Good Fact

Policy Changes Bring Cleaner Solvents to Market

- Adam Clare

Industrial cleaning solvents aren’t something most people think about on a daily basis, at least I hardly do. Interestingly enough some policy changes have forced companies to change how they manufacture solvents and have also changed what the demand end of the spectrum too. Companies that once used toxic solvents have improved their internal cleaning process so they don’t need to purchase hazardous cleaning supplies.

Both the U.S. and Europe have imposed stricter restrictions on solvents during the past 20 years, particularly with European passage of the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) legislation in 2007, which requires toxicity evaluations on thousands of substances. To comply with solvent-emission regulation, manufacturers have the option to install engineering controls to limit emissions. In the dry cleaning industry, for example, emissions of perchloroethylene have been severely curtailed as users have installed specially designed cleaning and recycling equipment to decrease emissions by as much as 90 percent (see related chart).

Read more at IHS.

Washington D.C. Approves Living Wage Bill

- Adam Clare

Washington D.C. lawmakers approved a proposed bill that institutes a living wage for the region. This is after a loud and boisterous campaign from Walmart to keep poverty-level wages. Walmart is known for low wages, firing employees who report animal abuse, and a whole list of other criticisms. Yet, Walmart makes millions of dollars and has been known to use it’s size to influence policies in their favour so it’s good to see that D.C. stood up to this anti-people corporation.

“The question here is a living wage; it’s not whether Wal-Mart comes or stays,” said council member Vincent B. Orange (D-At Large), a lead backer of the legislation, who added that the city did not need to kowtow to threats. “We’re at a point where we don’t need retailers. Retailers need us.”

Whether or not Wal-Mart needs the District, it had spent the past three years wanting to enter the city in a way no other business had. Activists celebrated Wednesday’s vote, saying the company, which reported net income of $17 billion on sales of $470 billion in its most recent fiscal year, could afford to pay better wages. But the council action threatens to halt several developments anchored by Wal-Mart in neighborhoods long under­served.

Read more at Washington Post.

Camino Wear: Clothing for Walking

- Adam Clare

Camino Wear is a clothing line that is focused on celebrating walking, travel, and adventure. The inspiration for the clothing line comes the founder’s walk along the Camino de Santiago.

We believe that walking, travel and adventure are some of the most important things in life.

Walking, because (in our humble opinion) slow travel is best. To be outdoors, to be active, to be in one’s environment = a happier, healthier life full of beautiful, small moments.

Travel, because this world is incredible and so very diverse. Meeting new people and experiencing new things allows us to grow; both in our compassion for others and also for ourselves.

Adventure, because life is too short to become complacent.

Because purposeful wandering is the opposite of being lost.

They are looking for love and support on Indiegogo, there are only 8 days left:

Consumers Care About Social Responsibility

- Adam Clare

I recall early in the last decade that companies didn’t respond to calls for corporate social responsibility because consumers didn’t care. That seems to have changed, which is a very good thing. Since then, corporations have had to accommodate the growing concerns of people and have even gone so far to create new brands that focus on ethical behaviour. The consumer times are changing!

Treatment of employees is the biggest factor (45%) when people decide how responsible a company is. Environmental impact follows close behind (38%). Transparency, corporate oversight, and impact on society are also important factors.

Companies shouldn’t think that the trend towards socially-responsible purchasing means that they can just claim that their products are “green” and call it a day. According to the survey, 63% of people trust company claims about social responsibility only sometimes–when they do verify information, it’s often by reading product packaging, checking out the news, and doing independent research.

Read more.

Dynamic Systems Modelling for Better Prediction of Emissions

- Adam Clare

Canada has a large pulp and paper industry and it produces tons of waste in the form of wastewater and greenhouse gas emissions. Collectively the industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars to lower their environmental damage, so even a marginal increase in environmental efficiency can have a large impact on their bottom line.

A study from Concordia University looked into using dynamic systems modelling to asses what the output of processing facilities to predict waste output.

“With dynamic modeling, we can better understand the behaviour of the treatment plant over time,” says senior author Fariborz Haghighat, professor in Concordia’s Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Concordia ResearchChair in Energy and Environment. “With this knowledge, we can then recommend a strategy to reduce the emission of greenhouse gas and also improve energy efficiency.”

“Models such as this are used to simulate the behaviour of a particular management system either in the early stages of system design or in later development to incorporate changes,” adds Yerushalmi. “We want to make sure that we use the most accurate method possible and the dynamic model isbest predictor yet.”

Read more at Concordia.

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