Round-up 6/11/20
Including why greenwashing claims by brands will be scrutinised by competition watchdog, seaweed farming in Bali and Budweiser reduces plastic packaging
Newsletter
Catching our Eye
Following Carlsberg’s introduction of the Snap Pack in 2018, Budweiser has become the latest major brewer to remove significant amounts of plastic from its beer can packaging. Budweiser breweries in South Wales and Lancashire will now no longer use plastic rings and shrink wrap on its canned beers, saving 250 tonnes of plastic per year according to Packaging News (story here).
A new report published in journal Science Advances claims that the US and UK produce more plastic waste per person than any other major countries. According to a Guardian story on the report, the researchers found the US produced the most plastic waste by World Bank reckoning, at 34m tonnes in 2016, but the total increased to 42m tonnes when the additional data was considered. India and China were second and third, but their large populations meant their figures for per capita plastic waste was less than 20% of that of US consumers. Among the 20 nations with the highest total plastic waste production, the UK was second to the US per capita, followed by South Korea and Germany. Story here
The Competition and Markets Authority, the UK’s competition watchdog, has announced that will investigate descriptions and labels used to promote products and services claiming to be ‘eco-friendly’, and whether they could mislead consumers. The CMA says it “is concerned that [the] surge in demand for green products and services could incentivise some businesses to make misleading, vague or false claims about the sustainability or environmental impact of the things they sell.” The CMA “will also consider whether failing to provide all relevant information about the sustainability of a product or service – for example, whether it’s highly polluting or non-recyclable – could mislead consumers and therefore break consumer law”. Read the full announcement here
P&G’s shareholders “have defied the company to throw their weight behind a call for it to do more to protect forests as an environmental wave confronts the world’s largest consumer group,” according to the FT. “Two-thirds of votes at P&G’s annual meeting were cast in favour of a shareholder proposal critical of how it uses palm oil and forest pulp in products including Bounty paper towels and Charmin toilet paper,” the FT says. Story here
Will the Covid crisis cause a shift back to local, traditional industries? Reuters reports that, in Bali, the collapse of the tourist industry due to Covid has led to locals returning to their former industry of seaweed farming. “With many restaurants and bars shut on the island, drying seaweed fills the streets as tourism workers return to an industry that died down a decade ago, despite Indonesia’s status as the world’s second-biggest seaweed producer behind China.” Full story here
Worth Watching
The CEE Bill Alliance, the pressure group campaigning for the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill to become law in the UK, will stage an online The CEE Bill would see the introduction of a Citizens’ Assembly “to help the UK Government and UK Parliament decide the measures to include in the strategy. The Assembly will empower MPs to take the necessary decisions, and also allow people to have a real say in the pathway of a fair and just transition to a zero carbon society, enriched by a thriving, natural world”. A year out from the COP26 conference, the CEE Bill Alliance will hold a discussion on November 9th at 6pm. “The panel will address crucial ethical and moral questions: How can we act in a globally fair way and thrive in a just society? How can we persuade the Government to adopt the policies in the Bill? What do we need to do to influence the Government and other governments ahead of COP26? What role can citizens play in these processes?” Details here
Reading List
RethinkX, the “independent think tank that analyzes and forecasts the speed and scale of technology-driven disruption and its implications across society” has produced a fascinating report into the future of energy. “Our analysis shows that 100% clean electricity from the combination of solar, wind, and batteries (SWB) is both physically possible and economically affordable across the entire continental United States as well as the overwhelming majority of other populated regions of the world by 2030”. Read the full report here