Originally published in USA Today’s Green Living Magazine

April 25, 2013

Originally published in USA Today’s Green Living Magazine

April 25, 2013

Published on GreenBiz.com on March 05, 2013

Puma has been on a steady path to greater sustainability for years, but it just took a major stride forward by designing a new product line that earned it bragging rights with a prestigious certification.

The international sports lifestyle company recently was awarded the Cradle to Cradle product certification at the “basic” entry level from theCradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute. The fruit of Puma’s labor toward that certification will be on display with this month’s launch of InCycle, its first collection of footwear, clothing and accessories that are completely biodegradable or recyclable.

Designing products with materials that never end up in a landfill is among the basic closed-loop principles that underlies the well-known Cradle to Cradle philosophy. The certification program is a rating system that measures products against rigorous standards for material health, material reutilization, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship, and social fairness.

Since 1996, the Cradle to Cradle organization has awarded about 500 certifications to some 120 companies, says Bridgett Luther, president of the San Francisco-based institute, which was created in May 2010. Companies must recertify every two years and demonstrate they’re working on improvements that will move them to the next level of certification

Since its formation, the institute has issued certificates to 69 product groups from 40 different brands covering hundreds of individual products. Eight PUMA product groups have achieved certification, covering dozens of individual product variations. Other companies certified to date include Method, Aveda, Steelcase and Herman Miller.

Meeting the institute’s certification criteria was not easy and took about a year from start to finish, says Justin DeKoszmovszky, PumaVision global strategy and program manager based in Germany.

They put together a cross-functional product team in-house, assembling representatives from footwear, accessories and apparel divisions. Puma drew in some of its innovation design experts, as well as individuals from communications, marketing and sales.

Then they partnered with outside consultants from the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency, a firm founded by Michael Braungart, who co-authored the book on Cradle to Cradle design principles with William McDonough. The institute trains assessors who wish to become accredited assessors.

Another important partner was I:CO, a global leader in bring-back programs, which collects items returned to retailers for recycling. “Working with I:CO helped us get the program launched and operational faster than if we built (that segment) ourselves,” says DeKoszmovszky (pictured below).

Iconic Puma gear reinvented

Instead of designing a new line of goods from scratch, Puma executives decided to retool some of its iconic, heritage products into new biodegradable or recyclable versions. Nineteen new products are being launched in this new line.

Puma already had systems in place to move the company toward greater sustainability, including its “S Index,” which uses internal measures to track product sustainability and drives more eco-friendly design and manufacturing choices. Puma executives set a goal for half of products to meet the index by 2015; by the end of 2012, 22 percent met the index.

“Our new InCycle line was a pinnacle approach of the most sustainable thing we could do to push toward end-of-life usability and biodegradable products,” says DeKoszmovszky. “We were used to gathering data from our tier one and tier two suppliers, but this time around another level of detail that was required.”

Sustainability wasn’t new for Puma, but the commitment to create individual products that were either 100 percent biodegradable or recyclable brought new challenges at the micro level they hadn’t yet encountered.

For example, most threads used to sew together sports apparel and shoes are made with polyester, but Puma learned that complying with the biodegradable criteria required cotton thread. Previously, Puma only defined the thread’s color, not the content. Its reimagined basket shoe is now made with organic cotton threads, but it was tough finding suppliers who could assemble the shoe using only cotton fibers in its threads.

“We had to go against the current because lots of suppliers use only polyester thread,” DeKoszmovszky recalls. “Our sources had to dig around for cotton thread, but they eventually found it.”

Puma will encourage consumers to bring the fully biodegradable shoes back to a Puma store when they’re worn out. The shoes will get shipped to a plant for industrial composting. The shoes will be shredded before they are broken down by micro-organisms. Some plants will capture the resulting methane to be used for generating energy.

Swapping out a metal zipper for recyclability

To make the line’s products completely recyclable, Puma had to redesign items to be made out of only one recyclable material or a number of recyclable components that could be separated and reused, explains DeKoszmovszky.

The T7 Track Jacket, one of Puma’s classic pieces included in the new lineup, for example, was traditionally made of recycled polyester. Now designers had to ensure it could be recycled after being returned to a Puma retail location.

The big challenge was the metal zipper, which had to be made of the same material as the jacket. Designers were able to create a new zipper made out of the same polyester as the rest of the jacket without compromising wearability and durability.

“That zipper performs as well as any other zipper we’d put out into the market,” asserts DeKoszmovszky. “It took some innovation and working with the supplier that wasn’t part of our normal process, but it was also a way to challenge ourselves.”

Ridding harmful chemicals from colors

The consultants at EPEA brought a lot of value to the process, especially when it came to working with some matters regarding suppliers, notes DeKoszmovszky. Puma had to re-evaluate the chemicals that go into the colors it chooses for its products to make sure they complied with the Cradle to Cradle criteria for safety and health.

Getting rid of volatile organic compounds in the pigment and dye stocks was essential. Once the new color ranges were defined, designers had to work within those constraints.

“There were some limitations in colors we could get from the certifiable colors we were able to use on a pinnacle sustainable product, but that was part of the tool kit our designers worked with,” he explains. “It focuses the designer to think in a great amount of detail about certain components and think holistically as well. There may be some limitations on some colors, but as we roll out new lines in future seasons, our designers will use those limitations as inspiration.”

Meeting criteria for renewable energy, water and social fairness

Puma was already addressing some elements of renewable energy and water conservation through some of its supply chain, so complying with those standards for the Cradle to Cradle certification at the basic level was easy to meet, notes DeKoszmovszky.

“Our pre-existing and rigorous supply chain auditing and information system enabled us to know that we were in good standing to meet the basic criteria for renewable energy, water and social fairness elements,” he says. “We’ve done a lot of work for our own operations, but we’re now driving it down into the supply chain, too. We have some programs we’ll be launching to improve the environmental footprint of our suppliers.”

Puma will have to work harder at making greater improvements along those lines as it pursues the next certification level, but a major reason Puma executives took on the Cradle to Cradle challenge was to push themselves to improve product sustainability.

“We asked ourselves: ‘Can we create the industry’s first biodegradable and recyclable collection?’ The certification process encouraged us to push the envelope,” DeKoszmovszky says.

The company plans to create original designs with similar or tougher sustainability requirements that DeKoszmovszky says will bring a newness to products as they are made with another round of certification in mind.

He doesn’t downplay the positive bounce they hope to generate from achieving the Cradle to Cradle badge of honor.

“Certification is fantastic because it gives you the external credibility,” he asserts. “From a marketing standpoint, it’s something that consumers can have a high degree of confidence in. Having the Cradle to Cradle logo on our products is positive and it means a fair amount to consumers in the know.”

Heidi Lubin is CEO of Chicago-based startup Hybrid Electric Vehicles Technologies LLC.

Heidi Lubin is on a roll. Over the last year, the CEO of Hybrid Electric Vehicles Technologies LLC has led her Chicago-based startup to top-tier finishes in more than a half-dozen fast-pitch challenges, including first place and $250,000 in last fall’s Cleantech Open in California.

Her presentation is persuasive. But then that’s easier when the technology is truly breakthrough. HEVT’s co-inventors have designed a streamlined electric motor called a switched reluctance motor, or SRM, that long had eluded researchers because of problems with vibration and other issues, explains Ms. Lubin, 34, a polymath with a background in design, international policy, law and business. This construction provides higher starting torque, or force, and greater efficiency over a wide range of speeds.

In addition, whereas conventional electric motors require rare earth metals, which produce radioactive waste when mined and are found primarily in China, the innards of an SRM are made of widely available copper and steel. Because the materials are so common, Ms. Lubin says, “we can localize production wherever it’s needed.”

“She convinced us the impact of this technology could be tremendous because it could change everything we use in our daily lives, from washing machines to electric transportation,” says Annamaria Konya-Tannon, a serial entrepreneur, guest lecturer at Stanford University and national co-chair of judging for the Cleantech Open.

HEVT’s motor, combined with proprietary software the team developed, is being tested for use in many areas, including household products, pumps and electric transportation. Long term, it might become a motor for electric cars, too. Meanwhile, the company just inked a deal to incorporate the technology in electric bikes, Ms. Lubin says.

A Chicago native, Ms. Lubin was doing graduate research in electrified transportation and environmental finance in 2008 as part of a joint MBA and law-degree program at Northwestern University when she met Ali Emadi, a co-inventor of the technology that led to HEVT’s formation. Mr. Emadi, a Ph.D. expert in power electronics and hybrid and electric vehicle design, started HEVT as a spinoff from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Power Electronics and Motor Drives Laboratory in 2005.

Ms. Lubin became CEO in 2011. Now she’s overseeing a team of eight researchers on IIT’s South Side campus and in San Francisco to reduce the cost to the end user and drum up financing. So far, the company has raised almost $1 million from competitions, angel investors and a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

“China’s control of this (rare earth metals) supply has the whole motor industry’s attention, and where that goes will have a big influence on the industry going forward,” says Tom Kappel, innovation leader at Danfoss Power Electronics in Loves Park, who mentored Ms. Lubin in preparation for the Clean Energy Challenge in Chicago last spring. “She knows how to convince investors why they should have an immediate interest in HEVT and write that check now.”

Originally published in Crain’s Chicago Business

January 3, 2013

LouisJohn Slagel wants to farm chickens humanely

Diners looking to save chickens from inhumane conditions and help more naturally raised birds get to Chicago restaurants can donate money to a crowd-funding campaign recently launched by Slagel Family Farm.

The Chicken Freedom Project was started by Fairbury-based chicken and livestock farm in the hopes that concerned foodies will contribute toward raising $40,000 for a down payment on a nearby five-acre farm that had been an industrial chicken facility.

LouisJohn Slagel, a family member who runs the fifth-generation farm 100 miles southwest of Chicago, says they want to dismantle the high-tech commercial egg production system there that kept 100,000 chickens crammed in tight cages stacked 12 feet high. The Slagel family intends to raise cage-free chickens and other humanely treated animals for Chicago restaurants.

“We’re hoping anyone who cares about animal welfare donates to our campaign,” says Mr. Slagel. “It’s a more direct way for someone to make their money count compared to donating to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).”

The online campaign so far has raised a few thousand dollars. Donors from the Chicago area include Justin Hall, owner of Chicago-based Fig Catering, and Michael Tsonton, executive chef at Hotel Arista in Naperville.

Charlie Trotter called off an auction of the contents of his famed restaurant about a third of the way through the event yesterday.

Anticipation of the auction was building for weeks as details of the estimated 1,600 items that would go on the block were made public. About 10 percent of the listing was already on reserve by Monday from individuals who wanted a guarantee they’d get a personal keepsake of culinary history, according to Kevin Bunte, president of Bunte Auction Services Inc., the Elgin-based firm in charge of the auction.

Chicago foodies and business professionals who celebrated successful deals and commemorated milestones at the restaurant throughout of its 25 years filled the restaurant Wednesday for a chance to take home a memento.

Before the formal bidding began on the estimated 1,600 items on the block, Mr. Trotter, legendary enfant terrible of the culinary world known for smashing plates in the kitchen and reducing staff to tears, warned the audience that he might pull some items if he didn’t think the bids were rising high enough.

Mr. Bunte said he has never had a client pull the plug on an auction midstream in the 28-year history of his firm’s existence.

“Nothing ever goes exactly as planned, but (Mr. Trotter) stopping it like that in the middle was a surprise even though he had mentioned he might do it,” said Mr. Bunte. “Obviously, we were very disappointed.”

Mr. Trotter was not available for comment.

Some sculptures and original photographs by Chicagoan Paul Elledge were sold, as well as a Viennese Secessionist settee that sold for $2,000. But Mr. Trotter ended the auction before bidders could get a chance at some of the coveted Bernardaud Limoges china, Riedel stemware or Roux-Marquiand flatware custom-designed for the restaurant.

Never mind those who were upset they never got the opportunity to wave their numbered paddles for something they had circled in the catalog. Worse still, a British woman attending the auction who was high bidder on one of several menus signed by a famous visiting chef was visibly angry when she approached the front desk to pay for it later in the afternoon and was told that Mr. Trotter had changed his mind and refused to sell it after all. The woman, who declined to reveal her name, was enraged and said she had a right to take it home. As of Thursday afternoon, the matter was still unresolved, said Mr. Bunte.

A Chicago-based marketing consultant in the music industry, John Gabrysiak counted more than 100 meals at the restaurant over the past 10 years with clients and friends.

At the top of his bidding wish list were some of the framed, signed menus from the restaurant’s walls and an eclectic sculpture of a knife and fork he had admired as he walked through the front entrance. He successfully bid on a menu signed by Fredy Girardet, a French culinary legend, for $60.

Mr. Gabrysiak left the auction early and returned to his office to continue bidding via the live Internet stream. “The website kept having trouble loading, but I couldn’t figure out why,” he says. “Now I know. The auction was over.”

Patagonia, The North Face and other outdoor sportswear makers are responding to a Greenpeace hazardous chemicals report this way: We’re on it.

However, elite outdoor clothing manufacturers say change doesn’t happen overnight to find replacements of hazardous chemicals in their outerwear. And while they insist they’re working hard at finding safer materials that meet their tough standards, they argue the current ingredients in their products don’t run counter to their eco-friendly image either.

Patagonia, The North Face and a handful of other outdoor sportswear manufacturers are the target of a recent report by Greenpeace Germany that highlighted a group of these companies for their use of perfluorinated and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) and other hazardous chemicals in some of their products.

Greenpeace’s report, “Chemistry for any weather,” summarizes the findings of two independent laboratories it commissioned to evaluate the chemical content of specific pieces of outdoor weatherproof clothing. Other manufacturers named prominently in the report include Jack Wolfskin, Kaikkialla and Marmot.

The independent laboratories tested weatherproof jackets and pants earlier this year and found PFCs in all 14 samples, according to the report. High concentrations of the well-documented hazardous compound perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was found in all of them and in high concentrations in five of the samples from the manufacturers listed above.

This group of chemicals is used by outdoor clothing manufacturers to make their gear stain and water-resistant. However, these substances also are known as a persistent pollutant that don’t break down once introduced into the environment. In addition, the chemicals accumulate in humans and other living organisms through tainted food, air and water. That’s dangerous because widely-respected studies revealed a connection between those chemicals and problems with fertility and other immune disorders.

“There are no safe levels for PFCs; they are intrinsically hazardous and should be eliminated completely by the textile industry,” asserts Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner Kirsten Brodde, Ph.D., in Hamburg, Germany. “An outdoor industry that draws a picture of itself as being green should stay out of the use of all hazardous chemicals and not try to monitor them and slow down the process of elimination.”

Patagonia has been addressing this matter for the last decade and has made a commitment to rid all of its products of PFOA chemicals by 2015, according to Jen Rapp, a spokeswoman at the sportswear company’s Ventura, Calif., headquarters.

The company has been working on adopting durable water repellency (DWR) technologies that are free of PFOA, she says, adding that by next spring the company expects to convert 40 percent of its DWR products to a shorter-chain C6 technology from the current widely-used C8 technology considered to be more hazardous.

Both the C6 and C8 technologies won’t break down in the environment, but C6 doesn’t accumulate in the body, she notes.

DWR technology is essential to the weatherproof products’ performance and durability because it enables the clothing to bead water, resist wetting, stay lightweight, dry faster and remain stain resistant, the company says on its website. “The longer a waterproof jacket remains waterproof, the longer it stays out of the landfill, and that’s important to Patagonia,” Rapp adds.

What’s taking so long to make a switchover to other materials/ingredients in the finished product? The two biggest obstacles have been finding a good replacement that measures up to Patagonia’s high performance standards and coordinating with other companies in its supply chain that manufacture the component of the outerwear and other gear containing PFCs, Rapp responded.

“Our customers have an intended end use of these products and we go through extensive testing to make sure it meets our high standards,” she said. “We don’t believe PFC-free technology will meet our customers’ quality and performance standards. We believe if we switch to this technology today, a lot of our customers would either return them or throw them away.”

At Patagonia, supply chain partner Gore actually makes the material that’s used in the jacket that Greenpeace had tested for its report, Rapp said. And while Patagonia says it works hard to influence environmental enhancement in its supply chain, company officials tend to make more noise when they’ve found a better technology that meets their performance standards and is also eco-friendly, she added.

“I don’t believe we’re there yet (with PFCs),” Rapp said. “We’ve learned we have to work collaboratively with our suppliers who make our fabrics and finishes. We’re not a big enough company to change supply chain practices by withdrawing our business from them.”

The North Face, on the Chemical Responsibility section of its website, freely admits it uses PFCs in some of its weatherproof products. Its use of PFCs “is conducted responsibly and exceeds or is compliant with all federal and international regulations governing chemical use,” the website reads.

In a prepared email statement, North Face said it’s always identifying new and innovative ways to improve the sustainability of its supply chain. The company did not make a spokesperson available to GreenBiz for comment on its approach to the use of PFCs in its products.

Greenpeace officials say sports outerwear companies aren’t moving quickly enough to change. They point to other manufacturers’ promise of a speedier shift away from PFCs, including H&M and Marks & Spencer, as evidence that some retailers aren’t waiting for laws to get tougher in order for them to act more responsibly toward the environment and human health.

“If H&M and M&S are phasing out all PFCs (in their garments), that means there are viable solutions available on the market. The outdoor industry should follow their steps,” says Brodde.

Patagonia counters and says they hold their garments to higher performance standards than the fashion-focused retailers.

“It’s a different landscape when you compare a technical product to a fashion product,” Rapp says. “Patagonia sells products that keep people safe in really extreme climates. We can’t sell a product that someone is relying on to keep them safe and dry in the Himalayas.”

Delft, Netherlands — IKEA’s announcement last week of its bold plans to pursue energy independence by 2020 didn’t happen overnight.

The Swedish home furnishing giant designed its strategy after several years of painstaking data collection, intensive energy audits and energy needs assessments, and an aggressive construction plan already in motion to own and operate solar and wind power systems throughout its global operations.

Unlike Walmart crowing about plans for energy neutrality, IKEA Group was willing to set a timetable after calculating how long executives there believed it would take to reach their goals.

And although there is much transparency in IKEA’s plans for achieving energy neutrality, executives there admit the plan doesn’t extend to the entire company footprint to include its total supply chain.

Indeed, the program began as a value-driven decision to be a corporate leader ahead of the curve in sustainability, according to Steve Howard, IKEA’s chief sustainability officer.

“We really need to tackle global warming,” Howard says. “We want to take a stand for renewable energy, and we can do that most effectively by investing directly in it. Then we can meet our energy needs from our own renewable energy assets.”

Establishing a convincing business case for energy independence gave IKEA’s top brass the confidence to move the project forward, he says. “It’s highly likely that our energy demand will increase and more countries around the world are heading to carbon pricing. If you have your own energy production, you cut off that risk completely.”

IKEA owns the land where its stores are located, and controlling its own future energy supply is in keeping with that ownership philosophy, says Howard. What’s more, IKEA intends to continue growing at a rapid pace. The company expects to double in size by 2020, with plans for stores in India and elsewhere.

The business case was further strengthened after IKEA conducted extensive energy audits at its U.S. operations in 2008 and 2009 with Sieben Energy Associates. Implementing energy efficiency measures to reduce overall power usage was an essential part of IKEA’s strategy for energy neutrality, but audits seeking those savings went way beyond the typical assignments, recalls Craig Sieben, president of the Chicago-based consultancy.

“They had every evaluation include a comprehensive assessment of renewable resources they could use to offset their reliance on the energy grid,” says Sieben. “That’s not typically what companies ask for in an energy audit. Now they’re taking on a stretch goal for the next seven years that’s very ambitious and I think they have a high probability of success based on their history and demonstrated commitment.”

So far, the retailer has installed 342,000 photovoltaic panels on 81 IKEA Group buildings worldwide that generates 43 MW of power. About 40 percent of IKEA’s solar power investment is concentrated in the U.S. alone, with solar panels on top of 34 of its 38 stores and distribution centers there.  Says Howard: “We look at each rooftop as a power station in the waiting.”

The furniture retailer will continue installing more PV systems in the U.S., especially since prices are still at record lows, notes Howard.

The cost of solar panels have fallen about 50 percent since early 2011, and sun is plentiful there too, says Tom Kimbis, vice president at the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), a Washington, D.C.-based trade group. Most utilities in the U.S. are embracing solar, but Kimbis cautions IKEA could run into some resistance from utilities in the Southeast where operators haven’t been as progressive compared to other parts of the country.

IKEA ranked fourth among U.S. companies for generating solar power in a survey published this fall by SEIA. Walmart came out on top, while Costco Wholesale and Kohl’s Department Stores, ranked second and third, respectively.

IKEA has no near-term plans to invest in wind farms in the U.S. because the policy environment is too risky and there aren’t good incentives to draw them in that direction, says Howard. Meanwhile, the furniture giant has concentrated its wind farm construction in Europe. IKEA built its first wind turbines in Europe a few years ago to test it out and now owns 126 turbines in Sweden, Poland, France, Germany and the U.K.

It will take several years before IKEA is energy neutral at each of its stores, but it will be totally energy independent in Scandinavia when the second of its wind turbines under construction in Sweden is soon completed. In fact, the furniture retailer could end up over-producing more energy than it needs in some areas and possibly push excess energy back onto the power grid in Northern Europe, says Howard.

The company uses a lot of power. In 2011, the IKEA Group consumed 3600 GW of total energy. Close to 2000 GW of that total was electricity consumption.

For now, the game plan for energy independence is to move forward primarily with solar and wind power. The company may explore some creative uses of biomasses. Already, it uses waste wood for biomass heat and power in some of its own factories, and diverts food waste to anaerobic digesters, says Howard.

However, “We made the decision that we won’t be chasing anything that comes from food crops,” he says. “We have some caution over the use of food crops for biofuels due to the very direct competition it can set up with food versus fuel issues — these are likely to intensify over the next few years.”

While IKEA’s grand announcement about its pursuit for energy neutrality has grabbed headlines, Howard concedes total energy neutrality is a more difficult forecast to make if you include the company’s entire supply chain. Only about 20-25 percent of its energy consumption from its total footprint is derived from its own factories, stores and distribution centers, says Howard. The rest of its energy use comes from independent suppliers and their factories, which is harder to control from corporate headquarters, he admits. The furniture giant has more than 1,000 suppliers in about 50 countries.

“We said explicitly in our strategy that it’s more complex to include suppliers in our plan,” says Howard. “We don’t own the factories and we can’t coerce suppliers. There’s an opportunity for them and we expect many suppliers will come along with us on the road to energy independence, but we have far from fully worked that out.”

Howard notes they’ll make decisions about what to demand of its suppliers by next summer when its current fiscal year ends.

In the meantime, IKEA already has been working with some suppliers to make energy improvements. The retailer deployed 70 energy efficiency auditors to textile mills in Southeast Asia and already has achieved 20-30 percent reductions in energy use, says Howard. One goal has been to pinpoint its most energy intensive suppliers and focus on gaining energy reductions there. He adds the company has agreed to commit some of its own funds to finance some energy efficiency improvements, and possibly invest in renewables with long-term suppliers.

“About 20 percent of our supply chain is from China and while they have very modern factories, some have really good opportunities for upgrading with energy efficiencies,” he notes.

IKEA is putting financial muscle behind its expansive strategy toward energy independence. The furniture giant earmarked 1.5 billion euros (close to $2 billion) between 2010 and 2015 on that effort. Some of those funds will be spent on energy efficiency activities, with a goal of reducing overall energy consumption by 20 percent.

Howard isn’t pinning down a firm investment amount beyond 2015 until the company has more data to conclude what it will need to achieve those goals. IKEA will make another five-year financial commitment by 2014 or so when it has better insight about what kinds of projects will require further financing.

If the current course continues as planned, Howard is confident IKEA will get to 70 percent renewable by 2015 and 100 percent by 2020.

Even though IKEA isn’t publicly-traded and answerable to short-term investors, it still has a supervisory board that demands top performance from the furniture retailer. Eco-minded leaders there can’t just stretch toward sustainability dreams in a vacuum.

“You need to be in a secure financial position to pursue this kind of project,” Howard says. “We see investing in renewable energy as one of those long-term relationships, just like investing in our customers.”

Long-range plans with such lofty goals as the ones set by IKEA also means  employing the discipline of keeping your eye on the ball for a long time with a super-steady gaze, cautions Sieben.

“The toughest part, in our experience working with large corporations on leadership energy initiatives, is to maintain the focus and dedicate the resources — both people and money — to achieve that goal, and be both creative and relentless in their pursuit of a decade-long process.”