Our latest posts on ‘closedloop supply chain’

Reduce Supply Chain costs with Reusable Packaging

Posted by 3p Guest Author September 30th, 2008 View Comments

plastic-cont.jpgReusable packaging companies have been around for while, but with more and more companies concerned about climate change, reusable packaging appeal is growing throughout the U.S. Reusable plastic containers are now used at companies like Pepsi, Walmart, Safeway, Ghirardelli Chocolates and John Deere to protect and transport everything from tractors to fresh vegetables with great success.
The 2008 “Choose Reusables!” Education Forum sponsored by Reusable Packaging Association (RPA) and StopWaste.org highlighted these success stories this past week. The forum covered many aspects of reusables such as the EPA’s support of reusables, a life cycle analysis of boxes vs. plastic containers, and the challenges encountered by customers implementing reusable packaging.

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Steam Heat & Power: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Posted by Andrew Burger September 4th, 2008 View Comments

iceland-thermalsprings.jpg Geothermal energy is attracting a lot of long overdue attention recently. Gathering in Reykjavik last week officials from Australia, Iceland and the U.S. signed a charter to establish the International Partnership for Geothermal Technology, reported Greenbiz.com.
A signal of “the commitment of the three countries to aggressively foster and promote cutting edge geothermal technologies to promote energy security and address global climate change,” according to the U.S. Dept. of Energy media release, the announcement comes hard on the heels of Google announcing that it will invest $10 million in enhanced geothermal systems as part of its “Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal” program.

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Timbron International: Recycling polystyrene to Make Mouldings

Posted by Gina-Marie Cheeseman June 20th, 2008 View Comments

180px-Styrofoam.jpgAs long as some plastic products are made from polystyrene, Timbron International will be making money. The Walnut Creek, CA based company, recycles polystyrene plastic and foam to make decorative mouldings. Polystyrene is made from sytrene, which is “a known human neurotoxin and a known animal carcinogen,” according to the organization Californians Against Waste (CAW). Polystrene is used to make countless plastic items such as CD jewel cases. Foamed polystyrene, created by adding a blowing agent to polystyrene, is also used in fast food boxes and cups.
Timbron’s mouldings are made mostly from post-consumer polystyrene waste (75%). The company boasts that it has recycled enough polystyrene waste since 2000 to fill the Empire State Building.

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San Francisco Gets $1 Million Grant to Build Grease-to-Biodiesel Facility

Posted by Tom Schueneman June 9th, 2008 View Comments

San Francisco receives $1 million dollar grant to build a grease-to-biofuel facilityThe California Energy Commission has given the City of San Francisco a $1 million dollar grant to build a pilot grease-to-biofuel facility at the SFPUC’s Oceanside Sewage Treatment Plant.

San Francisco began working with biodiesel the SFGreasecycle program in November of 2007 to collect some of the 1.5 million gallons of “yellow grease” produced in the frying pans and kitchens of participating city restaurants and residents. The collected grease is sold to area biodiesel producers and then bought back to fuel the city’s municipal vehicles.

The City intends to “create a closed loop where grease is collected from restaurants and then recycled into fuel that the city buys back to power its 1,500 vehicles”, says the San Francisco Business Times. Also reported in the SFBizTimes are objections from private producers has made it hard to make a profit. Claims that the City’s Greasecyle free collection program undercuts commercial producers have forced companies like Oakland-based Blue Sky Biofuels out of the program.

The pilot facility at the Oceanside Sewage Treatment Plant will provide the means for San Francisco to produce its own biodiesel – further frustrating local biofuel producers.

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