Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his past Fun Facts here. 1. Thirty- two million kids participate in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs. Though I haven’t had a chance to read through the 280-page document, the Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch … More
Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his past Fun Facts here. 1. In 2011, Call2Recycle collected more than 7.6 million pounds of rechargeable batteries from small electronics, tools, and mobile devices. This figure includes nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium ion, and small sealed lead acid … More
Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his past Fun Facts here. 1. The EPA’s Municipal Solid Waste Facts and Figures for 2010 are out! On average we generate 4.43 pounds of waste per day and recycle and compost about 1.51. Last year we generated 4.34 pounds … More
This article by GreenBlue Project Associate Eric DesRoberts appeared in this month’s issue of Packaging Digest, which features a monthly column by GreenBlue staff on packaging sustainability. Read the original article. The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) recently reviewed a number of publicly available reports from various companies on their financial and sustainability performance to determine how they were reporting on packaging systems. Though these reports were … More
At the moment, I am not a vegan or a vegetarian; however, I recently attended the first (of what hopes to be the annual) National Conference to End Factory Farming: For Health, the Environment, and Farm Animals, and I am strongly considering my current position. Organized by the Farm Sanctuary, this was without a doubt the most emotionally moving conference I have ever attended. The … More
Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his Fun Facts: October. 1. The US collected 1.5 trillion pounds of post consumer PET bottles in 2010 with the gross recycling rate for PET bottles reaching 29.1%. There was a 50 million pound jump in collection as a result … More
Eric DesRoberts continues his monthly series of facts and tidbits he’s uncovered during his research to better understand products and packaging. You can also check out his Fun Facts: September. 1. Around 90% of the price of a bottle of water is for things other than the water itself. This includes bottling, packaging, shipping, and marketing. According to the EPA, in the US, the average … More
Findings from a series of recent Official Food Control Authority Laboratory reports coming out of Switzerland have raised concerns over mineral oil migration occurring in packaging made with recycled content. The reports focused on technical grade oils that are largely linked to inks used in newspapers entering the recycling stream. This research builds on previous studies suggesting that technical grade mineral oils pose health concerns … More
Constantly sifting through articles, blogs, regulations, and documents about packaging brings you to some dark and lonely corners of the internet, but it also exposes you to interesting and somewhat esoteric pieces of information. As a packaging and sustainability enthusiast, I find myself treading water in the deluge of information and acronyms, and I thought it would be nice to share some of the fun … More
Most of us are now aware of the environmental impacts and availability issues surrounding fossil fuels. You are also probably aware of some of the alternatives being developed to address these issues. I recently read two articles that highlighted very different alternatives for generating fuel while diverting waste. The first article was on converting waste plastics into fuels. Many organizations developing this conversion process are … More