In an ideal world, all materials would be recyclable and everybody would recycle. The harsh reality, though, is that over 75% of water bottles, perhaps the most readily recyclable product in the world, end up in oceans or landfills. So, while it’s critically important to design for recyclability, only in the best-case scenario are the products we design actually recycled.
Enter Planet Green Bottle, with their innovative plastic additive, Reverte. Combined with PET, Reverte offers a time-delayed biodegradability that breaks down plastic even in landfill conditions. By severing the bonds of a carbon chain into pieces that are small enough to be used as food for microbes, Reverte leaves nothing but CO2 and water behind. And, most impressively, the reaction can be delayed for anywhere from 2 or 5 years, so products can live a normal shelf life without fear of spoiling, leaking, dissolving, etc., and is still fully recyclable.
While recycling will always be the Cradle-to-Cradle ideal, Reverte factors in actual, albeit unfortunate, consumer behavior by offering biodegradabilty when recyclability fails. Makes it easier to design with a conscience, offering a good temporary fix until the system encourages 100% recyclability.
Microsoft released a new video with their glimpse into the future. Most of the concepts seen are projects happening world wide and not just at Microsoft and really not that far out. Though most of the ideas are to promote the brand, it’s always good to get a refresh on the future and how technology might change our behaviors.
“IDEAS: What isn’t straightforward about orange juice?
HAMILTON: It’s a heavily processed product. It’s heavily engineered as well. In the process of pasteurizing, juice is heated and stripped of oxygen, a process called deaeration, so it doesn’t oxidize. Then it’s put in huge storage tanks where it can be kept for upwards of a year. It gets stripped of flavor-providing chemicals, which are volatile. When it’s ready for packaging, companies such as Tropicana hire flavor companies such as Firmenich to engineer flavor packs to make it taste fresh. People think not-from-concentrate is a fresher product, but it also sits in storage for quite a long time.”
Give this 4 minute video a watch as it’s so very true. “Everything’s Amazing, yet nobody’s happy!”, Louis CK.
I agree, too many people complain too much when life is pretty damn amazing.
Wow, what an odd mysterious BarrelEye fish! The BarrelEye Fish has a snow globe like transparent head allowing it to flip it’s eyes upwards to see prey. Very cool!
“A very bizarre looking deep-water fish called a Barreleye that has a transparent head and tubular eyes. LiveScience has an article about the fish which explains that even though the two spots above the fish’s mouth look like eyes they are not.
I’m not sure what it is, but something about these Tuxman Generic Man shoes made me want to post them. Otherwise, check out some of the other shoes (Red Chuckman) though they are pricey ($200-300)
The Next Digital Experience
Social networking applications and sophisticated mobile devices are combining elements of the real and virtual worlds, and delivering an augmented experience of reality.
How is this digital experience changing consumers and communities?
- Kiva.org: I learned from co-founder Matt Flannery that he worked at Tivo before, wrote down an idea a day for about a month, then quit his job to work at a donut shop, while starting up Kiva, with several people saying you can’t just loan money to outside countries legally. Anyone can be your business partner! Kiva now get over 1Million dollars in loans every 10 days! via BrownEP
- Starbucks: Ted Garcia (Ex VP). Starbucks went from having 17 stores total to 5 stores opening each day up to an astounding 16,000 stores total in about 10 years! Starbucks success comes from 3 things. Performance, People, and Luck. Starbucks success was in having a constant open dialogue with all employees, and bringing up issues when employees did not perform as needed. via BrownEP
- Mark Victor Hansen: Spend, create ideas, do ideas, only you can make something happen. Don’t wait for it to come to you. Don’t do something to make money, or save the world. Do it to make the world better. via BrownEP
- David Shrier: old school marketing techniques still work and can easily be measured in all channels. Some of the best examples are Ronco and Proactiv. Advertising money is not just to get to consumers, but also to reach largers distributions. I’m not a huge believer in older techniques, but David gave some very convincing examples. via BrownEP
” I wish you would use all means at your disposal — films! expeditions! the web! more! — to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet.”
- Sylvia Earle
This is the TEDwish that made me promise to cut back on seafood (and sushi consumption) this year, though I’ve learned it’s better to eat smaller fish that reproduce faster from a previous lecture on ocean life as well. Also helping out will be the free release in the astonishing documentary OCEANS (youtube) by Jacques Perrin (Winged Migration) to help educate people about the ocean sometime this year.
via TEDprize
