By Amy Highland There are “green” options for almost everything on the market today. However, those claims are not always justified, and those made for...
Archive for category: Circular Economy
Sustainable Fashion: Closing the Clothing Loop
By MIRIAM ACZEL Our consumption and use of resources arguably need a rethink: Earth Overshoot Day, the date when our resource consumption for the year surpasses the...
From Plastic to Fantastic: Promoting the Circular Economy in Cambodia
By DEBRA ACZEL and MIRIAM ACZEL Our plastics problem is BIG and growing A landmark study that measured global production, use and ultimate disposition of plastics found that we’ve...
Transforming Waste into Energy to Advance the Circular Economy: Canada – USA Event Recap
By DINA MANSOUR On October 25th, 2018, Leaders in Energy (LE), in partnership with the Quebec Government office in Washington and the Embassy of Canada, held...
Circular Economy Working Group Tour of C2 Management facility, September 22, 2018
Tucked back next to the railroad tracks in rural Berryville, Virginia, is an older warehouse complex which houses a business bustling with the magic of re-use, C2 Management.
On Saturday, September 23, the Leaders in Energy Circular Economy Working Group visited the C2 Management facility for a tour of their impressive operation.
Rethink, Reduce, and Reuse: Textile Edition!
Did you know? If you’re an average North American, you’ll throw out 81lbs of textile waste (shoes, sheets, blankets, coats, underwear, clothing, etc) every single year! Our landfills are filling up faster than ever, and consumption is a national pastime, yet fashion is one of the single most polluting industries on Earth. The good news is, there’s lots YOU can do about it! As always, we’re talking Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
What is the Triple Bottom Line and Why is it Crucial for Business Success?
The ‘triple bottom line,’ a phrase first coined by John Elkington in 1994, is a concept that expands how a business’s performance is measured to include social and environmental goals to its financial bottom line.
The triple bottom line is therefore used as a measure of a company’s economic performance and valuation, its level of corporate social responsibility (CSR), as well as its environmental sustainability standards and impacts. And it matters: for example, a 2013 study by Cone Communications and Echo Research showed that 82 percent of consumers in the United States considered the company’s CSR when deciding where to purchase goods and services.
Greening Your “Back to School”
We know we need to improve active school travel rates and health outcomes of youth. We also know the reasons why. Here’s how to plan for a healthy school!
Steps toward action in the circular economy
Every time your smartphone screen shatters, do you ever stop and think: why do I have to buy a new one? Why can’t we just replace the parts that still have some value? These questions were raised by Janine Finnell, Executive Director of Leaders in Energy, at the third annual Circular Economy event on September 28, 2017 at the University of the District of Columbia.
Several dozen participants from different backgrounds joined to learn about the circular economy and engage in small group discussions on how to expand its practices in our businesses, communities, and daily lives. The goal was to develop an action framework to further enable the circular economy in the Washington region.
Leaders in Energy 2016 Year in Review
Around the world, 2016 was a year of tremendous change, upheaval in some cases, and new opportunities that the Leaders in Energy group, now in its fourth year, has explored during our twelve sustainability networking events in the Washington, DC area. Here is our review of the past year.