally added to prevent grease, oil or liquid leakage. Banned PFAS continue to show up in new products, possibly because they may be picked up from recycled materials, the environment, water supplies or the soil.Referred to as “forever chemicals," PFAS are everywhere, including nonstick pans, cleaning supplies, shampoos and cosmetics — there will be no avoiding them until consumers demand their use be banned. New PFAS are invented constantly and introduced into the food supply chain despite growing scientific evidence showing that they contribute to cancers, immune system disorders and low birth weights. Kevin explains how to avoid PFAS when shopping and eating out. The article is available free; to learn more, visit Consumer Reports at https://www.consumerreports.org/

Our guest, Bill Niaura, Director of Sustainable Materials and Circular Economy at the Bridgestone Americas Technology Center, is working to create a circular economy in tires. Tokyo-based Bridgestone, the world's largest tire company based on revenue, recently announced a new partnership with carbon recycling firm LanzaTech to introduce a technology that gasifies — breaks down — the rubber in tires to feed to bacteria.  The process produces ethanol, a fuel that can also be used to make plastic and other products. They are also working to extract a precursor chemical for use in making new rubber and, by extension, new tires. Bill also explains how Bridgestone is exploring new sources of natural rubber, including the desert plant guayule that the company recently introduced in racing tires.Even as the automobile changes and becomes electric, some things will stay the same. Tires and the waste associated with them will continue to be a feature of the driving experience. Americans spend approximately $43 billion annually on more than 200 million replacement tires for passenger vehicles, according to the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s National Research Council. Globally, more than one billion tires are disposed of each year, and 40% of them end up in landfills. With all the controversy about plastic recycling, we wanted to get the details of this new process and understand how fast it could scale up. You can learn more about Bridgestone's tire recycling efforts at https://www.bridgestoneamericas.com/

Markets are characterized by competition over exclusive control of resources, but as our guest today, Frank Dalene, writes in his new book, Decarbonize the World: Solving the Climate Crisis While Improving Profits In Your Business, “here’s the problem: we are all part of the same planet. We all live in the same closed environment. We all have the same atmosphere. We all breathe the same air.” Frank joins us to today to discuss how business and regulators need to rethink their approach to markets in order to recognized our shared resources and reverse global warming. Frank is also president and CEO of Telemark Inc., a construction business that pioneered green building practices and helped introduce New York state’s green building standard.Frank developed the International Carbon Equivalent Mechanism Attributed to Neutrality (ICEMAN) methodology to describe the carbon impact of products, buildings and food  — eventually the ICEMAN system will provide a Carbon Factor Index score that can be placed on products and service offerings to make it easier for everyone to make informed, sustainable choices.We discuss how the carbon scoring system might be introduced and what it can account for in easy-to-use consumer labeling. You can learn more about Frank and Decarbonize the World at https://frankdalene.com/

Alexander Gillett, chief executive officer at HowGood, discusses the 15-year effort that produced the largest database of product sustainability data. HowGood announced a new round of funding today, and Alex shares how they will use the funds to expand their coverage and enable companies to get insights into the Scope 3 CO2 emissions associated with their supply chains. The Stone Ridge, N.Y.-based company's HowGood Latis plaform covers more than 33,000 ingredients, chemicals and materials along with sourcing information — where and how the product is grown or made — and the environmental impacts associated with food and other products. With that kind of information at our fingertips, shoppers are able to make fully informed decisions about what we buy based on how it contributes to climate progress and the rise of a regenerative food supply.Awareness about the growing impact of climate change has reached a critical mass, and most people now understand it’s important to act. The question is how? Choosing low-carbon and low-environmental impact products, especially food, which accounts for a third of human greenhouse gas emissions according to the United Nations, can help consumers take important steps that protect the environment. HowGood informatoon is currently available to consumers through the HowGood app for iPhone and to product manufacturers, retailers, restaurants and other businesses that use it find more sustainable options for making new products. You can learn more about HowGood at https://howgood.com/

Roian Atwood, Senior Director of Sustainability at Tractor Supply Company, joins the converstaion to discuss the largest rural lifestyle retailer in the country’s approach to stewardship of the lifestyle it refers to as “life out here,” which could help forge important changes of habit in those communities. Tractor Supply Company has aligned its very aggressive sustainability targets with the Paris goals of cutting overall emissions by 50% by 2030 and to be carbon neutral by 2040, a decade before most companies that have set goals. Roian also dives into the complexities of recycling packaging and the materials, such as steel palettes used to deliver tractors, that the company uses.Retailers, as we’ve heard frequently on this show, are keystone influencers in the shape of a new sustainable economy. The choices retailers make when stocking their shelves determine the choices consumers have. Tractor Supply Co. is working to electrify all its operations in a move away from fossil fuels and is already ahead of its original CO2 emissions and renewable energy goals. Founded as a mail order company during the Depression, Tractor Supply is also thinking through how the transition to ecommerce may change its physical interaction with customers, as well as drive the addition of recycling services at stores to bring customers in on a regular basis. You can learn more about Tractor Supply Co.'s sustainability goals at https://corporate.tractorsupply.com/ESG/stewardship/default.aspx

Mitch welcomes back Rick Wayman, CEO of the Foundation for Climate Restoration (F4CR), for a conversation about the twin threats of climate change and nuclear war. Vladimir Putin’s reckless war on Ukraine, which has come with repeated threats to use nuclear weapons, came at a critical juncture in the response to climate change. The 2020s is a make-or-break decade for halting emissions growth and starting on the path toward zero emissions — and this year is considered critical to a collective global response to the climate crisis. But the Ukraine war has many nations scrambling for access to fossil fuels to replace Russian supplies. It couldn’t have come at a worse time. We'll also check in on progress in the carbon dioxide removal technology, which is the F4CR's primary focus. Recent UN IPCC reports have emphasized the need to combine carbon reductions with removing the trillion-plus tons of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere.Before he joined the Foundation for Climate Restoration, Rick led the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, a non-profit that has “waged peace” against nuclear threats since 1982. The anti-nuclear movement has been less prominent in public debate between the end of the Cold War when the Soviet Union and its Eastern Block dissolved in 1989 and Putin’s dangerous threats to use nukes in Ukraine or as a response to U.S. and E.U. support for the embattled country. So, what can we do now? The lessons of the past combined with insights developed by climate activists may hold the key to unlocking a more peaceful and sustainable world. You can learn more about the Foundation for Climate Restoration at https://foundationforclimaterestoration.org/

Heather Florio, CEO of Desert Harvest, a maker of aloe vera-based nutritional supplements, will introduce a refillable smart bottle this summer. Desert Harvest is moving away from single-user plastic pill packaging in favor of compostable plant-based refill bags and smart bottles that feature Bluetooth connectivity and an app that helps customers manage refills and keep the packaging out of landfills. The container will be available for use with other medications, and can help caregivers track whether elderly patients have taken their daily doses on time. Heather also explains how the company's refined aloe products relieve the symptoms of interstitial cystitis, a debilitating disease that primarly affects women.One of the questions Earth911 gets most often is how to recycle or donate prescription medicine bottles made from a type of #5 plastic that is seldom recycled. In 2022, Americans are expected to fill almost 4.8 billion prescriptions and purchase another $42 billion worth of dietary supplements using packaging that goes mostly unrecycled. The Desert Harvest refill program, which include a refill package that is home-compostable, is a unique solution; and the company will accept end-of-life bottles for recycling through a mail-in program. You can learn more about Desert Harvest at https://www.desertharvest.com/

Designing the future of civilization is no small task. Our guest Michael Jansen, founder and CEO of Cityzenith, is a pioneer of digital twin technology. These emerging computer models are poised to transform how we test our assumptions about the impact of new designs and policies before making the changes in the real world. If you've heard of the Metaverse, Cityzenith's Urban Digital Twin 3D virtual models will sound familiar. Instead of providing an escapist fantasy world where avatars can dance and play games, digital twins offer a metaverse where data scientist and architects can test how the real world will respond to low-carbon strategies. Among other projects, Michael and his team have created digital twins of Las Vegas, Phoenix, and a new capital city in an Indian province.According to ABI Research, the use of digital twins in urban planning is expected to deliver $280 billion in savings globally by 2030. Ernst & Young also projects that over the same time, modeling technology can reduce urban carbon emissions by more than 50%, and lower the cost of operating buildings by 35% while improving productivity by 20%. We will be hearing more about digital twins in the news, and it will be important to understand their limits and how computer models can be improved to yield even more insight into the future of the built environment. You can learn more about Cityzenith at https://cityzenith.com/

Jacqueline Claudia, CEO of Smarter Sorting, joins the conversation to discuss the use of product information to expedite recycling and reduce food waste at retail stores. The company offers a tool, the Product Intelligence Platform, that retailers can use to catalog and accurately sort materials in the back of their stores. The platform also produces greater efficiency and accountability in the recycling system. Retailers working with Smarter Sorting can also inventory what they recycle and report it as part of their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosures. Jacqueline also explains a collaboration with Feeding America directing soon-to-expire food and waste to those in need.Successful recycling programs start with accurate sorting of materials, which results in cleaner and more efficient processing to make new feedstocks, raw materials for the next generation of products and packaging. The future of recyclables sorting requires a foundation of accurate product and packaging information to ensure things that look alike but are chemically different get sent to the correct processors. Two common examples of products that look similar but are chemically different are batteries that use different elements to store energy, and #1 plastic thermoform clamshell packages, which melt at a different temperature than #1 plastic beverage bottles, so cannot be mixed in the recycling process. Improved sorting can ensure that these similar but incompatible materials are routed to recyclers and processed instead of to landfills.