Just in time for the Climate Summit in Denmark, Coke started manufacturing bottles made with 30% plant material. 

The new plant-based bottle developed by Coke is composed of 70% petroleum-based and 30% sugar-cane-based materials.  The cane is crushed and mashed to produce juice, which is then fermented and distilled, producing ethanol.  That ethanol is then converted through a series of chemical processes such as oxidation to a mono-ethylene glycol—a component normally derived from petroleum for use in plastic bottles.  The MEG is then mixed with terephthalic acid to create PET plastic.

These efforts by Coca Cola have been in response to its attacks by environmentalists over its plastic bottles.  According to the Pacific Institute, a California based environmental think tank, the production of plastic bottles in 2006 took 17 million barrels of oil (excluding the costs of transporting these containers).  The new plant based bottles will lower the manufacture’s carbon footprint by 12-19%. 

But is an all plant based bottle practical?  Coke is trying to make it a reality. 

Plant-based bottles can pose hurdles, beverage-industry experts acknowledge. The bottles often have a shorter shelf life than PET bottles, and they don’t hold carbonation as long, says Wade Groetsch, president of Blue Lake Citrus LLC, a Winter Haven, Fla.-based juice processor, who says he supports Coke’s environmental push.  Mr. Groetsch’s company uses plastic containers that are 100% polylactic acid, derived from corn, for its organic Noble Juices drinks. “It just doesn’t keep the product protected the same way that the current bottles do,” he says. “It’s definitely a tradeoff.”

In 2008, only 27% of PET containers were recycled, according to the National Association of PET Containers Resources. 

Until plastic bottles are 100% environmentally friendly, a better packaging option is aluminium cans, that can be recycled indefinitely.  According to the Aluminum Institute, yearly recycling of aluminium cans exceeds 50%.   If all states had a bottle deposit, then perhaps these recycling numbers would increase to closer to 100%. 

Popularity: 7%

Consumers can have an effect on how companies package their products by purchasing products that use sustainable packaging. 

For example, makeup producers have been switching to more eco-friendly packaging.  Revlon’s new Almay Pure Blends now offers products with 45% recycled packaging.  Burt’s Beestakes this one step further with all natural products that are packaged with the highest level of Post Consumer Recycled materials.

Estée Lauder has focused on sustainable packaging with the following guidelines:

• The Company requires all of its packaging suppliers certify (and test) packaging materials to limit the use of heavy metals and other noxious substances.
• It is The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. policy that PVC shall not be used in product packaging when it is feasible to use other materials.
• The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. does not utilize any material derived from “Old Growth Forests.” It is our policy that all wood fiber must be sourced from either recycled paper or fiber products, or managed sustained yield forests.
• The Company maintains a “Global Environmental Packaging Reference Guide” which provides updated environmental requirements worldwide. It allows packaging developers to consider the life cycle of the product they are developing including an analysis of the raw materials used, to ensure that they are not hazardous and that minimal waste will result from their use.

Estée Lauder brands include Clinque, Aramis, and Lab Series.

The Packaging Company (TPC) is a leading manufacturer in cosmetic containers and packaging introduced an innovative PLA ( polylactic acid or polylactide ) cosmetic compacts and lipstick cases.  Their first environment friendly cosmetic packaging. Their biodegradable cosmetic compacts and lipstick cases are derived by extracting polylactic acid ( PLA ) from the renewable source, corn.  Unlike the non-degradable traditional petroleum based plastic, the corn based PLA is compostable and degradable within 5 years in landfills.

So before purchasing your next makeup product, please consider the company’s packaging standards. 

Thanks to a good friend for recommending this post!

Popularity: 6%

Christmas Tree Farm

National Christmas Tree Association estimates that 40 to 45 million trees are planted each year.  Christmas tree farms are natural habitats for bird and animal species.  While a natural tree is growing it removes CO2 from the air, provide food and protection for deer, ground hogs, rabbits, bears and song birds.    Purchase of natural trees supports local farmers.  Once the trees are no longer needed they can be mulched or used in the garden to attract nesting birds.  The trees are harvested and then replanted make them carbon neutral.

Artificial trees are neither carbon neutral nor environmentally friendly.  They require fossil fuels to produce them and they are imported from China.   A Life Cycle Assessment of an artificial tree found that the fake tree needs to be used for 20 years to leave an environmental footprint as small as a natural Christmas tree. 

Popularity: 5%

Have you ever really thought about what it takes to be environmentally friendly?   Can a person really be environmentally friendly without going back in time before the invention of airplanes, automobiles, shopping malls, plastics, PCBs, or even fire?   Each of these novelties comes with both convenience and environmental degradation …. An interesting thought for a thesis… is convenience worth the environmental damage: 10 most Environmentally Destructive Inventions.

We could be environmentally friendly by not eating, purchasing products, or even living?  In lieu of this, let’s explore the concept of being environmental friendly.

First, let’s think about what the word environmentally friendly really means.   The dictionary defines it as minimizing harm to natural world, e.g. by using biodegradable ingredients.

So, based on this definition, things can be environmentally friendly.  But can people?

Perhaps you can only be sort of environmentally friendly.  I think there are shades of environmentally friendliness, if you will.  Let’s call these shades: the committed, almost, and not even trying to be environmentally friendly (or degenerates).

The committed environmentally friendly group would include the Amish, those who recycle everything, shop at resale stores, drive an electric car/ride their bike to work and keep their consumption of new materials/products to a minimum.  The almost environmentally friendly try to recycle products, drive a car with good fuel economy, sometimes shop at resale stores and do their best to not buy new products.  Finally, the last group is the not even trying to be environmentally friendly.  This group drives SUVs, litters, lives to consume as many goods as they can afford and has never used a recycle bin.

Right now, I fall into the almost environmentally friendly group but I am a work in progress.   What about you?

Popularity: 3%