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GTREE™ Set To Revolutionize Sustainable Label Offerings

signaltree — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:15:48 +0000

GTREE™ Has One Of The Greenest Environmental Profiles Of Any Label Available

Following years of research, testing and development, G3 Enterprises is now offering GTREE – an environmentally sustainable, high-performance wine label paper which was developed for use on all bottling lines, including those utilizing high-speed and mobile bottling application equipment.

Manufactured from 100% post-consumer recycled fiber (100% PCW), GTREE has one of the greenest environmental footprints of any label stock currently offered. The GTREE label contains true recycled fiber consisting of sorted office paper that has had at least one useful life before being recycled. G3 Enterprises teamed with family-owned Monadnock Paper Mills, which is also known as a global environmental steward, to research and develop a 100% PCW label stock that could meet the rigors of bottling including tensile and tear strength, brightness, embossing and scuff resistance that is equal to or better than current paper stocks. Additionally, the GTREE label paper is specially designed with a unique formulation which results in increased resistance to water absorption allowing GTREE to maintain its premium appearance and high quality print aesthetics even when exposed to ice bucket conditions for prolonged periods.

“We are very excited to begin exclusively offering the GTREE label,” said Tom Gallo, Vice President of Strategic Development of G3 Enterprises. He added, “Not only will the label be visually appealing to all consumers, we know that it will easily meet the needs of both eco-conscious consumers and wineries.”

Among the many environment attributes, GTREE label stock is manufactured using 100% renewable electricity, is processed chlorine free, and is manufactured carbon-neutral. In addition, the fiber waste created during the manufacturing process is captured, processed and reused as compost for crops and bedding for livestock.

“The collaboration of two multigenerational family-owned businesses resulted in the development of the most cost effective, environmentally sound labels of the 21st century,” said Richard Verney, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Monadnock Paper Mills. He added, “This is one great sustainable solution from two notable family trees.”

Throughout an extensive research and field testing period, GTREE label has proven consistently reliable having been tested using all current labeling methods and systems and has the ability to run exceptionally well on today’s high speed bottling lines. GTREE is manufactured under certified ISO 9001 and 14001 Quality and Environmental Management Systems.

“GTREE is a cost-competitive bright white, uncoated stock which offers excellent embossing and hot foil stamping performance,” said Fred Dale, G3’s Label Division’s senior manager for technical service and quality control. He added, “At G3, our commitment to quality and performance ensures that our GTREE label offerings meet and exceed our customers’ requirements for every application.”

Source: G3 Enterprises

Nest Labs Introduces World’s First Learning Thermostat

signaltree — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:06:01 +0000

Nest Labs announced that it has created the Nest Learning Thermostat™. Nest learns from your behaviors, preferences and surroundings to create a custom heating and cooling schedule, keeping you comfortable when you’re home and conserving energy when you’re away.

“It was unacceptable to me that the device that controls 10 percent of all energy consumed in the U.S. hadn’t kept up with advancements in technology and design,” said Tony Fadell, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nest Labs. “Together with the team, Co-Founder Matt Rogers and I set out to reinvent the thermostat using advanced technologies, high-quality manufacturing processes and the thoughtful design elements the iPhone generation has come to expect. The resulting Nest Learning Thermostat is like no other thermostat on the market. We hope it will not only save money and energy, but that it will teach and inspire people to think more about how they can reduce home energy consumption.”

According to the U.S. Department of Energy and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the annual energy bill for a typical single-family home is approximately $2,200, with heating and cooling (HVAC) accounting for approximately half of the bill. The programmable thermostat, developed in the 1970s, promised to help people conserve energy, but 89 percent of owners rarely or never set a program (source: ACEEE, 2010). The devices are simply too complicated. In fact, Energy Star revoked its certification of all thermostats in 2009 when it became apparent that people weren’t actually engaging with programmable thermostats to reach their proper functionality.

Nest Learning Thermostat

Nest addresses the programming problem through a combination of sensors, algorithms, machine learning, and cloud computing. Nest learns behaviors and preferences and adjusts the temperature up or down accordingly, making you comfortable when you’re home and saving energy while you’re away. Nest also provides people with tips and information to help them make energy-saving choices.

Product Features:

• Programs Itself – Nest programs itself based on the temperatures you set. Nest learns your personal schedule in a week and starts automatically turning down heating or cooling when you’re away to save energy. Nest will keep refining its schedule over time.

• Saves Energy – Nest tracks the temperatures you typically set and guides you to more energy-efficient ones, displaying the green Nest Leaf as a reward when you set the temperature to a more energy-efficient setting. The Auto-Away™ feature uses sensors to detect when you’re not home, lowering the temperature and saving energy. You can also check Energy History to see how much you saved.

• Connected – Connect Nest to your home’s Wi-Fi to control it from your laptop, smartphone or tablet. Change the temperature, adjust your schedule and check your energy usage.

• Simple to Use – Rotate the outer ring to adjust the temperature. The display turns blue when cooling and red when heating. Push down to open the menu.

• Convenient Installation Options – Bundle installation service with purchase at nest.com or install Nest yourself if you’re handy around the house. Just about everything you need comes in the box. If you’ve installed a lighting fixture, you’ll find that installing Nest is a similar process.

• Thoughtful Design – The brushed stainless steel dial frames the display while the ring’s curved, neutral-silver finish creates a chameleon effect that grounds Nest within its environment by picking up the color of the wall upon which it’s mounted. This combination of sleek design elements and premium materials makes Nest a thermostat you can finally feel proud to display in your home.

The Nest Labs Team

The Nest team is committed to helping reduce home-energy consumption. Team members draw upon their years of technology, design and go-to-market experience from world-class consumer-facing companies including Apple, Google, Logitech, Sling Media and Twitter.

“Nest has built an unprecedented team of experienced designers and engineers with backgrounds spanning Silicon Valley,” said Bill Campbell, Apple and Intuit board member and Nest advisor. “Under the leadership of Tony Fadell, the company is poised to make a significant impact on an industry that has been virtually void of innovation for the past 30 years.”

To learn more visit http://www.nest.com/.

Source: Nest

Continuum Show and Textile Exchange Create Partnership to Deliver Sustainable Textiles Tradeshow

signaltree — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:01:51 +0000

This highly-focused event showcases the industry’s best sustainability options

The Continuum Show is a boutique tradeshow that brings together the most progressive and innovative solutions to textile sustainability. Based on the highly successful Kingpins Denim show, Continuum will be launching its first show in New York City today, January 17, 2012.

Exhibitors were be carefully selected based on their ability to provide quality products and service, and for the relevance and integrity of their sustainability stories. Attendees are by invitation only. Olah, Continuum Textiles and Textile Exchange leverage their strengths to pull together a powerful group of exhibitors and attendees that will accelerate sustainable practices in the textile industry.

Based on this philosophy, the Continuum Show is small and informal (approximately 20 exhibitors), with attendance by invitation only, with complimentary food and drink. It is running concurrent to the Kingpins show, and share the After Party of the first night.

Exhibitors include:
• Badjatex
• Bossa
• Bozzetto Group
• Fibermax Cotton
• Garmon & Bozzetto
• Genencor
• Jeanologia
• Monadnock Paper Mills
• Nexgen Packaging
• Poole
• Pratibha
• RETHINK
• Sai-tex International HK Ltd.

The Show was created by Andrew Olah of Kingpins, and Anne Gillespie and Stuart Adams of Continuum Textiles. As the founder and owner of Kingpins, as well as owner of the textile marketing and development firm Olah Inc., Andrew brings in decades of experience in the textile industry and a unique approach to tradeshows that diverges from the regular show format. “I never enjoyed the usual tradeshow experience,” says Olah, “I wasted way too much time with folks I would never do business with, while my potential customers got overwhelmed by the endless choices to make. I wanted to create a show that felt like a party hosted at my own home.”

Gillespie and Adams have been focused on sustainability in the textile industry for years, and bring a deep understanding of the issues and solutions. They believe that “product sustainability is not an endpoint; rather it is movement along a continuum towards a fully sustainable system that balances economic, social, and environmental factors.”

Textile Exchange (formerly Organic Exchange) has been the undisputed leader in the non-profit sector in its ability to accelerate the growth of the organic cotton market and is poised to lead similar growth in the broader field of sustainable textiles. TE staff will be present at the show, delivering the seminar and being a resource to all attending. LaRhea Pepper, Managing Director of Textile Exchange, says “The Continuum show offers Textile Exchange another tool to fulfill our mission. The show creates a tangible way for us to get the industry to take direct action and make real change happen. To this point there has been a lot of work done to create understanding and excitement around sustainability, as well as the development of new materials and processes. We are hearing a constant frustration from suppliers that there isn’t the follow-through from brands in terms of making real purchasing decisions. This show will be a way to encourage this to happen, and accelerate the momentum that has already begun.”

To learn more visit http://thecontinuumshow.com.

Source: The Continuum

Ecolean Lightweight Packaging Uses Less Energy

signaltree — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:54:00 +0000

Ecolean has established a clever and stylish solution to lightweight packaging. “Lightweight packaging is our answer to the demands of the liquid food industry and consumers asking for modern and clever packages. By using a minimal amount of raw material we create a lightweight package which combines low environmental impact with consumer convenience. Saving resources is saving the environment. That is why lightweight packaging has become a heavyweight argument.”

The unique, pitcher-looking design has a generous face for consumer communication. It has a perfect surface for really high-quality print. Colors and sharpness will do justice to any communicative intention and will certainly draw the attention of a fast moving consumer. Saving resources is no longer just a matter of looking at the waste end of a package life cycle. Equally important are the resources used at its beginning.

Ecolean uses less raw material from the start. The packaging material is made from a thin plastic film, part plastic (PE and PP) and part chalk (40% by weight), one of nature’s own material. That adds up to a truly lightweight package that takes less energy to produce.

Low waste volumes also save considerable resources in the waste handling process. Light and thin as the packaging is, you will find resource-saving arguments for it throughout the whole product life cycle.

To prove the effectiveness of the lightweight containers, Ecolean let a school put the packaging to the test. Instead of the regular cartons, milk was served for a week from Ecolean packages. Normally a garbage truck would empty the school’s garbage container once a day. But at the end of the Ecolean week, the garbage container was still less than half full. Once empty, an Ecolean package is flat as an envelope and its low weight is undeniable.

Source: Ecolean

Method Unveils Breakthrough Bottle Made of Ocean Plastic

signaltree — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:34:16 +0000

Method, the leading innovator in premium, eco-conscious household and personal care products, has found success with its latest innovation in sustainable packaging – a bottle made out of plastic collected from the North Pacific Gyre, often referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Method’s bottle is 100 percent post-consumer polyethylene, 25 percent of which is plastic collected from the Gyre. Partnering with Envision Plastics, one of the largest recyclers in the U.S., Method was able to make bottles out of a novel and potentially profound new plastic material – Ocean PCR.

Together with Envision, Method has pioneered an integrated new recycling process to engineer Ocean PCR plastic that is the same quality as virgin HDPE plastic. The process allows the plastic to be cleaned, unwanted contaminants removed completely, blended, and then remanufactured into high quality plastic.

“We’ve created a usable bottle from ocean plastic and upcycled it into something useful that can be recycled again and again,” said Adam Lowry, Method co-founder and chief greenskeeper. “Our ultimate goal is to raise awareness that the real solution to plastic pollution lies in reusing and recycling the plastic that’s already on the planet.”

On hand to discuss this breakthrough, sustainable business and green jobs were U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson; U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills; U.S. EPA Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld; and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.

“This innovation demonstrates what America, California and forward-thinking companies like Method can accomplish when they combine strong business principles with responsible actions to protect our health and the world around us,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said. “By transforming the trash in our oceans into usable products that are safe for our children, our environment and our future, Method has proven that green business can grow our economy and create jobs.”

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said, “Today’s announcement by San Francisco-based Method demonstrates our City’s commitment to creative, innovative, and sustainable technology companies. By creating bottles made from ocean debris, they are demonstrating that San Francisco is a place for big ideas. “In a city that is surrounded on three sides by the bay and the ocean, we will greatly benefit from this innovation that will keep our coastal areas clean and fuel our green economy.”

Method is focused on collecting enough usable ocean plastic to create a significant supply and turning it into bottles. The company will be collecting usable plastic from several locations with volunteer organizations on September 17, International Coastal Cleanup Day.

Method made its first bottle entirely from post-consumer recycled plastic in 2006. Since then, Method has continued to develop post-consumer plastic technology and now makes tens of millions of plastic bottles a year that are completely free from virgin plastic.

To learn more visit http://methodhome.com/.

Source: Method