Sustainability

While efforts are on globally to cut plastic use and to ‘reduce, reuse and recycle,’ United Nations Environment Programme data shows that global production of primary plastic will touch 1,100 million tonnes by 2050. In the face of this, a Maharashtra-based start-up founded during the COVID-19 pandemic is developing an innovative solution to India's problem of plastic pollution. Their sustainable invention employs an unconventional alternative to plastic for packaging purposes: seaweed.

Professor Pradip K Maji and his team at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee), Department of Polymer and Process Engineering, have developed a structural colour-based sensors by making structural colour from an unexpected natural resource–agro-waste sugarcane bagasse. It is a structural colour-based stimulus-responsive sensor from Nano-cellulose having implications in intelligent packaging. The colour of the laminated films comes from a ‘chiral nematic liquid crystal,' a specific molecular self-assembly that interacts selectively with specific colours of visible light.

In collaboration with digital start-up Qyos by Algramo, the machines will be available at two retailers in Indonesia during a 4-6 month trial period.

Qyos was founded in 2020 and is an Indonesian start-up that aims to provide households with alternatives to single-use plastic. It is supported by machines with interface systems from Chilean environmentally friendly refill technology company, Algramo.

Bunge said the renewable energy initiative will offset 100% of its power usage in Fort Worth with an equivalent amount of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) that are derived from Texas wind power. Beginning in August, Bunge’s Fort Worth plant energy will be sourced from a local wind farm, the company said.

They contain just 5 raw, natural ingredients including oats, dates and coconut sugar, and are gluten-free and vegan with no additives or colours.

However, ‘Pri’s Puddings’ (as the brand was previously named) wasn’t engaging with enough target consumers- its on-shelf presence was struggling in the highly competitive healthy snacking category and the packaging lacked strong flavour cues or a distinctive tone of voice.

French luxury goods company LVMH has adopted LIMEX Pellet (injection moulding grade) of Japanese firm TBM for skincare packaging launched under LVMH’s brand, KENDO’s OLEHENRIKSEN.

LIMEX Pellet, a material mainly made from limestone, is said to be the first-to-market packaging and shows the commitment of LVMH, KENDO, and OLEHENRIKSEN to increased sustainability.

TBM said that the LIMEX Pellet is part of its efforts to switch the main packaging components from OLEHENRIKSEN to more environmentally friendly materials, including glass, bio-resin, and PCR.