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The industry consortium Fashion for Good launched last year with the goal of bringing innovative, disruptive solutions for recycling rayon and other synthetic cellulosic fibers to the global textile market. Now the group has broadened its reach to include polyester. In both cases, they are aiming high. Rather than downcycling recovered fibers, Fashion for Good is aiming to increase fabric recycling and send such fibers back into the apparel manufacturing stream.

Chipping away at a mountain of fabric waste, with chemistry

Based in Denmark, Fashion for Good is a soup-to-nuts partnership founded with a singular purpose: to deploy innovative new chemical recycling processes in the fashion industry.

Conventional fabric recycling typically involves mechanical or heat-based processes, such as shredding or melting. The resulting fibers are often of lesser quality, which limits the scope of the market for recycled material.

For example, until recently plastic bottles could not be recycled into new plastic bottles. The market for recycled paper was similarly limited.

New advances in recycling technology have expanded the market for recycled paper and plastics. That includes new chemistry-based processes that break down plastic waste into elemental building blocks, which can be reassembled into new materials that perform as well as — or even better than — the source materials.

Textile-to-textile fabric recycling would certainly disrupt the fashion industry as we know it today. When Fashion For Good started its “Full Circle Textiles Project - Scaling Innovations in Cellulosic Recycling” program last year, the organization stated that up to 73 percent of clothing globally ends up in the trash, and less than 1 percent of recycled fiber makes its way back into fabric for the fashion industry.

Polyester fiber targeted for recycling

Those figures probably haven’t budged much since last year, but Fashion for Good’s collaborative, team-based strategy demonstrated enough progress on cellulosic fiber recycling to form the basis for a second team, focusing on polyester.

“The Full Circle Textiles Project – Polyester brings together a consortium of stakeholders including brands, innovators, supply chain partners and catalytic funders – a structure that has proven successful in driving and scaling disruptive innovation in the industry,” explains Fashion for Good.

The polyester team includes the catalytic funder Laudes Foundation, along with Adidas, Bestseller, C&A, PVH Corp., Target and Zalando. Also affiliated with the team are Arvind Limited, the Fabrics Division of W. L. Gore & Associates and Teijin Frontier. 

On the chemistry side, the firms Cure Technology, Garbo, Gr3n and Perpetual are among the recycling innovators selected to apply chemical processes to post-consumer textile waste.

“The project aims to validate the technologies and the scaling potential; prompting further implementation/offtake agreements to drive chemical recycling in the industry and mobilize more funding into the technology,” Fashion for Good explains.

This is not your parents’ fabric recycling

The Fashion for Good polyester team already has a running start. Cure Technology, for example, has a pilot plant up and running. Its chemical-based process can recycle other plastics in addition to polyester textiles, including PET bottles, films, and carpets.

The diversified firm Garbo has formed extensive industry contacts since its roots in 1997 within the field of materials recovery for the semiconductor industry. Among its current collaborations is the Reciplast initiative aimed at plastics used in the packaging and auto industries.

Garbo states that its “ChemPET” process is “able to treat most of the PET-based waste that is currently not recoverable.” The process yields a building block called BHET (bis-hydroxy-ethylene-terephthalate). Once purified, BHET can be used in place of virgin petrochemical inputs.

The firm Gr3n demonstrates a similar level of cutting edge-technology. Its energy-efficient process takes place in microwave-assisted reactors.

“We can obtain terephthalic acid (TPA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG) starting from bottles and textile in less than 10 minutes and working at less than 200°C,” the company notes.

More bad news for oil and gas stakeholders

Rounding out the innovation team is Perpetual, which emphasizes that its chemical “deconstruction” process yields a drop-in replacement for virgin petrochemicals.

“…the filtered ester stream is ready to be reformed into long repetitive chains (i.e. polyester) using the same equipment and comparable process conditions as would be used for conventional petrochemicals; except, in this case, the source material is used post-consumer bottles and not environmentally harmful new crude oil petrochemical derivatives,” Perpetual explains.

That emphasis on drop-in replacement should be a warning sign for those hoping to keep demand for oil, natural gas, and coal humming along.

Fossil energy stakeholders are depending on increasing demand for plastic and other petrochemicals to stay afloat in future years, now that both the power generation and the transportation markets have begun to show signs that rapid decarbonization is immanent. However, plastics are no longer a sure thing.

The trend towards reducing fossil energy and petrochemical dependency already shows signs of accelerating in the power generation and transportation markets.

With partnerships like Fashion for Good, the fabric recycling movement is poised to disrupt the global textile market as well.

Image credit: Divazus Fabric Store via Unsplash

“Local Meals on Wheels programs never cease to amaze me,” Ellie Hollander, president and CEO of the nonprofit Meals on Wheels America, told TriplePundit in a recent interview. “Every one of them has gone above and beyond consistently for probably 20 months now.” 

Since the pandemic began in March 2020, Meals on Wheels programs around the country have been feeding hundreds of thousands more seniors. At the peak in summer 2020, programs were delivering twice as many meals compared to pre-pandemic times. By July of 2021, programs were still serving an average of 57 percent more home-delivered meals each week. With all that COVID-19 has put us through as a society at large, the eldest among us may have a harder time bouncing back, Hollander explains, and an estimated 80 percent of programs say the new clients they’ve found are here to stay.

That’s a lot to take in, especially as the population of Americans 65 and older continues to rise, and the vast majority of Meals on Wheels programs say they doubt they are meeting all the needs of their communities, even though the programs are already financially strapped. The pandemic has shined a light on the growing epidemic of isolation and hunger in seniors, Hollander said, and Meals on Wheels programs are showing how a simple meal can create ripple effects across these seniors’ lives. 

Providing for seniors’ increased needs during the pandemic

Nearly all Meals on Wheels programs reworked their services at the outset of the pandemic. Yes, they had to suspend group dining, but they also put together grab-and-go drive-through sites nearly overnight. Recognizing the broader impact Meals on Wheels has on seniors, many programs also supplemented their meal delivery with friendly phone call check-ins, Zoom gatherings, driveway visits, card writing, and other ways to ensure seniors in their communities knew they weren’t alone and that someone was thinking about them.

One volunteer in Saint Paul, Minnesota, told the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation: “Obviously it feels more remote, but I’m really excited that we can still meet the needs of the people in the community. At a time like this we have to remember that we’re human and we have to take care of each other.”

How is a meal more than a meal for solitary seniors?

Despite the name, Meals on Wheels gives more than food. There’s more going on than meets the eye, Hollander said, adding that for so many seniors, the individual who delivers their meals is the only person they see during the week. Knowing this, staff and volunteers go above and beyond to be the eyes and ears in a home, making sure to notice if something needs special attention. 

When she asks a client about the impact they feel from Meals on Wheels, Hollander said they often say the meal is important, but the socialization, companionship and check-ins mean just as much. 

In Scarborough, Maine, for example, client Edith hadn't seen family or friends in months amidst COVID-19 lockdowns, but her Meals on Wheels volunteer, Candy, has dropped by regularly for the last eight years. One day last year, Edith had a fall and couldn't pick herself up or reach a phone. Candy knew something was wrong when Edith didn't come to the door and immediately called 911. Edith was rushed to a hospital and nursed to health, filled with gratitude that Candy was there in her time of need. 

Beyond the wellness checks, 90 percent of clients say Meals on Wheels helps them continue living independently. From an economic perspective, helping seniors continue living happily and healthily on their own saves on unnecessary spending. Meals on Wheels calculates that serving a senior meals for a year costs about as much as one day in a hospital or 10 days in a nursing home. The economic burden of senior malnutrition adds up to $51 billion, and Medicare expenditures associated with social isolation in seniors cost almost $7 billion a year. 

"We need to continue to meet homebound seniors where they are,” Hollander said. “And when you give a little bit or a lot to Meals on Wheels, you're actually supporting local programs that brighten these dark days for America’s seniors. This holiday season and all year round, we want to ensure that no senior is hungry and alone, and we need everyone's help to do that."

Meeting seniors where they are during the holiday season

The holidays can be particularly difficult for seniors living alone. During times of high need like these chilly months of winter, longstanding partnerships can lighten a nonprofit’s load. It’s up to each company to decide how they will contribute, but some Meals on Wheels partners provide useful examples. The Home Depot Foundation, for example, funds home repairs and modifications for veterans and their families, fixing safety hazards, installing wheelchair ramps, and doing critical repairs. The foundation has donated more than $11 million since 2015, alongside volunteer hours.

Subaru of America has included Meals on Wheels as one of the four featured national charities in its annual Share the Love Event for the past 14 years. During the event, which is still active through the start of 2022, Subaru donates $250 to a customer’s chosen charity for every new vehicle purchase or lease. Over the years, the automaker’s donations have helped deliver over 2.5 million meals. Separate from the Subaru Share the Love Event, on its 50th anniversary, Subaru of America donated 50 Outback SUVs to the nonprofit, recognizing the need for more wheels to deliver more meals, Hollander said. And this year, some Meals on Wheels programs have partnered with local Subaru retailers to create emergency blizzard kits and shelf-stable meals and deliver them in borrowed vehicles.

“I believe, and I've worked for many companies that would agree, that companies that do good and give back, frankly, do well,” Hollander told us. Companies that want to make a difference can donate, volunteer or advocate, she said. With three-quarters of Meals on Wheels programs worrying they’ll lose financial support but maintain the same load of clients after the pandemic, now is the time for businesses to reach out to their local programs as they continue to help those most in need. 

This article series is sponsored by Subaru and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team. 

Images courtesy of Meals on Wheels America

The Black Lives Matter Global Network is again promoting Black Xmas which, as more of a movement and less of a holiday, is centered around three pillars: Build Black, Buy Black and Bank Black.

Much of the chatter in the press covering Black Xmas sums up its organizers as calling for a “boycott” of “white companies,” but these stories are obfuscating the real message of this movement. Never mind the fact that the movement’s website doesn’t mention a boycott at all, at least one politician has called ties to the movement “anti-American.” Facts left out of these articles include the reality that as many as 40 percent of Black-owned businesses closed for good during the pandemic as federal relief efforts often failed to help this community.

The movement takes aim at “white-supremacist-capitalism.” For those who may be triggered by the term, take a step back and consider what’s happened to the manufacturing base in cities across the U.S., the financial industry’s contribution to the intergenerational wealth gap, and the treatment of frontline and essential workers during the pandemic. Meanwhile, many Black business owners felt alone in solving the challenges piling on their businesses, but were still determined to do what they could to contribute to their local communities.

Bottom line: More than an outright call for avoiding “white” companies, the #BlackXmas call is more focused on learning about Black-owned businesses in communities within the Los Angeles region and beyond. And in the end, the celebration is about giving back to the community. Considering Americans’ penchant to donating to good causes, the message behind Black Xmas is about as red-blooded American as it can get.

Prominently displayed among the resources on the Black Xmas website are cards that users can download and then pass on to loved ones urging them to contribute money to a cause instead of buying a gift. Also available are cards that can inform friends and family that instead of a gift, a donation was made in their honor instead.

“This is about building strong Black communities so that we can have a degree of autonomy and self-determination,” said Melina Abdulla, one of the founders of Black Xmas, during a recent interview. “When we think also about what Black-owned businesses do for the Black community, they — more than any other type of business — also create livable-wage jobs for other Black people.”

Image credits via Black Xmas website

Despite one COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer’s recent announcement that it would suspend its fight with the U.S. government over its mRNA patent dispute, we’re still facing this reality: There’s little hope of stopping the spread of the coronavirus if poorer countries cannot access vaccines safely and cost-effectively, as we can see less than one month after South African scientists first identified the Omicron variant.

To that end, AccessIBSA, a project spanning three continents that seeks to expand both access to pharmaceuticals and accelerate the discovery of new drugs in developing countries, has issued a list of what it says are 100-plus companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America that can develop mRNA vaccines.

Here’s your quick mRNA primer: These vaccines are possible due to the development of technology that allows a molecule called messenger RNA (ribonucleic acid) to trigger an immune response. Such vaccines transmit these mRNA molecules to immune cells, which then gives the human body the ability to identify, respond and then neutralize the related virus. Such vaccine technology is what allowed for the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines.

But one disadvantage of mRNA vaccines is that many of them require ultra-cold storage after they are manufactured, thereby creating a major challenge in vaccinating citizens of development countries with vaccines that are manufactured elsewhere. Nevertheless, research and development efforts are underway to develop vaccines that don’t require extremely cold temperatures for storage, and some of the current COVID-19 vaccines — including the one Moderna now manufactures — can be stored in conventional freezers.  

Therein lies another problem: Supporters of the sharing and transfer of mRNA vaccine technology say that such action must be taken now (well actually, yesterday), especially when considering the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

“One year after multiple effective vaccines against COVID-19 were brought to market, we have failed to vaccinate the world,” wrote the authors of the AccessIBSA report earlier this month. “The distribution of vaccines remains highly unequal. In Portugal, a high-income country, 87 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated; in Nigeria, the largest country on the African continent, the corresponding figure is less than 2 percent.”

The organization added that, to date, about 74 percent of all COVID-19 vaccines distributed worldwide went to high- and middle-income nations. Meanwhile, less than 1 percent of them made their way to low-income countries, and that latter figure is rounded up, as the World Health Organization (WHO) has suggested the number is 0.6 percent. Add the surge in demand for booster shots in wealthier nations, and the Omicron variant poses an even more dire risk for citizens of poorer countries.

To that end, organizations including Human Rights Watch have urged the U.S. and German governments to take steps to allow the transfer of vaccine technology to the 120 companies identified in the AccessIBSA report. The bulk of them are in India and China; others are located in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia and Vietnam.

Even before the Omicron variant provoked a new wave of travel restrictions and mandates, the WHO estimated that booster shots were occurring at a rate six times that of first vaccine doses in low-income nations.

Despite promises of delivering vaccines across the globe along with some interest by U.S. leaders to do whatever is possible to inoculate the world, the Omicron variant is proof that such steps are not moving fast enough, say many organizations.

“The development of variants depends on the extent of the spread of the virus. The more people who get COVID-19, the more opportunity the virus has to mutate,” said Dean Baker of the Center of Economic and Policy Research earlier this month. “If we had really engaged in an all-out effort to get the world vaccinated, it is likely the vast majority of the world’s population could have been vaccinated by the summer.”

Hence the argument that the sharing of technology, not the sharing of manufactured vaccines, is what needs to be done.

At its conclusion, the AccessIBSA report makes this point: “If a company in Spain such as Rovi, that produces sterile injectables, with no experience making either biologic drugs or vaccines, can make Moderna’s vaccine, then there is no reason why a company with a similar profile based in Morocco, South Africa, Brazil, India or Bangladesh, cannot do the same — should it receive a full technology transfer from Moderna, as Rovi did.”

Image credit: Gani Nurhakim via Unsplash

New energy storage technologies are on the horizon, promising to solve the largest barrier to renewable energy — short term variability and seasonal imbalance, aka the need for power when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. Long-term energy storage would ideally store and deliver days’ — or even weeks’ — worth of electricity, rather than just a few hours. For example, storing solar power from August’s sunny days until the overcast tinge of January. But full commercialization of these long-duration technologies is years away, even as the need for energy storage continues to grow rapidly.

Even a few hours of stored electricity can make a significant difference in terms of grid resilience and other bottom-line benefits. Before long-term storage is made widely available, facility managers can — and should — take advantage of energy storage in the form of rechargeable batteries available today.

The growing need for energy storage

Climate change, renewable energy, and the electrification movement are the intertwined drivers behind the surging interest in battery energy storage systems (BESS). 

Wind and solar power help resolve the climate crisis by replacing fossil energy with zero-emission electricity, but these resources are, by nature, intrinsically variable. BESS can smooth out the gaps between this newly variable supply and traditional variable demand.

Much of the media conversation around BESS has focused on once-upon-a-time startups like the electric vehicle leader Tesla Motors and dozens of other emerging startups among the many technologies. In reality, automakers — including Tesla — have been relying heavily on legacy engineering and technology leaders to supply lithium-ion batteries and related electrification infrastructure.

Global consulting, engineering and construction firm Black & Veatch was very much involved in the initial build-out of Tesla’s Supercharger vehicle charging station network. The partnership,  launched in 2014, provided Black & Veatch with an opportunity to demonstrate its ability to scale up deployment of large-scale battery energy storage systems.

Black & Veatch has also been applying its expertise in BESS to the fields of distributed generation and microgrids. Microgrids are designed to supply electricity to a limited area, such as small communities, military facilities, academic campuses and corporate parks. They incorporate energy storage to deliver power when wind or solar are insufficient or not available.

Battery energy storage is filling the gaps

Frank Jakob, technology manager for energy storage at Black & Veatch, notes that a dramatic, ongoing drop in the cost of lithium-ion batteries has made energy storage a mainstream, bottom-line option for facility managers. The same economics driving batteries for electric vehicles is enabling stationary energy storage for electricity. 

Jakob says lithium-ion energy storage passed the cost threshold back in 2015. “Today, it’s now an economical substitute for grid power, for single-cycle gas turbines, and for demand-response elements such as reducing peak load,” he told TriplePundit. “You no longer have to pull down your peak load — you can use a battery to sustain operations.”

Part of the force behind the drop in cost is the scale-up of the battery supply chain, for which automakers can take much of the credit. Currently, the auto industry accounts for about 90 percent of the market for lithium-ion battery cells. 

Taking battery energy storage to the next level

Despite a vigorous conversation around introducing more BESS into the grid, energy storage in the power sector currently accounts for only 5 percent of the battery cell market, with the remaining 5 percent taken up by forklifts and mobile electronic gear.

Leslie Ponder, technology portfolio director for global distributed energy at Black & Veatch, notes that market forces can make the case for utilities to adopt more BESS. Energy storage helps utilities add more wind and solar generation to the grid without sacrificing power quality or reliability. Some utilities are also turning to microgrids with BESS as a means of isolating and maintaining critical loads during periods of high fire hazard as long-distance overhead distribution power lines are deenergized to reduce fire risk.

Still, market incentives can vary from one region to another, depending on the cost of energy, Ponder noted. Businesses can use BESS to reduce their costs during peak demand periods. Under a scenario in which energy costs are relatively high, an investment in BESS can yield significant benefits.

BESS can also yield significant benefits in areas where energy costs are relatively low. Energy storage can provide resiliency from grid outages. It can also enable energy users to mitigate capacity hurdles that restrict how much power they can draw from the grid at certain times. Additional usage for electric vehicle charging, for example, can be a key issue for fleet managers seeking to electrify their vehicles or provide workplace charging for their employees. That consideration applies to government fleets, those of other institutions, as well as commercial fleets.

Beyond market forces

Overall, the rising cost of natural gas has motivated utilities and energy users to take a closer look at BESS. Even before the current gas price spike, utilities were beginning to develop renewable energy paired with BESS to reduce or eliminate the need to build new gas power plants. Customer sited rooftop solar systems and on-site wind turbines are also becoming commonplace. Meanwhile, the installed cost of wind and solar continues to drop, along with BESS.

A number of different state-based energy policies provide utilities in some areas incentive to move more aggressively toward BESS, Ponder said. “There are different markets in the U.S., different areas of the country, with mandates or incentives that cause battery energy storage solutions to be considered for work as well as being constructed,” she explained. “For example, California and New York require utilities to look at BESS or other non-wire alternatives as options to solve grid problems. States also have incentives around resiliency and reliability needs that are driving the increase in battery energy storage.”

Also helping to drive the market is last year’s rule change by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which enables owners of BES systems and other distributed energy resources to aggregate and compete in wholesale electricity markets. 

Beyond lithium-ion storage

From a facility manager point of view, the case for BESS is strong. On-site energy storage provides for more control over the power supply and enhances the ability to electrify operations. It can also provide facility managers with opportunities to explore new revenue streams for these new technologies and become energy sellers as well as consumers.

As a means of reducing reliance on fossil energy, BESS can also relieve corporations from the policy uncertainty and regulatory stress involved in fossil energy infrastructure, including the controversial area of oil and gas pipeline construction.

In past years, safety concerns may have caused some hesitation around lithium-ion-based BESS. However, technology improvements in recent years have mitigated this issue. Black & Veatch currently recommends the lithium iron phosphate formula, for example, which is considered even more safe than other lithium-ion batteries.

Jakob also points out that system improvements, such as cooling plates, enable BESS systems to operate more efficiently at an optimal temperature, while new predictive sensors and other monitoring equipment enable operators to spot and fix potential problems before there is any impact on the system.

Lithium-ion-based BESS systems still cost more upfront than lead-acid batteries. However, they can easily make up the difference over time because they last about 10 times longer.

Still, the increase in climate-related disasters and the urgent need for additional resiliency are driving interest in technology that can outperform BESS on duration.

Black & Veatch has been tracking the development of long-duration energy storage systems, based on a variety of different technologies. Some are based on new chemistries that can last 10 hours or more, such as flow batteries. Others are based on gravity, temperature, or pressure.

When long-duration technology does hit the market, developers may still need to convince corporate and facility energy planners of their value. Jakob notes that under current conditions, most electricity users do not “value the 10th hour of storage any more than the first hour,” and resign themselves to the current state of lithium-ion-based BESS.

Energy planners will have many more opportunities to adopt new storage systems in the coming years, considering the Joe Biden administration’s focus on clean technology.

The new bipartisan infrastructure bill is already signed into law, along with provisions for significant new investments in energy storage and renewable energy technology. The companion bill, Build Back Better, has already passed the House of Representatives. If it squeaks through the Senate, it will also help accelerate the clean energy transition in the U.S.

Energy users who plan ahead for BESS and other new energy storage opportunities will be all the more prepared to harden their operations against the impacts of climate change, including price spikes and other power system disruptions.

This article series is sponsored by Black & Veatch and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team. 

Image courtesy of Sandia Labs via Flickr

South Bronx residents may soon be able to breathe again. Nearly six decades after the first drivers entered the Cross Bronx Expressway, the city has received $2 million in funding to devise a plan to “cap” the highway with green spaces, pedestrian walkways and air filtration systems. The study should kick into motion federal funding of upwards of $1 billion with the hopes to depollute an area in South Bronx dubiously dubbed “Asthma Alley.”

The Cross Bronx Expressway is likely to meet the same fate as its fellow dilapidating highways across the country: it’s getting capped. Capping consists of building parks and other structures on top of the thoroughfares to push these roads underground, transforming pollutant-generating, neighborhood-splitting highways into green spaces that reduce noise and reconnect communities. Major U.S. cities like Philadelphia, Denver and Dallas have jumped on this trend, capping or lidding their highways with “deck parks.”

The study of the Cross Bronx Expressway is the first step in addressing the marred legacy of the New York highway. Though the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway pre-dated the highway building frenzy that followed the passing of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, it shared many of the troubling development patterns that haunt many communities of color still today. Highly populated communities of color were forced from their homes and flattened to pave way for highway construction. Bustling boulevards ripe with shops, music halls, and restaurants that served as the center of Black culture were converted into highways that separated the community.

Robert Moses, the chief architect and designer of Cross Bronx Expressway (along with many other roads, bridges, parks and pools in New York City), has been heavily criticized for the damage he left behind in many of his development projects. In the Pulitzer-prize winning book “The Power Broker,” author Robert Caro uses nearly all of his book’s more than 1,200 pages to tarnish Moses’ legacy as a master builder.

One of the 1974 biography’s most memorable chapters is titled “One Mile,” and tells the story of Moses’ determination, at any human or financial cost, to build one mile of road on the Cross Bronx Expressway that led to the forced relocation of 1,530 families (figures which are likely to be underestimated). While Caro says the other six miles that make up the Cross Bronx Expressway were designed more or less with “logic,” the sudden bulge that Moses proposes for the one-mile stretch is inexplicable. An alternative option that cuts just south would have required tearing down just six small tenement homes housing 19 families wasn’t given a second thought.

Despite the protests and cries from the community, Moses got his way: The Cross Bronx Expressway was to run right through the bustling East Tremont, requiring the demolition of 159 buildings, including 54 apartment complexes and 91 or 92 family homes.

“Neighborhood feelings, urban planning considerations, cost, aesthetics, common humanity, common sense - none of these mattered in laying out the routes of New York’s great roads,” Caro wrote. “The only consideration that mattered was Robert Moses’ will.”

Even those who defend Moses’ legacy as a tactful builder of many New York projects may struggle to defend the route he devised for the Cross Bronx Expressway. Along with displacing more than 1,500 poor families for the construction of one mile of road, the highway, seen by many residents as “America’s Parking Lot,”  is among the most congested and dangerous in the United States. The lasting health effects of the highway may be the worst of all - Bronx residents have one of the highest death and disease rates of asthma in the country.

Capping the Cross Bronx Expressway won’t be cheap. Similar projects typically run a price tag in the tens, if not hundreds, of millions, and the New York highway may exceed that given its congestion. But creating deck parks can also yield generous economic returns. Dallas’ Klyde Warren Park, which sits atop Woodall Rogers Freeway, cost $110 million to construct in 2012 but has generated $312.7 million in economic benefits, according to one impact study. Beyond the financial impact, 90.9 percent of park visitors said the 5.2-acre park improved their quality of life. It’s no surprise then that the city approved plans to expand the park an additional 1.7 acres to relocate a popular dog park, enhance a children’s playground and build “an iconic water fountain” which will draw crowds for nightly light shows.

Just three hours south, in Austin, Texas, residents and advocacy groups are pleading with the Texas Department of Transportation to meet I-35’s challenges with anything other than highway expansion. TxDOT has remained steadfast that the only solution for improving the city’s most dangerous road for pedestrians is to use $4.9 billion to build up to 20 additional lanes. Advocacy groups, well armed with data and case studies proving the ineffectiveness of highway expansion, are lobbying hard to cap the highway instead, pointing to their fellow Texans in Dallas as inspiration.

Bronx residents hope projects like Klyde Warren Park in Dallas can be replicated in their backyard. As the $1 trillion infrastructure bill welcomes levels of spending on highways not seen since the Eisenhower-era Federal-Aid Highway Act, cities are clamoring to not only repair their crumbling roads, but also right the wrongs the paving left behind.

While reversing Moses’ lasting and visible legacy won’t happen overnight, rethinking the Cross Bronx Expressway is a first step in hiding the road that U.S. representative Ritchie Torres called “a structure of environmental racism.”

Image credit: Matthew LeJune via Unsplash

Maybe it isn’t fair to kick them to the ‘urb when they’re down, but then again, maybe Urban Meyer shouldn’t have kicked his team’s kicker, which earlier in the week led to one of the most vivid late-night firings since President Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre” in October 1973. In case you’ve had zero screen time of late, one of 2021’s bigger stories in sports is how Meyer, now the former head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, became an unfortunate gift that kept on giving since the Jaguars made a splash in hiring him 11 months ago.

Speaking of Urban Meyer moments, the world of environmental and social sustainability had its own fair share of face-palming incidents during 2021. This list is by no means an exhaustive list, but the following are some of the more head-scratching moments over the past year.

As the UN says eat less meat, COP26 rolls out a meat-heavy menu

While the organizers of COP26 touted a largely plant-based menu with the vast majority of food sourced locally in Scotland, some critics were less than impressed. One attendee noted that almost 60 percent of the menu items available during the annual climate talks were made with animal products. “This is the equivalent of serving cigarettes at a lung cancer conference,” sniffed another COP26 attendee on Twitter. Considering the United Nations itself has said that “if cows were a nation, they would be the world’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter,” such an oversight is at the very least awkward.

The heavy presence of the global fossil fuels sector, the amount of private jet travel that took leaders to Scotland and accusations of heavy-handed police tactics taken toward activists also contributed to the poor optics in Glasgow.

John Kerry reminds us why he wasn’t elected president

While we’re on the topic of COP26, former presidential candidate and secretary of state John Kerry, and currently the Biden administration’s climate envoy, did a fine job reminding us why the latest round of climate talks was weak tea. Call it death by platitudes.

In a Washington Post op-ed, he opened up rather awkwardly by claiming the Glasgow event “has already achieved success” while saying that “time is running short.”

It gets worse. Kerry commends the Indian government for its commitment to renewables (but doesn’t mention its ongoing commitment to coal); lauds Saudi Arabia and Russia for their net-zero goals (need we say more?); and continues by reminding us that “We have seen remarkable progress in just a matter of months, but we must all accelerate our efforts.”

As just about every character on Schitt’s Creek said during that show’s six-year run, “I don’t know what that means.”

Insisting on having its own grid led to a winter mess in Texas

The February blackout that struck much of Texas evoked gasps of surprise across the U.S., but TriplePundit writer and Austin resident Kate Zerrenner reminded us we should have seen it coming. “The state leadership has resolutely refused to admit that climate change is already wreaking havoc on the state, from droughts to floods, hurricanes to the latest Texas winter storm,” Zerrenner wrote on February 26. “They claim they could not have predicted a storm of this magnitude. They also didn’t think Hurricane Harvey would wreak such havoc.”

Naturally, Lone Star State politicians blamed renewables for causing the deep freeze, but the state’s own grid operator said lost natural gas power generation was the largest culprit.

California’s governor undercuts wildfire prevention issues

Among the reasons why the effort to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom failed so spectacularly back in September was that it came across as a crass power grab; the Golden State’s absurd recall laws allowing someone like Caitlyn Jenner to run didn’t help much, either. But while Newsom’s opponents harped on pandemic restrictions and the governor’s ill-timed visit to the hoity-toity French Laundry, they overlooked one of the governor’s decisions that didn’t bode so well during yet another horrid season of wildfires.

In June, journalists revealed that not only had Newsom overstated the level of wildfire prevention projects accomplished across California, he also cut $150 million from the state’s wildfire prevention budget. A surprise budget surplus in California’s budget this year spurred the governor to boost spending on wildfire prevention. Granted, climate change, manifested in drought, has been the big underlying factor in California’s wildfires. Nevertheless, try explaining the sudden boost in fire prevention as good news to residents who in recent years have lost just about everything to the fires, including their homes.

Canada’s PM just can’t quit the tar sands

It’s not Justin Trudeau’s fault that he reminds many people of that smarmy high school classmate who was captain of the football team, lacrosse team, tennis team, golf team, debate team, Junior UN, Junior OAS, glee club, LGBTQ-straight alliance club, Diner’s Club, future global leaders who sport a tattoo club, and student representative to the PTA – all while (or after?) his mother was partying with the Rolling Stones. He also, unfortunately, reminds us of that annoying colleague or neighbor who harps constantly about their life-changing, and wardrobe-changing, trip to India and how they saw the light and found inner peace and fulfillment.

But it is Trudeau’s fault that when it comes to the environment, he’s trying to have it both ways: positioning himself as a global climate action champion while supporting Canada’s controversial tar sands industry. “Since 2015, Trudeau’s position has been to try meeting Paris Agreement goals while also pumping billions of dollars in corporate welfare to the oil and gas industry,” Taylor C. Noakes wrote for Foreign Policy.

Whatever happened to honoring the legacy of George Floyd?

Pivoting to social sustainability: Remember all those corporate pledges we heard about in the weeks after the murder of George Floyd last year? It turns out a lot of those financial commitments have fallen short, or even worse, have been outright forgotten. In fact, a Washington Post analysis of the financial promises that 50 of America’s largest companies made to Black America last summer shows that those once-bold pledges have so far led to questionable impact.

The fact that many companies have been silent as voting suppression legislation keeps unfolding in statehouses across the U.S. also sows more doubt about whether companies are as committed to social justice as their comms departments makes them out to be. Bottom line, “these pledges ring hollow as state legislatures overturn decades of progress on voting rights, with a ripple effect on women and LGBTQ persons as well as Blacks and other people of color,” 3p’s Tina Casey wrote back in August.

And, why you should never, ever fire people using Zoom

We don’t pile on here at 3p – there are enough news and gossip sites that already do that and do it well. But as for that CEO who fired 900 people via a Zoom meeting earlier this month: What’s up with that? Well, karma bit him back and chomped quite hard, but if there is a Razzie award for corporate leadership, this would be the “winner,” big time.

Image credit: Anita S. via Pixabay

It may seem like magic, but it’s real. The global retailer Inditex is producing a new capsule collection of party dresses for its largest retail branch, the well-known Zara chain of apparel stores, made with fabric sourced from recycled carbon. The new collection is a partnership with the high-tech recycling company LanzaTech.

Recycled carbon steps into the limelight

Recycled carbon is beginning to emerge for industrial uses, but so far, the most common area is in fossil fuel extraction, where captured carbon is deployed to enhance production from oil wells.

That’s not exactly a climate-friendly use of recycled carbon. A more helpful approach under development is to cut emissions related to cement production.

Another emerging example is in the agricultural sector, where crops grown in greenhouses can be stimulated with extra carbon captured from the outside air.

For the most part, this activity has been taking place out of the public view. Zara’s new line of recycled carbon clothing brings it out from behind the curtain.

Introducing the new collection as a line of eye-catching party dresses does not add much volume to the market for recycled carbon fabric, but it adds an audacious twist that could stimulate more interest and help demand scale up quickly.

This is not your father’s recycled carbon party dress

As for the magic, that is becoming almost commonplace. LanzaTech is among a growing number of innovators that have developed technology that can capture airborne pollutants and deploy them as chemical building blocks.

Much of the technology is still in development, but LanzaTech has been running ahead of the pack with a system that deploys engineered microbes to digest airborne pollutants, with a focus on harvesting carbon dioxide emissions from steel mills. The system can also apply to agricultural waste among other sources.

The digestion process is more familiarly known as fermentation. Instead of yeast, though, the LanzaTech process deploys waste carbon. The end result is a propriety brand of ethanol, called Lanzanol.

Ethanol is better known as a fuel for cars, made from corn and other organic matter. It is even better known as the alcohol that makes fermented beverages intoxicating.

Ethanol is also among the most common building blocks for industrial use. It is an intermediate step in many chemical processes, including those leading to the production of plastics.

For the next step in the pathway to recycled carbon fabric, Lanzanol is converted to monoethylene glycol, which is the feedstock for polyester yarn among many other plastics.

The company India Glycols Limited has been topped for that part of the process. Capping off the sequence is Far Eastern New Century, which spins the monoethylene glycol into yarn.

Group hug for U.S. taxpayers

If LanzaTech’s partnership with Zara sparks more activity in the pollution-to-fashion field, U.S. taxpayers can give themselves a pat on the back for providing the company with a financial assist.

In 2013, LanzaTech won a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, for a project under a new research initiative called REMOTE, for "Reducing Emissions using Methanotrophic Organisms for Transportation Energy.” The initiative was aimed at converting waste methane into new fuels and other chemicals.

Michigan Technological University also partnered in the project to assess environmental impacts. Louisiana State University contributed its bio-reactor modeling expertise, and City College of New York contributed design work for the reactor.

Growing the market for recycled carbon

The market for recycled carbon could break out of the chicken-or-egg phase, now that the Zara collaboration has demonstrated the potential for demand.

That leaves the supply side to be addressed, and LanzaTech appears to have that in hand as well.

Last week the global steel maker ArcelorMittal announced a $30 million investment in LanzaTech, building on a carbon recycling collaboration that began in 2015.

The carbon capture side of the project is currently under construction at an ArcelorMittal plant in Ghent, Belgium.

With the addition of LanzaTech’s fermentation technology, ArcelorMittal anticipates that the plant will produce 80 million litres of bio-ethanol per year while reducing the carbon footprint of the facility.

Image credit: Adobe Stock

Toyota recently announced it will invest $35 billion in electric vehicles (EVs) and introduce 30 all-electric models across the Toyota and Lexus lines by 2030. This was one of many announcements Toyota made over the past several months about its electrification strategy. 

An earlier statement this year said the automaker plans to release 15 EV models by 2025. Then, a few months ago, it announced a $13 billion investment in battery technology, which includes a push to reduce the cost of batteries and increase their efficiency.

Going all-in on EVs

Earlier this month, Toyota said it had selected the location for a U.S. manufacturing plant for lithium-ion batteries. Once operational in 2025, the North Carolina plant will produce batteries for 200,000 vehicles annually. Also, the company has expansion plans in the works to increase its manufacturing capabilities to supply batteries for 1.2 million vehicles.

Toyota’s recent announcements are similar to one by Nissan, which has pledged a $17.5 billion investment over five years and 23 electric models by 2030. General Motors pledged to only sell zero-emissions vehicles by 2035 and have 30 new EV models by 2025. BMW, Kia and Ford have also made significant announcements related to EVs.

The Japanese automaker has been the worldwide market leader in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and its hybrid product portfolio includes the Camry, Avalon, Highlander and Prius. Although Toyota has been a leader in HEVs and produced the Prius, the first mainstream hybrid vehicle, it has been sluggish to adopt EVs. In fact, Toyota has yet to release one, so it hasn’t capitalized on its early lead in developing alternatives to the conventional internal combustion engine (ICE). Nevertheless, the company has a number of all-electric models in the works, so let’s explore what Toyota has on deck.

The 2024 Toyota Compact Cruiser

The automaker shows it wants to stay competitive in the off-road cruiser SUV market by introducing a rugged and compact electric SUV within a couple of years. Little has been announced about the cruiser's electric powertrain, but it will likely have a boxy appearance and a starting price of around $35,000.

Numerous all-electric SUVs are being released in 2022, including the Audi Q4 e-tron, the Chevy Bolt Electric Utility Vehicle, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, Mazda MX-30 and Nissan Ariya. Thus, Toyota’s all-electric SUV will join a more crowded space when it first makes its appearance.

A new Toyota EV pickup

Toyota recently revealed a concept for an electric pickup that will join the mid-size Tacoma and full-size Tundra in Toyota’s pickup lineup. Although the details are still foggy, including the starting price and release date, it seems to be between the sizes of the Tacoma and Tundra, with a style similar to the Tundra. It has a four-door crew cab with a relatively short bed, off-road tires, and a blocked-off grill found in many battery-powered EVs.

By the time the new pickup is released, there will be several electric pickups to compete with, including the Ford F150 Lightning, GMC Hummer Pickup, Rivian R1T and likely the Tesla Cybertruck. Rivian, a California-based start-up, was the first automaker to release an EV pickup, which has gotten a lot of attention for this achievement.

Time will tell if Toyota will be able to catch up in the next few years on the vehicle electrification front, but its recent announcements seem encouraging.

Image credit: Toyota

There’s little dispute about the impact that the global textiles and apparel industry has on the planet. According to at least one source, the global consumption of cotton alone results in 220 metric tons of carbon emissions while using 4 percent of the globe’s nitrogen fertilizers. Considering more than 60 percent of all textiles manufactured worldwide are synthetic – and the vast majority of that material is produced from petrochemicals – doing the math reveals that the impact of polyester and similar fibers is not too pretty, either. Nevertheless, here at TriplePundit we’ve witnessed more sustainable apparel and outdoor gear coming to market; on that point, we’ve highlighted some of the more compelling developments during 2021.

Adidas commits to manufacturing more sustainable apparel

Just days before the new year, Adidas announced it would incorporate more sustainable materials in its gear by the end of 2021 – to the tune of 60 percent, in fact. Included in that effort include vegan alternatives to leather, more circular materials and ocean plastic. We don’t know if this popular athletic brand has hit that mark yet, but in fairness, 2021 still has a couple weeks to go. According to the company, 71 percent of the polyester used in its apparel and footwear is of recycled material in 2020, while 15 million pairs of its shoes contain ocean plastic. Considering the brand’s track record on sustainable apparel and gear over the past decade, don’t be surprised if Adidas meets or even exceeds that goal.

Backpacks keep going beyond canvas and polyester

In fairness, the average backpack is used far more times than the typical item of clothing picked up at a fast fashion store. That doesn’t mean progress can’t be made on this front, however.

For example, the German brand Got Bag has harnessed a network of 2,000 or so fishermen and -women in Indonesia to make its laptop sleeves and backpacks. 3p’s senior editor, Mary Mazzoni, was impressed enough to add Got Bag’s products to her latest annual holiday gift guide. “I've been testing out the $99 daypack for the past year, and with a seamless transition from backpack to briefcase and band that easily slips over the handle of rollaway luggage, it's perfect for commuting and traveling alike,” wrote Mazzoni last week.

Also check out Fjällräven’s Tree-Kånken backpack. These 16-liter packs are sturdy, eschew chemicals and according to the company, more than 90 percent of the water used to manufacture them is recycled. The secret? The material used in these backpacks are derived from a yarn derived from spruce and pine trees in Sweden. Yes, it’s true that Nordic country has had its own problems with deforestation. Nevertheless, Fjällräven says the fibers needed to make the Tree-Kånken comes from FSC-certified forests. We were impressed enough to tuck into our back-to-school guide this past August.

More brands are taking on the problem of denim

It’s a superficial and non-scientific observation, but the chances are high that you’ve witnessed more popular denim brands deploying a blue jeans buyback policy: The typical one involves bringing in an old pair, and then score a voucher to help you buy a new pair. Ariat, Levi’s and Pacsun are among the companies that have dabbled in such programs.

True, developing a strong brand loyalty, and showing they can have a sustainable apparel program together is a part of this push by fashion companies. But these brands are also aware of the evidence that suggests far too much clothing is still ending up in U.S. landfills. Back in 1960, Americans tossed about 1.7 million tons of apparel into landfills. By 2018, that amount had surged to 11.3 million tons, says data coming from the EPA. That same year, of the 17 million tons of clothes Americans no longer wanted, only 2.5 million tons of them were recycled in some form. Denim presents another problem, as in microfibers polluting oceans, as this 2020 article from Wired had explored.

Partnerships can help fashion brands take on the sustainable apparel challenge. Madewell, long a pioneer with its jeans buyback program, announced one such venture this year. Working with the online consignment and thrift shop ThredUP, the companies’ goal is to collect one million pairs of jeans, which otherwise could end up at the local landfill or incinerator, by 2023. Madewell and its customers, of course, will supply the denim; ThredUP will provide the technology, i.e., the online sales platform. For consumers who wish to clean out their closets, the process will work the same - bring in any brand of jeans for a $20 voucher, and any pair that are deemed prime for another life in a different closet will be sold on Madewell’s resale site.

Gen Z drives the surge in thrifting

Speaking of ThreadUp, in its most recent report on resale within the retail industry, it concluded that if sustainable apparel trends hold up, the entire secondhand market (which includes resale and traditional thrift and clothing donations), could become an $80 billion market by 2029. Compare that with fast fashion, which ThreadUp says may be a $43 billion market that same year.

As NPR has reported, Gen Z is driving much of the thrifting bandwagon. The 1997-ish and later crowd has already been disrupting norms, including how they view investing. Now, the evidence suggests they aren’t just transforming fashion — they are owning it, and doing so on their terms. The fashion industry is responding in kind: The ability to show anyone and everyone how thrifting can be cool has led to the popularity of apps such as Depop, on which Etsy plunked $1.6 billion to acquire earlier this year.

How recycled emissions are ending up at the gym or yoga studio

This summer, Lululemon announced that it would partner with LanzaTech to develop yarn and textiles made out of recycled carbon emissions that if not captured, would otherwise be released into the atmosphere as pollution. LanzaTech says it can capture carbon from various feedstocks, including synthetic gas, industrial emissions from industries such as steel, agricultural byproducts and household waste. Microorganisms that the company has developed can then transform those carbon molecules into ethanol and other base ingredients that will eventually become fabric.

Expect to hear more from LanzaTech; this week, the company said it had reached a similar agreement with Inditex, which owns several fashion brands including its flagship retailer Zara.

Timberland takes a stand on regenerative agriculture

Timberland has been a trail blazer on sustainable apparel before many of today’s popular brands even existed. But time and again, the company has proven to be an early adopter. This spring, Timberland and parent company VF Corporation pushed regenerative agriculture into the spotlight by announcing the first regenerative rubber supply system in the apparel industry. The new initiative could help bring more clarity to the role of organic practices in regenerative agriculture, in addition to providing consumers with a new opportunity to contribute to a more sustainable supply chain.

This initiative is part and parcel of Timberland’s goal of sourcing 100 percent of its natural materials from regenerative agriculture by 2030. “That high-profile leadership role provides Timberland with significant leverage over the extent to which organic and regenerative farming could become one and the same,” wrote 3p’s Tina Casey.

Image credit of denim jeans: Waldemar Brandt via Unsplash