Philly's plastic bag ban is working, study finds

Local governments in France are educating residents about waste reduction and finding ways to incentivize the behavior change necessary to meet the country’s ambitious zero-waste goals. Roubaix, for example, teaches residents simple lifestyle changes that will also save them money. Whereas, Smicval transitioned from door-to-door waste collection to a central collection point where residents drop off trash themselves.

At both the individual and corporate levels, action is being taken to eliminate the use of plastics. While many people have turned their attention to decreasing their own use of single-use plastics, many say that’s not enough. Instead, corporations bear the responsibility in creating and managing large-scale systems that eliminate the high use of non-reusable plastics.

The shareholder activism nonprofit The Accountability Board is holding fast food companies accountable to making progress toward their climate commitments by filing proposals asking for action, which all shareholders who own a certain percentage of companies are able to do.

A utility company in Framingham, Massachusetts, worked with climate advocates to build a unique geothermal heating and cooling project that spans a whole neighborhood. A group of residential and commercial buildings share the infrastructure necessary to harness stable underground temperatures for heating and cooling, which reduces their greenhouse gas emissions and energy bills.

The nonprofit PR3 is working to standardize reusable packaging systems for businesses like coffee shops and grocery stores to make them easier to scale and adopt as a replacement to single-use materials.

A direct carbon capture plant in Iceland sucks carbon dioxide out of the air, mixes it with water, and pumps it underground to help combat climate change. When the mixture reaches the basalt bedrock, it causes a chemical reaction that turns the carbon into a solid so it can be stored underground in the porous rock.

Thermal storage technologies are lowering businesses’ energy costs and carbon emissions while reducing strain on the grid during peak times. Two hotels in California implemented a system that makes ice when energy demand is low and uses the ice during peak demand times to cool the building.

The University of Georgia soccer program held a Journey to Zero Waste Soccer Season in which it aimed for every home game to divert at least 90% of its waste from the landfill. The stadium crew set up recycling and composting bins with explanatory signage, and students volunteered to educate attendees about how to properly dispose of their waste.

The Denmark-based startup LastObject manufactures reusable menstrual products that produce less waste than the typical throw-away versions. Its reusable pad is made of polyester and bamboo and can be washed and reused for up to 10 years.

Entrepreneurs are encouraging reuse models like return-from-home systems to transition towards a circular economy without single-use plastics. In this model, consumers pay a deposit to use takeout boxes, cups, and other containers. They get their deposit back when the containers are picked up from their home by a courier.