The latest edition of Sustainable Brands, an international meet-up all about sustainable development, is being held in Madrid this week. Its goal is to change the role that brands play in building a sustainable future, inspiring them to be better.

Today we’re showing you some companies that are changing the world by changing the way that they do business.

Burgers made of plants

“Building meat without the animal requires fewer resources, making it a much more efficient and sustainable process” says Beyond Meat, the company that specialising in making plant-based “meat” whose production results in 90% less greenhouse gases and consumes 46% less energy than that of traditional meat.  Leonardo Di Caprio and Bill Gates are two of the company’s investors.

 

 

Building community

 

Seth Goldman, the Executive Chair of Beyond Meat, is also the man behind this brand of organic tea which is made from ingredients that come from organic farming processes and fair-trade suppliers, which helps to build communities in the countries where they are grown.

 

The ethical, repairable telephone

The electronics industry could also stand to be more equitable.  Fairphone designs longer-lasting phones using recycled materials or materials that are ethically sourced, improving working conditions in the industry and reducing waste.

A drink that looks after the ocean

Ocean52 is a brand of healthy drinks that are produced using water that comes from the depths of the ocean.  They are products made by and for the ocean, as 52% of the profits go to projects that raise awareness about protecting marine life.

The beauty of sustainability

‘Sharing Beauty With All’ is a sustainability program from L’Óreal, with some of its goals being to reduce the CO2 emissions, use of water, and waste generated by each product by 60%.  They have also set up the “Sustainable Product Optimisation Tool” which measures and helps improve the environmental and social impact of products.

Zero plastic

Its name is on a lot of the plastic packaging that populates our oceans.  That’s why Unilever, a giant of consumer goods, has decided to implement a strategy aimed at “absolute reduction” of plastics.  They say that by 2025 they will have eliminated more than 100 000 tonnes of plastic packaging and that  they will collect and process more packaging than they sell.

Paper bottles

Coca-Cola is also exploring the possibilities of making their packaging more sustainable and reducing plastic use.  Some of these possibilities include using aluminium cans for water, eliminating the plastic rings used for the packs of cans, and paper bottles.  The beer brand Carlsberg has already announced their intention to substitute glass bottles for paper ones.  In fact, the bottle made from wood fibres of sustainable origins is still just a prototype.

Good plastic?

 

Perhaps a world without plastic is not possible, but Polymateria is working on developing a new standard in biodegradable and compostable plastics to help nature deal with this pollution.