Renewable Consumer Products Eric Hubatch September 19,

Overview Definitions: Renewable, Sustainability, Recycle, and Carbon Footprint Why Are Companies Making Renewables? Clorox Green Works cleaners Frito-Lay Compostable Packaging Coca-Cola Plantbottle Concluding Thoughts 2

Define Renewable Merriam-Webster: Capable of being replaced by natural ecological cycles or sound management practices. 3

Define Renewable 2008 Farm Act (USDA): Any organic matter that is available on a renewable or recurring basis, including renewable plant materials, waste material, animal waste and byproducts, construction waste, and food waste/yard waste. – Plant materials: feed grains, other agricultural commodities, other plants and trees, algae – Waste material: crop residue, other vegetative waste material including wood waste and wood residue – Animal waste and byproducts: fats, oils, greases, and manure 4

Define Environmental Sustainability EPA: Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations. 5

Define Recycle Merriam-Webster: To process in order to regain material for human use. Does NOT imply that the material is “reusable”. 6

Define Carbon Footprint EPA: The amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) that are emitted into the atmosphere each year by an entity such as a person, household, building, organization, or company. It is usually measured in units of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) equivalents. 7

Major Companies and Renewables Relatively recent development Attempt to reduce use of petrochemicals Become technology leaders Reputation 8

Clorox Green Works Alternative cleaning chemicals introduced in 2008 From renewable plant sources – Primarily Coconut and Corn products 95%-99% “Nature-Derived” 9

Clorox Green Works April ’11: NYT reports decrease in sales from $100M to $60M Criticism on performance and renewable status – Corn Ethanol 10

Frito-Lay Compostable Bag Made of PolyLactic Acid (PLA) – Lactic Acid (precursor) can be produced through basic fermentation 90% Renewable 100% Compostable – Fully decomposes in 14 weeks under typical composting conditions 11

Frito-Lay Compostable Bag Introduced in Spring ’10 but removed from shelves in Fall ’10 New “less noisy” formulation out now Criticism on performance 12

Coca-Cola Plantbottle 30% renewable PET bottles – Coca-Cola, Dasani, Heinz Ketchup 100% renewable HDPE bottles – Odwalla 13

Coca-Cola’s Renewable PET PolyEthylene Terephthalate – Used in majority of soft-drink packaging – Preferred over HDPE 70% Terephthalic Acid 30% Mono-Ethylene Glycol (MEG) 14

Coca-Cola’s Renewable PET MEG (30% portion) Formed from Ethanol – Sourced exclusively from Brazilian Sugarcane – High Density PolyEthylene (HDPE) formed by similar means Claims to reduce CO 2 emissions by 30K tons – Considers CO 2 consumed by plants 15

Coca-Cola Plantbottle 2.5 Billion Plantbottles produced in 2010 Partnership beginning with Heinz Ketchup Continuing emphasis on recycling 16

Competition Pepsi annouces technology for 100% renewable from PET – Pilot production beginning in

Thoughts Are renewable consumer products effective? – US oil consumption ~ 19M barrels/day (EIA) – Plastic production consumes < 10% of this Are these technologies truly renewable? Relationship between advertisement and fact 18