Fluorescent Lightbulb Packaging & Recycling Program

Waste Management Introduces Fluorescent Lightbulb Packaging & Recycling Program: First product for recycling compact fluorescent lightbulbs also reduces mercury risks

Waste Management, Inc. announced that it will provide Earthmate(R) compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) in recyclable packaging that also doubles as a CFL recycling kit.

This new product includes Earthmate CFLs packaged in a resealable box lined with Waste Management's patent pending Mercury VaporLok(TM) technology, which is designed to reduce the risk of airborne mercury exposure and environmental contamination from lamps broken during storage and shipping. The box is suitable for storing used CFLs and is approved for shipping by the United States Postal Service. Consumers return used CFLs in a postage paid shipping container to the Waste Management lamp recycling center simply by mailing them from home or any one of over 34,000 United States Postal Offices across the country.

The recycling kits are available at www.ThinkGreenFromHome.com, Waste Management's streamlined online service for the recycling of universal household waste, including CFLs, batteries, and household electronics.

"We are excited to be the first company to offer this innovative product, designed to help consumers properly dispose of household universal waste as safely and conveniently as possible," said Rick Cochrane, senior business director of Waste Management's LampTracker(R) program.

"We are offering consumers the first 'cradle-to-cradle' solution for CFL usage," said Jim Ouellette, vice president of Earthmate. "Now consumers can purchase and recycle their CFLs in one package and from the convenience of their home. The kit is the simplest and most convenient solution for the disposal of CFLs."

CFLs have gained popularity because they provide a quick and convenient way for households and businesses to reduce their electricity consumption. According to the U.S. Department of Energy's ENERGY STAR program, CFL shipments have grown from 21 million lamps in 2000 to nearly 400 million lamps in 2007. Aided by the new National Energy Plan, which phases out certain incandescent models in the coming years, it is projected that over 4 billion CFLs will be in households by 2012.

CFLs are up to 75% more energy efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs, but because CFLs contain trace amounts of mercury, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends they be recycled and some states have passed mandatory recycling laws for CFLs. Earthmate CFLs contain an average of only one milligram of mercury - a 75% reduction compared to the four milligrams of mercury in standard CFLs.

"With the increasing popularity of CFLs, it is important to develop a recycling solution that is easy for consumers to use," said Matt Hale, director of EPA's Office of Solid Waste. "EPA applauds Earthmate and Waste Management for taking the first steps to expand recycling options for CFLs, reduce the amount of usable materials going to landfills and make recycling a CFL as easy as mailing a postcard. EPA encourages other companies to follow this example."

This new product, along with the other recycling options at www.ThinkGreenFromHome.com, is part of Waste Management's sustainability initiative committing the company to nearly tripling the amount of material it recycles by 2020.

Source: Waste Management, Inc.

-- CardPak Inc.

Picture perfect

Nikon has releases a new product - Ecobins 'green' binoculars, where all components; the binoculars, the carrying case, and the retail packaging are all 'green', sustainable, and environmentally friendly.

This comes off as one of the best examples of what is possible when going to market with a vision of what is truly important... and believing in the environmental movement within the consumer market.

Below are the specs of the packaging... click here for the specs of the binoculars and carrying case as well.

Green Packaging Features:
* Nikon Ecobins binocular packaging is constructed from 85% recycled material
* Printed on recyclable and waterproof FiberStone™ paper
* FiberStone™ paper is TREE-FREE and created from post-consumer limestone collected from existing quarries
* FiberStone™ paper is made with a clean production process that does not utilize water or emit toxins into the air
* FiberStone™ paper is photodegradable after a period of about one year!

-- CardPak Inc.

Want True Sustainability? Then Design to Seduce

Want True Sustainability? Then Design to Seduce
By Gadi Amit

Sustainable design is a hot topic. While most people applaud the idea of designers using ecofriendly materials, others insist that that's missing the point--that by designing for mass consumption, designers are still part of the problem, not the solution. I disagree.

The Designers Accord, the global initiative that unites designers, engineers, educators and others around the idea of incorporating sustainability into all practices and production, is a remarkable achievement. Yet, before I signed on, I wanted to have a talk with Valerie Casey, the founder of the movement.

I told her that it bothers me that almost invariably, sustainability is framed as an 'anti' movement. It mostly tells us what not to do. While that's often right, I would add a caveat. For true sustainability, we need to make a more profound culture change--one that involves more than the right standards, specs, or agreements. We should harken back to design in its classical sense, in which an object is so beautiful or functional or otherwise pleasing that it elicits an emotional reaction.

Here's an example. Remember GM's EV1? Introduced in 1996, it was first modern production electric vehicle from a major automaker. After problems developed with its batteries in hot weather, the cars were discontinued and crushed. The EV1 was not the first electric vehicle, and it was not the first vehicle to be 'killed' either. However, it was the first loved EV to be 'killed'. It became a symbol--of the promise of what-could-have-been and a demonstration of what-GM-couldn't-be. As I drove it back in the '90s, I vividly remember thinking, "This is one cool car… I want one!" And that's the role of design in our era: Encouraging people to change, by making products so beautiful that they're tools of seduction to a new, better world. Design in that classical sense is missing in many sustainability discussions.

Seduction is not design's only power. Designers also can create long-term commitment. Think of it this way: if the average car buyer holds on to his car for six years instead of the usual three, we can change the auto industry overnight. Regardless of the car's carbon footprint, any car designed and built for a six-year ownership cycle will be good for our planet. Despite its good intentions, even recycling is not really sustainable. By shipping short-term products, we squander energy, natural resources and public goodwill. Reliability of cars is so high today (yes, even American cars) that the real reason cars are traded in sooner than sx years is lack of love. Loved cars are not given away easily.

The same is true for any other product. A great dress you keep for years is sustainable. A great sofa passed from one generation to the next is sustainable. By this measure, things that might not otherwise be deemed 'sustainable' may actually be more so than less endearing products made with more ecofriendly materials. Take Apple's latest MacBook. To create its aluminum case, engineers take a sheet of aluminum 15mm thick and machine away 90% of its mass. They then regrind and smelt the leftovers up to 20 times to make 20 more notebooks--hardly a 'sustainable' practice from an energy use and dematerialization standpoint. However the resulting product is beautiful and solid as a rock. I will keep mine for a long time--unless they force its obsolescence through software--because I simply love it! And that's the most sustainable point about it.

Gadi Amit is the president of NewDealDesign LLC, a strategic design studio in San Francisco. Founded in 2000, NDD has worked with such clients as Better Place, Sling Media, Palm, Dell, Microsoft, and Fujitsu, among others, and has won more than 70 design awards. Amit is passionate about creating design that is both socially responsible and generates real world success.

-- CardPak Inc.

"Green" packaging sales top $37 billion

US demand for recycled-content, biodegradable-plastic and reusable packaging is increasing 3.4 percent annually. Total sales to reach nearly $44 billion in 2013.

Converting Magazine (Press Release) - US demand for green packaging -- comprised of recycled content, biodegradable and reusable packaging -- is projected to increase 3.4 percent annually to $43.9 billion in 2013, using 59 billion pounds of material. Growth will outpace overall packaging but will remain modest due to the maturity of many products and the fact that recycled content packaging has a large existing presence in paperboard and metal packaging.

The fastest gains are anticipated for biodegradable plastic packaging and plastic recycled content packaging. Biodegradable plastic packaging is forecast to climb nearly 13 percent per year through 2013, driven by increased price competitiveness with conventional resins, rapidly expanding capacity and lower pricing volatility than petroleum-based plastic packaging materials.

Additional stimulants include enhanced performance properties brought about by more sophisticated polymerizaton and blending techniques; efforts by brand owners to improve the environmental footprint of their packaging; and legislative bans on polystyrene foam foodservice disposables in some parts of the country. These and other trends are presented in Green Packaging, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm.

While recycled content packaging demand is expected to increase in line with the overall green packaging average, robust growth for plastic recycled content packaging will be aided by more concerted efforts to boost collection volume, an increased focus on the development of food-contact approved resin grades, and further sustainability initiatives by plastic processors and brand owners. Gains will be moderated by slow growth for paper recycled content packaging, which is dominated by the large but mature corrugated and paperboard box segment.

Reusable packaging is forecast to expand more slowly, held back by marginal growth for drums, which face competition from larger formats such as intermediate bulk containers (IBCs). More favorable prospects are anticipated for reusable plastic containers, IBCs and other reusable packaging types. In general, value gains will decelerate sharply from the 2003-2008 pace due to an expected moderation in raw material prices, especially for plastic and steel. The relatively long service life of most reusable packaging also limits the need for replacements, a factor that restricts growth in demand for new units.

-- CardPak Inc.