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Zero waste lifestyle: 10 practical tips to get started

Nanoplastics and microplastics (NMPs) are sneaky invaders, hiding in the tap water we drink every day. These tiny fragments of plastic have already been linked to unsettling changes in gut health and antibiotic resistance, raising alarm bells about their impact on our bodies. But here’s some refreshing news: scientists have discovered a surprisingly simple solution — boiling your water. <h2>A kitchen hack for cleaner water</h2>Researchers, led by biomedical engineer Zimin Yu, have found that boiling water and then filtering it can remove up to 90% of nanoplastics and microplastics from tap water. “This simple boiling water strategy can 'decontaminate' NMPs from household tap water and has the potential for harmlessly alleviating human intake of NMPs through water consumption,” the team explains. Even better? You probably already have the tools you need in your kitchen: a pot to boil water and a simple stainless steel mesh to filter out any leftover bits. <h2>How does it work?</h2>The trick lies in the build-up of limescale — or calcium carbonate — when water is heated. If you’ve ever peeked inside a kettle, you’ve seen this chalky layer. When water is boiled, calcium carbonate naturally precipitates out of the solution, forming a crust. This crust traps NMPs on its surface, making it easier to filter them out. “Our results showed that nanoplastic precipitation efficiency increased with increasing water hardness upon boiling,” the researchers write. For example, in soft water (low in calcium carbonate), the process managed to remove about 25% of NMPs. Meanwhile, in hard water (higher calcium carbonate levels), the process removed up to 90% of NMPs. <h2>The harder the water, the better the results</h2>Hard water, often considered a nuisance because of limescale, might actually be a secret weapon against microplastics. The researchers found that the harder the water, the more effective the boiling process was at capturing and removing plastic fragments. In water containing 300 mg/L of calcium carbonate, NMP removal reached an impressive 90%. Even at lower levels, such as 80 mg/L, over a third of the plastics were filtered out. Using a simple tea strainer or other household filters, these lime-encrusted plastic fragments can be easily removed before the water is consumed. <h2>Why it matters</h2>Microplastics aren’t just a problem for the planet — they’re becoming an intimate part of our daily lives. Previous studies have identified plastics like polystyrene, polyethylene, and polypropylene in drinking water. While the long-term effects on human health remain uncertain, the evidence suggests we’re better off without them. “Drinking boiled water apparently is a viable long-term strategy for reducing global exposure to NMPs,” the researchers say. For many, boiling water before drinking it is already a cultural norm. But the researchers hope their findings will encourage more people worldwide to adopt this practice as plastics continue infiltrating our water sources. The findings of this research have been published in Environmental Science &amp; Technology Letters and can be accessed <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00081">here</a>.

Worried about the harmful microplastics in your water? You just need to boil and strain it before consumption

America has long had a plastic problem. It's an urgent question — what do we do with the 40 million tons of plastic waste we produce annually? One year of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/disposable-face-mask-waste-toxic-poison-water-nanoplastics-pollution-health-2022-2">plastic waste</a> is roughly enough to smother the entirety of Manhattan a meter deep, and it has to go somewhere. For years, the answer was simple: Make a lot of it, dump most of it in the landfill, and make the rest of it someone else's problem — the US regularly exported 7 million tons a year to China alone. Some of it was melted into lesser plastic; the rest was incinerated or buried.But then, in 2018, China cut off plastic imports.Now, America is coming to terms with a hard truth: Plastic was never designed to be recycled and there's no profitable way to recycle 91% of it. The environmental impacts have been disastrous. About 430 million tons of plastic are produced globally every year, accounting for 14% of global oil demand. The refinement of plastic alone emits up to 235 million tons of greenhouse gases a year. Most of that plastic breaks down into <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microplastics-risks-heart-attack-stroke-study-2024-3">microplastics</a> that make their way into the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/expert-how-i-keep-baby-family-safe-toxic-plastic-microplastics-2023-1">air, rain, and our bodies</a>. Almost 95% of America's water supply contains plastic fibers.While the US, the UK, and other European countries responded to China's ban by sending their waste to places like Thailand and Malaysia, those countries then followed China in cutting off waste imports. The message was clear: The Global South would no longer be a dumping ground for the West.<div type="image" title="A scavenger drinks water while collecting plastic waste to sell to a recycling center at a landfill in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia in March 2024" height="3333" width="5000" msid="109561992" hostid="261"></div>America is now scrambling to find alternatives. One approach peddled by oil corporations like Chevron and Exxon has been to turn plastic into crude oil, which they say extends the life of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/north-americas-largest-waste-hauler-investing-in-a-plastic-recycler-2022-9">plastic that would've otherwise ended up in a landfill</a>. As these companies look to replace projected lost revenue from the phasing out of fossil fuels, they're lobbying to blanket the country with 150 plants that specialize in pyrolysis, a form of chemical recycling that melts plastic down into crude oil to be used for fuel and petrochemicals, as well as to make lesser-quality plastics. While advocates champion these facilities for breaking down hard-to-recycle plastics that other <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-recycling-startups-aluminum-plastic-valuable-materials-2024-4">recyclers toss aside</a>, critics condemn them for emitting toxic particles, relying heavily on government subsidies, and acting as a greenwashed alternative to addressing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/plastic-recycled-into-bricks-ivory-coast-conceptos-plasticos-2023-2">the plastic problem</a>.As they're pitched as an innovation set to bring us a "circular economy" of plastic that allows us to stop making new plastic and just reuse what we have, marketing for pyrolysis and recycling overlooks a glaring fact: Plastic production doubles every 15 to 20 years.This isn't sustainable, Tim Miller, a vice president at the Ohio plastic-recycling center Royal Paper Stock, told me, adding: "But I don't know how to stop it." Pyrolysis is another sign of America's plastic paralysis.In the years after World War II, plastic flooded the marketplace as a cheap alternative to otherwise scarce and finite materials. It was hailed as a democratic harbinger of a new, utopian age of capitalism, fueling the subsequent decades of cheap consumerism that became synonymous with the American dream."The continuous flow of oil fueled not just cars but an entire culture based on the consumption of new products made of plastics," Susan Freinkel wrote in her book "Plastic: A Toxic Love Story."Plastic went from being practically nonexistent in 1940 to being consumed at a rate of 30 pounds a person each year by 1960. Just as quickly, it became a target of environmental movements protesting litter, garbage-filled oceans, and landfills brimming with plastic. Oil and chemical companies responded by looking into whether recycling was realistic or, more importantly, profitable. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled">It wasn't</a>. So companies shifted the blame for the pollution onto consumers. The "Crying Indian" commercial, funded by beverage and packaging corporations, aired in 1971, showing a Native American character crying at the sight of litter.The messaging worked. As companies expanded plastic into every facet of life, recycling became the due diligence needed to sustain our hyperconsumption. We didn't worry about plastic bottles because the recycling truck carried them off to a new life. Companies like Coca-Cola and Nestlé slapped "100% recycled" and "100% recyclable" labels on their packaging to appear sustainable. Just last year, the Plastics Industry Association launched a million-dollar ad campaign, "Recycling Is Real," claiming that it's "not only real, but feasible and economical."While recycling is real, the vast majority of plastic isn't recycled, mostly due to how expensive it is to clean and sort it effectively. A 2022 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found only 9% of all plastic ever produced had been recycled; 72% ended up in landfills or the environment. Unlike aluminum or glass, the plastic that can be recycled rarely results in replacing one recycled water bottle with another.<div type="image" title="Recycling sorters at Recologys Recycle Central sort out pieces of flimsy and film plastic destined for landfill in 2019 in San Francisco" height="4480" width="6720" msid="109561996" hostid="261"></div>Instead, it's a process of downcycling — turning plastic into lesser plastics like plant containers or bins before they are relegated to a landfill. By downcycling a tiny portion of plastic waste, companies can genuinely reuse a relatively small share of plastic, while convincing consumers that the industry has created a circular economy of infinitely recycled plastic. Never mind that products advertised as being made from recycled plastic are made almost entirely out of new plastic or that almost all the 300 pounds of plastic every American consumes each year (10 times as much as in 1960) ends up in a landfill, in the ocean, or incinerated.Larry Thomas, a former president of what's now called the Plastics Industry Association, told NPR in 2020: "If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be as concerned about the environment." And if they aren't worried about the impact of plastic on the environment, they won't threaten the plastics industry.Since 2018, the fossil-fuel and plastics industries have faced two harsh realities: Oil is being phased out in favor of clean, renewable energy, and plastic waste can no longer be exported to developing nations in the South. To replace their fuel losses, oil companies are going all in on plastic. The International Energy Agency predicted in 2018 that petrochemical products like plastic would outpace trucks, aviation, and shipping in oil demand by 2050. In a recent report, ExxonMobil predicted that petrochemicals used largely for plastics and fertilizer would account for nearly all of the oil industry's growth by 2050, replacing industrial fuel demand, which is projected to decrease. To keep expanding plastic production, however, it needs to look sustainable.<div type="image" title="A Good Year sign in Akron, Ohio" height="960" width="1200" msid="109562000" hostid="261"></div>Akron, Ohio, which hosts about one-quarter of the country's polymer companies, is ground zero for this push. Designated by the Biden administration as the only "tech hub" in Ohio, the city has received tens of millions of dollars from the CHIPS Act, which it hopes to use to create a circular economy around plastic.In 2012, Alterra Energy opened America's first large-scale plastic-pyrolysis facility. According to its website, Alterra converts "plastics back into their original building blocks to produce new plastics and other valuable products." The crude oil produced by the Akron facility is shipped to petrochemical companies around the globe to be purified and made into new plastics. But it's unclear how effective this process is.A study published in 2023 by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that the economic and environmental impact of turning pyrolysis oil back into plastic was actually far worse than it was to make brand-new plastic. As a result, they said, pyrolysis oil is "typically reintegrated into the petrochemical industry where only a small fraction is used for closed-loop recycling."<div type="image" title="The Alterra Energy facility in Akron, Ohio" height="960" width="1200" msid="109562003" hostid="261"></div>"It has had, let's say, limited success," Miller, the Royal Paper Stock vice president, said about pyrolysis. "No one yet in the United States that I know of is just cranking in plastic and pumping out oil." He pointed to a pyrolysis facility in Oregon that just announced it would shut down after tens of millions of dollars in losses.Residents in Akron are split on the impacts of the Alterra facility. On the one hand, pyrolysis melts plastic to be reused instead of sending it to the landfill or incinerator. On the other, it emits cancerous pollutants such as mercury, benzene, and arsenic, and props up the very fossil-fuel companies that are driving the climate crisis.<div type="image" title="Kelley Sayre in front of her garage in Akron, Ohio" height="1500" width="1200" msid="109562007" hostid="261"></div>"Akron's going for 'the green city on the hill,'" Kelley Sayre, a fourth-generation Akron resident, told me, "but it's really 'the greenwashing city.'"Vicky Abou-Ghalioum, the lead petrochemicals organizer of Buckeye Environmental Network, has been working with Akron residents concerned about the environmental and health impacts of chemical recycling, but it's proved challenging in a city ruled by polymers. "People are afraid to talk about plastic," she told me. Her organization has been pushing the EPA to address the influx of planned pyrolysis facilities in Ohio, arguing that they're bad for the environment and people, and aren't even profitable.In a statement to Business Insider, Alterra Energy said its Akron facility is profitable and diverts over 100,000 pounds of plastic each day from landfills. "We operate in a heavily regulated industry and are in compliance with those requirements," the company said in response to concerns about toxic emissions. It also said one of its customers uses Alterra's oil product exclusively for making new plastic.Despite the problems of pyrolysis, many manufacturers hail it as a sustainable miracle. Companies such as Eastman Chemical Co. see chemical recycling as the solution to recycling or composting 50% of their plastic packaging by 2025, and the American Chemistry Council claims the growing industry is necessary for fostering what it calls "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.americanchemistry.com/chemistry-in-america/news-trends/press-release/2022/america-s-plastic-makers-encourage-congressional-focus-on-advanced-recycling-to-achieve-circularity">plastics circularity</a>." But these companies face an uphill battle. Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York City launched an $85 million campaign in 2022 to stop over 120 proposed petrochemical facilities. "Petrochemical plants poison our air and water — killing Americans and harming the health of entire communities," Bloomberg said in a statement.In the plastic-recycling industry, pyrolysis is seen as a well funded but failing experiment. A 2023 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.beyondplastics.org/publications/chemical-recycling">report</a> by Beyond Plastics and the International Pollutants Elimination Network found that the 11 pyrolysis facilities in operation in the US required massive public subsidies, most couldn't operate at full capacity, and only two of the plants sold the crude oil to be used exclusively for plastic production. Most of it was sold to make fuels and chemicals. Based on their findings, they argued that pyrolysis was ultimately "a public relations distraction to prevent plastic regulation and prop up the profits of the petrochemical/plastics industry."Though the conundrum of plastic grows more dire by the day, there are signs of hope. In early <a target="_blank" href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/historic-day-campaign-beat-plastic-pollution-nations-commit-develop">2022</a>, the UN adopted a resolution that could send shock waves throughout the entire plastic-disposing world. Heads of state, environment ministers, and UN representatives agreed to end all plastic pollution with a legally binding international plastic treaty to be officially adopted later this year. "Plastic pollution has grown into an epidemic," Espen Barth Eide, Norway's then-minister for climate and the environment, said in the announcement. "With today's resolution we are officially on track for a cure."The resolution would establish an agreement addressing plastic at every level, from production to recycling, in an attempt to reduce plastic pollution worldwide. Organizations such as the international coalition Break Free From Plastic have said that cutting the production of plastic has to be on the table. "The oil and gas industry sees plastic as its primary growth market and is investing billions of dollars in new and expanded facilities," the organization wrote in a 2022 statement. The group recommended bans on single-use plastics, a plastic tax, and regulations that prioritize plastics that can be recycled."Reduction in the production of plastic is entirely possible," Abou-Ghalioum of Buckeye Environmental Network told me. She pointed to the more than 500 cities and 12 states that have banned plastic bags, reducing the number of bags used by the billions. "It's talked about how we rely on plastic for so many things, and it just feels like a marketing ploy to make us reluctant to shift away from it," she said. "We had everything we ever needed before plastic."The tough reality is that the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/landfill-plastic-area">9.5 billion tons of plastic</a> with us will be here for hundreds of years. But how many millions of more tons are added will be determined by the types of solutions we arrive at today.<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/taylor-dorrell">Taylor Dorrell</a> is a writer and photographer based in Columbus, Ohio.

China stopped taking our plastic. Now America is drowning in it. 

When you buy through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. <a href="https://www.insider-inc.com/commerce-on-insider-inc/">Learn more.</a><a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fd.com%2F" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow sponsored"></a><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fproducts%2Fthe-clean-essentialssentials" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow nofollow nofollow sponsored nofollow sponsored">Blueland's The Clean Essentials kit</a> ($39) contains reusable bottles and dissolvable <keyword id="6412409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cleaning">cleaning</keyword> tablets so you can cut down on your plastic waste. </li><li>All you do is add water and a tablet to the bottles for a concentrated cleaning solution. Extra tablets cost only $2 each.</li><li>Blueland tells Insider <keyword id="52147" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="reviews">Reviews</keyword> that it's seen a significant uptick in orders due to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-virus-everything-we-know-deadly-2019-ncov-wuhan-spread-2020-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fears of the new coronavirus</a>, but there are currently no shipping delays.</li><li>While Blueland products are effective for general cleaning, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/home/cleaning-disinfection.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recommend using alcohol-based products</a> to disinfect surfaces as they're effective in killing viruses. </li></ul>Table of Contents: Masthead StickyIt's becoming easier to eliminate single-use plastic. When you go grocery shopping, use a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-reusable-shopping-tote-bag" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nylon tote bag</a>. Instead of buying plastic water bottles, use water filters at <keyword id="6363870" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="home">home</keyword> and carry a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/favorite-water-bottle-takeya-bkr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reusable water bottle</a> when you go out. To wash your hair and brush your teeth, use <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/by-humankind-sustainable-personal-care-review" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shampoo bars and mouthwash tablets</a>. If you look hard enough, there are now ways to "de-plasticize" nearly every aspect of your life, including the laborious, expensive, and wasteful chore of cleaning your home. New startup <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fd.com%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow nofollow nofollow nofollow sponsored">Blueland</a> is giving you both a cleaner home and a cleaner planet through a clever and cost-efficient system that involves dissolvable cleaning tablets, reusable bottles, and your own sink.In the opening episode of the latest season of "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shark-tank-home-products-2017-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shark Tank</a>," it successfully convinced investors how and why its non-toxic cleaning tablets and sustainable packaging would change the way people clean — and after trying it ourselves, we're converts, too. <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fd.com%2F" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow nofollow"><div type="image" title="blueland cleaning review 4" height="600" width="800" msid="77092451" hostid="261"></div></a><h2>How <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fd.com%2F" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow nofollow nofollow sponsored">Blueland</a> works</h2>Blueland's starter kit is called <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fproducts%2Fthe-clean-essentialssentials" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow nofollow">The Clean Essentials</a> and costs $39. Blueland provides three sturdy bottles made from acrylic and all labeled for different uses: multi-surface, glass and mirror, and bathroom. It also includes a soap dispenser constructed with the same acrylic material. Then you have three cleaning tablets, one for each purpose we mentioned before. The tablets make 20 ounces of solution each while the soap tablet makes 9 ounces of solution. To make the cleaning solution, you fill the bottle up to the designated line with warm water, then drop the corresponding tablet in the bottle. Within seconds, it's ready to use, no shaking or stirring necessary. <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fd.com%2F" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow nofollow nofollow sponsored"><div type="image" title="blueland cleaning review" height="600" width="800" msid="77092457" hostid="261"></div></a><h2>Review of Blueland</h2>You can visit <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fproducts%2Fthe-clean-essentialssentials" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow nofollow nofollow sponsored">The Clean Essentials</a> product page for a detailed ingredient list for each cleaner. The key highlights are that all the products are free from volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/pr201755.pdf?origin=ppub" target="_blank" rel="noopener">harmful to pregnant or nursing women and children</a>, and anything on the <a href="https://static.ewg.org/ewgverified/docs/EWG_License_Program_Restricted_List_C01.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Environmental Working Group's restricted list</a>.They're also free from traditional disinfecting ingredients such as chlorine bleach. All the ingredients are natural or naturally derived, so the cleaners are hypoallergenic, and they're pet-safe and cruelty-free. Such stringent requirements are a product partly of the times, as more shoppers demand <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/natural-cleaning-brands" target="_blank" rel="noopener">natural alternatives to most things in life</a>, and partly of cofounder Sarah Paiji Yoo's personal stake in the game. As a new mother, she became hyper-aware of all the products that came in contact with her baby, from microplastics contaminating water supplies to chemical-laden air pollutants like VOCs. <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fd.com%2F" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow nofollow nofollow sponsored">Blueland</a> is the carefully formulated result of such concerns. <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fd.com%2F" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow nofollow nofollow"><div type="image" title="blueland cleaning review 3" height="600" width="800" msid="77092459" hostid="261"></div></a>I tested the cleaners in my own home and found them to be effective and easy to use. Each one except for the glass and mirror cleaner is scented, but with none of the overpowering or harsh scents I've come to expect from household cleaners. My bathroom, in particular, is prone to dust and grime buildup, but the <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fcollections%2Fstarter-set%2Fproducts%2Fbathroom-starter-setrter-set" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow nofollow nofollow nofollow nofollow">Blueland Bathroom Cleaner</a> ($16) quickly and effectively removed stubborn (or what I thought were stubborn) stains in my tub and sink. Meanwhile, the <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fproducts%2Fhand-soap-starter-setrter-set" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow nofollow nofollow nofollow">Hand Soap</a> ($16) foamed up well and made my hands feel soft with each wash. The <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fcollections%2Fstarter-set%2Fproducts%2Fglass-mirror-starter-setrter-set" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow nofollow nofollow nofollow">Glass and Mirror Cleaner</a> ($16) is probably the weakest product of the four products in the set — it left my mirror slightly streaky. If you prefer to try a single product first before committing to the whole set, you can get a Starter Set, which contains one tablet and one bottle for your chosen cleaner (bathroom, soap, and glass and mirror). The most obvious way Blueland is more environmentally friendly is the design of its cleaning products. Instead of throwing out a plastic bottle every time you're done with the cleaner, you can use your Blueland bottles over and over again. This system also takes advantage of the water you're already using in your home. In addition, every part of its packaging is recyclable, and the tablet wrappers are compostable and biodegradable. Ultimately, cleaning with <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=35871X943606&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueland.com%2Fd.com%2F" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow nofollow sponsored nofollow sponsored">Blueland</a> saves more than the planet, making it a superior product all around. The tablet refills take up a fraction of the space in your cabinets of traditional cleaning products, and they're more affordable. Each refill costs only $2, while traditional competitors cost $3 to $5 for the same amount of cleaner. <h2>The bottom line</h2>Blueland's cleaning products are innovative, sustainable, effective, and affordable. All these benefits make us question why all household cleaners — and many other types of consumer products — aren't made this way. You have little to sacrifice by trying Blueland, but much to gain.

Blueland is a new household cleaning startup that helps you reduce single-use plastic consumption — here’s how the products perform

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Mars, Inc. is facing a lawsuit over a chemical used to create rainbow-colored <keyword id="12315038" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="skittles" source="Orion">Skittles</keyword> candy.</li><li>The coloring additive, titanium dioxide, is allowed by the <keyword id="11899468" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fda" source="Orion">FDA</keyword> in small amounts, but banned in Europe. </li></ul>A California man is suing the company that makes Skittles for including an additive in its candy permitted by US law, but <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/23/titanium-dioxide-banned-chemicals-carcinogen-eu-us">banned in Europe</a> due to a possible link to cancer risk. The lawsuit claims the candy is "unfit for human consumption" because it includes titanium dioxide, a chemical used as a coloring agent. "No reasonable consumer would expect that the products marketed as safe for human consumption would pose a risk to their <keyword id="11894571" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="health" source="Orion">health</keyword>, safety, and well-being, or that it would contain [titanium dioxide], which is linked to harmful health effects in humans," reads the complaint, filed July 14 in California's Northern District Court. Titanium dioxide is allowed by <a href="https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/cfrsearch.cfm?fr=73.575">FDA regulations</a>, so long as it makes up less than 1% of a food's weight. It is used in products like chewing gum, chocolates, pastries, toothpaste and cosmetics, as well as paint, plastic, and paper production. But as of May 2021, the <a href="https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/news/titanium-dioxide-e171-no-longer-considered-safe-when-used-food-additive">European Food Safety Authority</a> no longer considers the chemical to be safe as a food additive out of concerns about genotoxicity, or the potential to damage DNA.Some evidence suggests titanium dioxide, particularly in the form of very fine particles that can be inhaled, may build up in the cells over time, causing an increased risk of cancer, according to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3873219/">animal studies</a>. The chemical is considered "possibly carcinogenic to humans" by the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwi_rvL8qoX5AhXgg4kEHUG0AtIQFnoECAgQAQ&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublications.iarc.fr%2F_publications%2Fmedia%2Fdownload%2F3798%2F660d21ee6dcef1c5e69dcc5a815fcea5eb0cadd2.pdf&amp;usg=AOvVaw3s9Y-e-aueS_O_0tRleAJe">International Agency for Research on Cancer</a>. However, the amount of titanium dioxide present in most food products may not be enough to pose a threat, according to other <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6724087/">research</a>. Mars, Inc, which produces Skittles, issued a <a href="https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/4550/top-candy-company-mars-commits-to-phasing-out-harmful-nanoparticles-from-food-products">2016 statement</a> that it was phasing out the use of some artificial colors, including titanium dioxide. (As of publication, titanium dioxide continues to be included on the list of ingredients in Skittles).The lawsuit quotes Jaydee Hanson, a senior policy analyst at the Center for <keyword id="12586633" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="food-safety" source="Orion">Food Safety</keyword>, who urged Mars, Inc. to use non-toxic alternatives, saying: "Studies have shown that the human health risks associated with ingesting nanoparticles of many common food additives far outweigh any utility for producers."The lawsuit alleges the company did not adequately inform consumers of the potential risk of titanium dioxide and that the ingredients list is difficult to read because of a lack of color contrast on the packaging. The plaintiff, Jenile Thames, said he would not have purchased the Skittles if he knew they contained titanium dioxide, according to the lawsuit. The complaint also alleges that titanium dioxide isn't necessary to produce brightly-colored candy, since comparable products like Swedish Fish, Sour Patch Kids, and Black Forest Gummy Bears don't include the chemical. Mars, Inc. did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. "While we do not comment on pending litigation, our use of titanium dioxide complies with FDA regulations," the company said in a statement to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/07/18/skittles-lawsuit-toxin-titanium-dioxide/">Washington Post</a>.

A lawsuit claims Skittles is 'unfit for human consumption' because it contains a chemical that's banned in Europe for potential cancer risk

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Companies are setting ambitious goals for increasing the use of recycled plastic, driving demand.</li><li>Recycled polyester depends on the collection of <keyword id="12441107" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="plastic-bottles" source="Orion">plastic bottles</keyword>, which fell during the pandemic.</li></ul>The clothing brand Patagonia was one of the first to start producing recycled polyester from plastic soda bottles back in 1993. The company, known for its<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/patagonia-ceo-ryan-gellert-vision-strategy-sustainability-and-leadership-2021-9"> industry-leading sustainability policies</a>, has incorporated the recycled material into many of its items and said that 89% of the polyester in <a href="https://www.patagonia.com/our-footprint/recycled-polyester.html">its latest season of products</a> was made from recycled polyester.But as companies like <keyword id="12109002" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="coca-cola" source="Orion">Coca-Cola</keyword>, Nestle, and Adidas actively seek to reduce their use of virgin plastic as part of long-term efforts to be more sustainable and <a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/more-states-consider-minimum-recycled-content-requirements">new regulatory policies</a> for post-consumer resin, or PCR, made from plastic soda bottles kick in, demand is expected to exceed the available supply in the US and European Union, causing <a href="https://www.plasticstoday.com/resin-pricing/relief-unlikely-pet-and-rpet-markets-2022">prices to rise</a>. The issues around recycled polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, highlight many of the business challenges that can accompany ambitious corporate <keyword id="11896309" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="sustainability" source="Orion">sustainability</keyword> goals that overlap with other organizations.Companies urgently need to implement alternative processes and materials on a larger scale to reduce carbon emissions and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. But implementing these new methods can be much more complicated than expected, even with the resources of a multinational company. <h2>A versatile material</h2>Recycled PET, commonly known as rPET, is a type of post-consumer plastic used to make several types of products. These include plastic bottles, food containers, carpets, recycled polyester fabric, industrial straps, construction materials, and furniture.There are challenges to the wider adoption of rPET and criticisms about <a href="https://fashionunited.uk/news/fashion/how-sustainable-is-recycled-polyester/2018111540000">whether it is actually sustainable</a> or helping <a href="https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/fashion-brands-sustainability-claims-greenwashing/">greenwash companies</a> like H&amp;M. The environmental benefits of rPET include lower dependence on oil-based virgin plastic, less greenhouse-gas emissions, as well as less pollution. <h2>Policies and promises are driving demand</h2>Fabric and fibers were the primary end use for rPET until last year when the use of the material for bottles (for food, beverages, and other uses) <a href="https://www.packworld.com/issues/sustainability/article/21809461/napcor-pet-recycling-rate-drops-to-266-in-2020">grew by 32%</a>. There was also a 10% increase in end-use consumption of rPET in the US and Canada, according to the most recent report from National Association for PET Container Resources.This shift in use and demand followed announced commitments from several major companies to use less virgin plastic and increase <keyword id="12063226" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="recycling" source="Orion">recycling</keyword>. In 2018, the beverage giant Coca-Cola Co. pledged to use <a href="https://www.fooddive.com/news/coca-cola-transitions-to-bottles-made-from-100-recycled-plastic/594709/">50% recycled material</a> in its bottles and cans by 2030. The company also said it aimed to collect and recycle the volume of bottles equal to what it produces by the same year. In early 2020, Nestle <a href="https://www.nestle.com/ask-nestle/environment/answers/tackling-packaging-waste-plastic-bottles">pledged</a> to increase the amount of rPET used across its brands to 50% by 2025 and make all of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. The parent company of Nescafe and Purina pet food uses <a href="https://www.nestle.com/ask-nestle/environment/answers/tackling-packaging-waste-plastic-bottles">8% recycled content</a> in its plastic water bottles now, so it will need to source and use a significantly higher amount to meet these goals.Consumer goods and fashion companies like Unilever, Procter &amp; Gamble, and Adidas have also made big promises about recycling and the increased use of recycled plastic. Nike's chief sustainability officer, Noel Kinder, said the company's volume of recycled polyester is <a href="https://www.glossy.co/fashion/nike-aims-to-use-100-renewable-energy-by-2025/">already the equivalent</a> of more than a billion plastic bottles a year. The US states of California and Washington have also <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB793">passed laws</a> requiring certain items to have specific amounts of recycled plastic in their packaging.<h2>Insufficient supply puts pressure on prices</h2>Several challenges lie ahead for these plans and policies involving rPET. The recycling rate for plastic drink bottles in the US fell from 27.9% in 2019 to 26.6% in 2020, compared to <a href="https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2021/01/29/10600681/insight-chemical-recycling-must-not-hinder-mechanical-recycling-progress">64% in Europe</a>. NAPCOR's report said this was due to pandemic-related closures of recycling and redemption centers, as well as disruption to curbside recycling programs. To meet the recycling goals of US beverage brands, an estimated 1.1 billion pounds of food-grade rPET will be needed in the next decade — almost <a href="https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2020/10/26/data-corner-supply-possibilities-to-meet-u-s-rpet-demand/">three times the amount</a> produced in 2017.Increases in demand also helped push the price of rPET higher than virgin plastic in early 2020, and rPET is now selling at a 20% premium, The Wall Street Journal reported. Higher costs of production due to rising energy costs were also a factor, <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/petrochemicals/110421-european-virgin-pet-rises-above-rpet-as-virgin-pet-prices-hit-10-year-high">according to S&amp;P Global Platts</a>.<h2>A complicated future</h2>One converter already <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/topics/recycled-plastics">expressed concern</a> that some of the large companies will step back their sustainability pledges due to supply constraints, staff shortages, and these higher prices. Items made from recycled polyester will still shed plastic microfibers during washing. And while PET can be recycled at least 10 times, clothes made from rPET <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/06/clothes-made-from-recycled-materials-sustainable-plastic-climate">most likely won't be recycled</a>, especially if they are from fast-fashion retailers, whose items are often thrown out after only a few uses.

Companies like Nestle and Coca-Cola are eager to use more recycled material — here's why that actually raises concerns over sustainability

<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/partners-for-a-sustainable-future"></a><div type="image" title="woman sitting in office chairs" height="969" width="1292" msid="87004873" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Tons of <keyword id="12307709" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="office-furniture" source="Orion">office furniture</keyword> ends up in landfills, and it's getting worse as workplaces go remote.</li><li>Companies like Green Standards and Reseat sell, <keyword id="12054541" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="recycle" source="Orion">recycle</keyword>, or donate the unwanted furniture instead.</li><li>Green Standards helps offices downsize sustainably, and Reseat is a used furniture marketplace.</li></ul>Almost 10 million tons of furniture and furnishings end up in landfills each year, according to 2018 data from the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/durable-goods-product-specific-data#FurnitureandFurnishings">US Environmental Protection Agency</a>. Experts told Insider a large portion of that is office furniture and predict the problem will get worse as more companies rethink their workspaces post-pandemic. Nearly 90% of executives plan to shift their office real-estate strategies in the next year as they go fully or partially remote, according to a recent <a href="https://www.pwc.com/us/en/library/covid-19/us-remote-work-survey.html">PwC survey</a>. This includes consolidating office space and opening smaller locations. "It's going to have an impact on the amount of furniture coming out of buildings because companies are making decisions that are going to change the layouts of their workplaces," <a href="https://greenstandardsltd.com/clean50/">Trevor Langdon</a>, president of <a href="https://greenstandardsltd.com/about-us/">Green Standards</a>, told Insider.Green Standards works with businesses across the globe to donate, resell, and recycle office furniture. Similar companies, like preowned office furniture marketplace <a href="https://reseat.com/">Reseat</a>, are helping companies buy and sell used furniture and keep it out of landfills. Here's a look at how exactly they partner with outside organizations to reduce waste and promote <keyword id="11896309" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="sustainability" source="Orion">sustainability</keyword>.<h2>Green Standards shows the impact of furniture resale and donations on the environment</h2>Green Standards, which has worked with <a href="https://greenstandardsltd.com/case-studies/general-motors/">General Motors</a>, <a href="https://greenstandardsltd.com/case-studies/united-airlines-ecoskies-donate-furniture-in-houston/">United Airlines</a>, and <a href="https://greenstandardsltd.com/case-studies/expedia-group/">Expedia Group</a>, uses an assessment to decide whether reselling or donating an office's items is the best fit. It then facilitates donations by identifying nonprofits, such as schools or charities, that could use the items and handles the removal and delivery of the furniture.<div type="image" title="office furniture packed up in piles" height="1706" width="2275" msid="87004875" hostid="261"></div>Social-media management company <a href="https://www.hootsuite.com/">Hootsuite</a> recently <a href="https://blog.hootsuite.com/hidden-costs-downsizing-office-space/">redesigned its workspaces</a> in Vancouver, London, and Bucharest, replacing rows of desks and large conference tables with standing desks and comfortable, upholstered seating to offer work-from-home employees a place to collaborate. Instead of throwing away unused items, Hootsuite donated about 80% of the leftover furniture to community organizations through a partnership with Green Standards."We had an opportunity to have all this perfectly good office furniture that just didn't meet our needs anymore go to somebody who could use it," <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-waldmann-1b462046/">Carol Waldmann</a>, Hootsuite's director of global facilities and real estate, told Insider. "It just made sense to try to find a new home for it rather than throwing it in the trash."Though he wouldn't provide exact figures, Langdon said the cost of Green Standards' services is the same or less than hiring liquidators to remove furniture, most of which gets dumped in a landfill. He said his company has a 99% landfill diversion rate for the furniture they encounter and has arranged more than $32 million in donations. <div type="image" title="a high school classroom" height="2000" width="2666" msid="87004880" hostid="261"></div>Green Standards also provides companies with a report that shows how much office furniture they diverted from a landfill and how it reduced their carbon footprint. For example, Waldmann said Hootsuite's project equated to reducing gas consumption by 7,200 gallons and offset electricity use for nine homes for a year. "I would love more organizations to look at how they can support communities that they're in and just try to find ways to reduce their impact on the environment," she said. "It's a powerful tool for all of us to help reduce the impact of climate change as much as we can."<h2>Reseat turns 'waste' into profit for businesses</h2><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandi-susewitz-/">Brandi Susewitz</a> founded Reseat (formerly Clear Office) last year to help companies buy and sell used office furniture. She's worked in the office furniture industry for more than 20 years and saw the need for a solution to its waste problem. Reseat has worked with organizations like Uber, Oracle, and GoDaddy, as well as with real-estate brokers, interior designers, architects, and company leaders to furnish a space with pre-owned items. Susewitz said the company is growing and will close its first year with about $3 million in revenue. Recently, it also added Reseat ID, a "second life-cycle passport" that will be issued with each purchase and include a company's furniture drawings, specifications, layouts, fabrics, and quantities to help them later resell the items more efficiently.Companies can handle the resale process - including uploading photos and delivering items - themselves and keep 70% of profits, or let Reseat handle everything for them and keep 10% of the sales.Susewitz said the problem of office furniture waste is at its worst. She hopes her platform will make it easier for organizations to be proactive in reducing waste.When designing its first office in San Francisco recently, <a href="https://www.moderntreasury.com/">Modern Treasury</a>, a payment-operations software company, worked with Reseat to purchase about 100 sitting and standing desks, as well as sideboards, tables, and soft seating, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelcpike/">Rachel Pike</a>, Modern Treasury's chief growth officer, told Insider. With recent supply-chain issues, she said pre-owned furniture can often be obtained more quickly."There's just no reason to buy something new when you have exactly the same thing that's perfect and ready to go," she said.

How 2 organizations are helping offices reduce waste by selling or donating their furniture

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="14466937" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="mars-inc" source="Orion">Mars Inc</keyword>., the maker of <keyword id="12315038" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="skittles" source="Orion">Skittles</keyword>, is facing a lawsuit in California over its use of titanium dioxide.</li><li>The ingredient is known to be toxic, and the company promised in 2016 to stop using it.</li></ul>Skittles is facing legal action over its use of a toxic chemical found in artificial coloring. In a lawsuit filed Thursday in the Northern District of California, plaintiff Jenile Thames claims that Skittles-maker Mars Inc. is deceiving customers and putting their health at risk over its continued use of titanium dioxide for its <keyword id="12151272" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="candy" source="Orion">candy</keyword>'s trademark hues. The suit also takes issue with the package design, which it says hinders the efforts of "reasonable consumers" to inform themselves.<a href="https://www.fooddive.com/news/mars-commits-to-phasing-titanium-dioxide-out-of-its-products/429201/">Mars pledged in 2016 to phase out the use of titanium dioxide,</a> or TiO2, stating at the time that it would remove the chemical and all artificial colorings from its products over the next five years.The lawsuit says Thames purchased a package of Skittles in April of this year that still contained TiO2. The chemical is also currently listed in the product's online ingredient lists, including at <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cvs.com%2Fshop%2Fskittles-original-chewy-candy-7-2-oz-prodid-1040219">major retailers like CVS</a>. A Mars spokesperson told Insider the company does not comment on pending litigation.Titanium dioxide is commonly used in industrial applications such as paints, plastics, inks, adhesives, and roofing materials. It is also a popular component of mineral sunscreens.The use of TiO2 in <keyword id="11894142" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="food" source="Orion">food</keyword> is more controversial, and safety regulators have noted that the nanoparticles that make it so effective as a sunblock are indigestible by humans. Researchers have found its presence in the body has led to <a href="https://particleandfibretoxicology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-8977-10-15">a host of health ailments</a>, including alterations to DNA, chromosomal damage, inflammation, and cell neurosis.A full ban on TiO2 in food products went into effect in France in 2020, and the European Union has a similar policy slated to go into effect next month. Mars has said it would comply with France's law, according to the lawsuit.Thames' lawyers are seeking class-action status that covers all of Skittles' US <keyword id="11893588" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="retail" source="Orion">retail</keyword> customers, a number they say is too numerous to estimate. Skittles sold an estimated <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/190409/top-non-chocolate-chewy-candy-brands-in-the-united-states/">$185 million in the US in 2017</a>, making it the nation's top non-chocolate chewy candy.

New lawsuit claims Skittles 'are unfit for human consumption' due to the presence of chemical toxin the company has said it would stop using

<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/partners-for-a-sustainable-future"></a><div type="image" title="New Belgium Brewing Company employees 2013" height="3240" width="4335" msid="86492855" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11922170" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="brewing" source="Orion">Brewing</keyword> <keyword id="12110924" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="beer" source="Orion">beer</keyword> requires a significant amount of resources, including water, and creates waste.</li><li>The Brewers Association offers <keyword id="11896309" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="sustainability" source="Orion">sustainability</keyword> tools to breweries to improve the process all around.</li><li>Breweries that use the tools reduced their carbon emissions and water consumption and saved money.</li></ul>Protecting the environment is a high priority for many independent beer brewers - yet it's no secret that beer brewing uses significant resources and creates waste. It can take as many as <a href="https://www.brewersassociation.org/attachments/0001/1517/Sustainability_-_Water_Wastewater.pdf">seven barrels of water to make one barrel of beer</a>. Beer also requires a <a href="https://www.brewersassociation.org/attachments/0001/1530/Sustainability_Energy_Manual.pdf">significant amount of heat</a> during the brewing process and refrigeration soon after it's made, contributing to energy waste - not to mention, the beer-making process produces plenty of <a href="https://academicjournals.org/journal/JBD/article-full-text-pdf/0E6313746212">wastewater and leftover grain</a>. Over the last six years, however, brewers have been leveraging sustainability tools created by the <a href="https://www.brewersassociation.org/">Brewers Association</a>, which represents around 5,400 small and independent member brewers - about half of the approximately 8,764 craft breweries in the United States.<div type="image" title="headshot of Chuck Skypeck holding beer on the steps" height="1201" width="1601" msid="86492861" hostid="261"></div>Brewers that used the tool for four or five years consistently reduced their carbon emissions and water consumption and also saved money, Chuck Skypeck, the BA's technical brewing projects manager, told Insider. Breweries that submitted five years of consecutive data showed a steady natural-resource efficiency improvement of 1% to 2% per year, he said.Horse &amp; Dragon Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado, is one of the breweries working with the BA to become more sustainable by using a benchmarking tool the BA developed to help breweries measure their energy and water use, carbon emissions, and costs for disposing of wastewater and used grains. "We're trying to chip away at this in small ways," Carol Cochran, co-owner of Horse &amp; Dragon and a member of the BA Sustainability Subcommittee, told Insider. Just the mere act of measuring usage is helping breweries to use less energy and resources, she said. Knowing your water usage per barrel of beer compared to a similarly sized brewery gives owners a starting point for change. "If you're way above, you can dig in and find out why or consult with other breweries in your size and area," she said.<h2>A sustainability challenge for smaller breweries</h2>For smaller breweries like Horse &amp; Dragon, which will produce less than 3,000 barrels of beer this year, it can be difficult to reach the level of sustainability that larger, more efficient breweries can achieve. <div type="image" title="headshot of Carol Cochran" height="703" width="937" msid="86492867" hostid="261"></div>For example, not every brewery can install large solar panels to offset energy use, Skypeck said. Smaller breweries like Horse &amp; Dragon, rather, typically focus on LED use or installing a more efficient compressor to reduce energy consumption. "About 7,500 of the BA members are brewing tiny amounts of beer on a shoestring," Cochran said. "We don't have the bandwidth to do the type of research the BA funds." BA membership also gives brewers like Cochran access to lessons learned by larger brewers such as New Belgium Brewing, also in Fort Collins, which brews more than 800,000 barrels of beer each year. New Belgium is an industry leader in sustainability, claiming its Fat Tire beer is the <a href="http://www.ismybeersustainable.com/">only certified carbon-neutral brew</a>.Larger brewers can capture emissions and reuse them to carbonate beer or during the canning or bottling process, but there aren't any systems designed yet for small-scale capture, and the technology that's available would require small brewers to use too much energy, Skypeck said. <div type="image" title="New Belgium Brewing" height="384" width="512" msid="86492869" hostid="261"></div>"We've learned that every brewery has individual challenges, and that if every brewer can start to measure what they're doing, they can identify where to make incremental changes," Skypeck said. He admitted that some of the BA's recommendations are simple, such as putting the brewery's lights on a timer to avoid using energy when no one's there or finding a local farm to take the brewery's used gain to use for composting and feeding livestock. But for brewers like Horse &amp; Dragon, those small incremental changes add up over time.<h2>Embracing water conservation</h2>With the BA's assistance, Horse &amp; Dragon has reduced its water usage by 36.46%, Cochran said. "Water is our primary focus right now, despite it being our least expensive one, simply because of the shortages we see and hear about in the West," Cochran said. "We're constantly looking for affordable ways to conserve, reuse, and bolster the health of our watershed." The US west is in a historic drought, and in August, the US government declared <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-declares-first-colorado-river-shortage-arizona-nevada-water-cuts-2021-8">a water shortage on the Colorado River</a>, impacting water supplies in Nevada and Arizona. The city of Fort Collins is even under a <a href="https://www.fcgov.com/utilities/water-restrictions">water-shortage watch</a>.Water is the main ingredient in beer, accounting for up to 95% of its content. In addition, water is used throughout the brewing process for cleaning, cooling, and packaging.Rather than just send water down the drain, the BA is teaching breweries to collect clean water and find other uses for it.When Cochran and her husband Tim were building the brewery, they consulted a larger BA member and were advised to buy an oversized hot liquor tank to capture and reuse all of the water used in the cooling process. That water travels through a heat exchanger to the hot liquor tank and is ready to be used when brewing the next batch or cleaning the tanks, she said. The brewery also collects clean water from a steam drip line on the hot liquor tank and uses it to water trees on the property.Skypeck also wants brewers to consider the quality of the water they use. The Fort Collins watershed has had two major forest fires, and when runoff hits the burn areas, it can affect the water quality, he said.Horse &amp; Dragon is a member of <a href="https://brewater.com/">BreWater</a>, 15 Fort Collins breweries focused on local water issues, including teaching the local community how to protect the local watershed.<h2>Reducing energy use beyond LED lights</h2>In addition to installing LED lights, Horse &amp; Dragon has been offsetting 100% of its energy usage since 2016 by purchasing wind power from <a href="https://www.arcadia.com/">Arcadia Power</a>. The brewery also reduced its energy footprint by committing to use locally sourced malt and barley, eliminating the need to truck supplies from other areas. Yet, despite these efforts, as the brewery's production has increased, so has its energy consumption. "Our average monthly energy usage has increased by 10%, and we're looking at additional ways to curb it for both the environmental bottom line and the financial one - it's the most expensive of our utilities," Cochran said.<h2>Buying local</h2>The goal is for all its beers to be made with 100% local ingredients, but Cochran admitted that it's a difficult financial calculation. While some sustainability efforts, such as using less water or generating less waste, save the brewery money, other efforts - like buying malt and barley from a local producer - cost 50% to 60% more than bulk grain from big suppliers."Unless every brewer is required to do the same, it is a hard financial decision to make," Cochran said. "We're still selling our product for a similar price as other breweries that aren't doing these things." Most brewers are reluctant to promote their sustainability efforts to consumers. "I think you run a risk of opening yourself up to legitimate criticism if you brag about the types of incremental changes you made," Cochran said.Make no mistake, Skypeck said, those small incremental changes are important. "The most sustainable way to consume a beer is in a glass that you're going to use and wash and use again," he said. In fact, he said, more than 65% of BA members don't package their beer; they just sell beer onsite at their taproom.

How the Brewers Association is helping independent breweries reduce their carbon footprint and cut costs

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11916300" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="mcdonalds" source="Orion">McDonald's</keyword> has pledged to phase out the use of fossil-fuel based <keyword id="12149811" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="plastics" source="Orion">plastics</keyword> in its <keyword id="12149810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="happy-meal" source="Orion">Happy Meal</keyword> toys by 2025.</li><li>The company intends to use more paper and recyclable plastics in its toys.</li><li>However, experts are questioning if this move will make a real difference to the <keyword id="11901561" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="environment" source="Orion">environment</keyword>.</li></ul>McDonald's has pledged to phase out the use of fossil-fuel-based plastics in the toys that come with its Happy Meals by the end of 2025, but experts say the move won't make a real difference to the environment.The fast-food giant's announcement on September 21 means kids could see the one billion children's toys that it distributes every year being converted into 3D paper figures and other toys made of recycled plastic or plant-derived materials.The company said in a <a href="https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/en-us/our-stories/article/OurStories.reducing-plastictoys.html">statement</a> on Tuesday that its 2025 pledge could result in a 90% reduction of fossil fuel-based plastic in its Happy Meal toys, in comparison with its 2018 tally of materials used. It claimed that the benefits wrought by this change would be equivalent to close to 700,000 people ditching the use of plastic for a year. "Our next generation of customers care deeply about protecting the planet and what we can do to help make our business more sustainable," said McDonald's Chief Sustainability Officer Jenny McColloch in the statement.McDonald's first introduced the Happy Meal in 1979, but customers have been pushing for the company to be more environmentally friendly in recent years. For instance, two British girls <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/10/business/mcdonalds-burger-king-plastic-toys-trnd/index.html">started a petition in 2019</a> to ask McDonald's and Burger King to not distribute plastic toys and got over 500,000 signatures. Now, toys that come with the meals in the <a href="https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/newsroom/article/plastic_free_zone.html">UK and Ireland</a> do not use non-renewable plastics in their making, and <a href="https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/en-us/our-stories/article/OurStories.france-plastic-free.html">French Happy Meals</a> no longer come with plastic toys. In the US, McDonald's has also rolled out some paper-based toy options, like <a href="https://www.insider.com/mcdonalds-happy-meal-history-photos-2019-4">books</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-pokemon-card-happy-meal-toy-coveted-by-resellers-collectors-2021-2">Pokemon cards</a>. <h2>Environmental experts say more can be done</h2><div type="image" title="happy meal" height="2336" width="3114" msid="86422801" hostid="261"></div>Environmental experts are questioning, however, if McDonald's pledge will make a real difference to the environment.Sharon Seah, a climate change researcher in the ASEAN Studies Centre at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, told Insider that while McDonald's has made an "encouraging" move, it's only "part of the story" of how more sustainable actions can be taken by big corporations."Given that McDonald's is one of the world's largest franchising brands, more can be done in terms of other operations, like reducing their carbon footprint while moving products across supply chains," Seah said. She added that the reduction of plastics in Happy Meals is merely "scratching the surface.""The life cycle of toys, in general, is still very poorly managed. Plastic is still plastic and isn't a sufficiently biodegradable option. And with paper, the pulp used to create these products is still a resource," Seah said.Seah added that McDonald's could most definitely offer more vegan options, or venture into offering plant-based meat in their meals to offset its beef consumption. It is estimated that McDonald's <a href="https://www.inc.com/peter-economy/mcdonalds-just-made-a-stunning-announcement-that-will-completely-change-future-of-fast-food.html#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%20alone,cups%20of%20coffee%20each%20year.">sells more than a billion pounds of beef in the US every year</a>. The company itself has <a href="https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/en-us/our-stories/article/ourstories.carbon_footprint.html">cited</a> beef production as a key source of its greenhouse gas emissions, and <a href="https://www.alltech-e-co2.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/alltech-mcdonalds-report-2016.pdf">admitted that the carbon footprint of its beef production in the UK could be reduced</a>. According to the University of Michigan's <a href="http://css.umich.edu/factsheets/carbon-footprint-factsheet">Center for Sustainable Systems</a>, the farming of cattle, sheep, and goats produced 178 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2018. More than six pounds of carbon are generated for each serving of beef produced. The <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/i3437e/i3437e00.htm">UN Food and Agriculture Organization</a> also projected in a 2013 study that if cows were their own country, <a href="https://www.wri.org/insights/6-pressing-questions-about-beef-and-climate-change-answered">they would be the world's third-largest greenhouse gas emitter.</a>Stephanie Feldstein, population and sustainability director at the US-based nonprofit <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/">Center for Biological Diversity</a>, also called out McDonald's for their use of beef in a <a href="https://twitter.com/CenterForBioDiv/status/1440430718669049861?s=20">statement posted on Twitter</a>. "McDonald's serves billions of burgers a year, with massive consequences for our climate," said Feldstein. "If McDonald's really wants to create sustainable change, it can't stop at plastic-free toys. The company needs to overhaul its menu, put the McPlant in every restaurant, and reduce the amount of beef it serves too."

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