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Five findings + turning rice hulls into water filtration

Five findings + turning rice hulls into water filtration

Published:
March 13, 2023
June 29, 2023
Five findings + turning rice hulls into water filtration

Our investigation continues into environmental sustainability in the fashion industry, plus some bite-sized facts on food waste.

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We’re continuing to investigate our fourth research topic: environmental sustainability in the fashion industry, and have included some inspiration on the topic in our ‘interesting findings’ below.

We’ve also made sure to include some bite-sized facts on food waste as our latest podcast, Food Waste Part 3, is out now! Make sure to check it out if you like what you see below.

1. The world’s top five greenhouse gas emitters are as follows, China, the USA, food waste,   India, and Russia. One of those isn’t like the others.

2. The food and agriculture industry is expected to double its food supply by 2050 to feed an increasing population while also decreasing its emissions. That’s an equation that doesn’t quite add up, read about what businesses can do to even up the scales here.

3. Seemingly new solutions to decreasing packaging waste, such as returnable or refillable packaging, aren’t quite so new at all. In fact up until the 1940s “things were actually quite circular”, as pointed out by Terracycle CEO Tom Szaky. Maybe it’s time to take a lesson from the 1940s and bring back the milkman!

4. In a study done in Sub-Saharan Africa between 1931 and 2000, it was found that half of all clothing industry job losses were attributed to clothing handouts. This is an eye-opening example of how kind-hearted donations can sometimes do more harm than good by damaging local economies.

5. On average Australians purchase 14.8kg of clothing every year, equating to 56 new items per person, per year. These are some of the alarming figures published in a report by Monash University on how to transition the Australian fashion industry towards a more sustainable future.

Food waste part three: sustainable food systems and new technologies

This is part three and the final part of our series on the problem of food waste. What can you expect to hear from us? → →

  • Learn how businesses can tackle unavoidable and hard-to-process food waste using new technologies.
  • Case study on Goterra, including an interview with sustainable foods systems expert and CEO of Zero Carbon Forum Bob Gordon, about how they use insects to process food waste and create animal feed.
  • Case study on US startup Glanris, including an interview with the CEO and founder of Glanris Bryan Eagle, about how the company is converting previously wasteful rice hulls into sustainable water filtration media.

Listen to the podcast here! 

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