By Sustainable apparel and stormwater control systems make up today’s GSB News & Notes column. Outdoor sports leader Timberland just announced the launch of a new sustainable boot. This is great on its face, but it appears the new boot is no greener than one the company brought to market ten years ago. Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers and the first NFL stadium to receive LEED Gold certification, recently announced the details of its innovative stormwater control system. Musto Apparel, a leader in Sailing, Country and Adventure apparel, makes good on its sustainability commitment by reducing its packaging waste as part of its sponsorship of the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean race.
TIMBERLAND INTRODUCES NEW SUSTAINABLE BOOT; COULD IT HAVE BEEN GREENER THAN ITS PREDECESSOR?
Timberland, the outdoor athletic apparel icon based in Stratham, NH, has been a sustainable business leader for at least the past 10 years. Back in 2007, it introduced its Green Index® label to measure and communicate the environmental impact of its products. Appearing on Timberland shoe boxes and then on other packaging, Green Index labels have the same look and feel as nutrition labeling on food, but instead of measuring calories and fat, Green Index labels look at energy used and waste produced in manufacturing, among other things.
Example of a Timberland Green Index® label
Also in 2007, Timberland launched the Original Earthkeepers® boot, a breakthrough in sustainable footwear. Made up of 50 percent recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) linings and laces, 34 percent recycled rubber outsoles and certified leather with a silver rating by the Leather Working Group, Original Earthkeepers warmed the hearts of Green Index label readers.
Fast forward to 2017 and Timberland is again introducing a boot, the Eagle Bay, with an impressive Green Index label. But is its environmental “nutrition” performance that strong? According to a July 23 story in Just Means by Antonio Pasolini, the Eagle Bay only matches its Earthkeepers predecessor with the same silver-rating from Leather Working Group, the same 50 percent recycled PET linings and 34 percent recycled rubber outsoles.
Timberland’s new Eagle Bay boot. (Photo credit: Timberland)
Given Timberland’s sustainable bona fides, shouldn’t the company have been able to increase the recycled content of its premier boot lines over a 10 year period? From where I sit, the answer should’ve been a resounding yes.
LEVI’S STADIUM’S ADVANCED STORMWATER CONTROL SYSTEM EXPLAINED
Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, made history when it opened in 2014 as it became the first NFL stadium to earn LEED Gold certification. And, while it opened during the midst of the extremely severe California drought, the stadium was built with an elaborate system for stormwater management.
With the drought now over, details about this novel system were recently made public and were laid out in a July 19 Environmental Leader story by
Designed by HNTB, Levi’s Stadium is 1.85 million square feet, has a capacity of 68,500 (not including club seats and luxury suites), and approximately 30,000 parking spots. Ms. Danigelis, citing a new case study by stormwater collection treatment company Oldcastle Building Solutions, points out that “all those hard surfaces can generate enormous stormwater runoff…turn[ing] a football field into a muddy swamp…and a parking lot into a floodplain.” That the stadium site sits on land that has a high water table with storm drain lines close to the surface makes stormwater collection even more challenging.
To deal with stormwater in the parking lots, project engineers GHD installed a modular lineup of precast concrete biofiltration units. These contain cells made up of mulch, biofiltration media, and drainage rock. The biofiltration media units drain 5 to 10 inches per hour to be in line with the county’s requirements. According to Ms. Danigelis, “above ground the system resembles normal landscaping, but it allows the water to flow downward, get treated, and then go into an underground pipe. Microbes break down the filtered pollutants while the water irrigates plants and trees nearby.” Altogether, the stadium has six biofiltration systems in parking lots and areas right next to the building.
Fans stream into Levi’s Stadium from one of the parking lots that benefits from the recently announced stormwater control system. (Photo credit: The Comeback)
Ms. Danigelis reports that Oldcastle Building Solutions claims the systems “are self-sustaining for the most part and protect the surrounding areas from contaminated runoff.” This is particularly crucial because the San Tomas Aquino Creek flows right by the stadium and “ultimately feeds the ecologically-sensitive Guadalupe Slough as well as San Francisco Bay.”
MUSTO APPAREL IMPROVES ITS PACKAGING-RELATED CARBON FOOTPRINT
Musto, a leader in Sailing, Country and Adventure apparel, recently unveiled its new Official Volvo Ocean Race Merchandise Collection, coinciding with the 2017-2018 edition of around the world sailing race. Sustainability — especially concern about plastic ocean waste — played a key and constant role in the new line’s development.
Vestas 11th Hour Racing, the innovative, sustainability-focused sponsor of the boat manned by Charlie Enright and Mark Towill, challenged Musto to reduce the environmental impact of the plastic packaging used to deliver garments. Musto accepted, committing to find a more sustainable packaging alternative.
It wasn’t easy to make good on the commitment. There were considerable operational challenges on the road to reducing the environmental impacts of packaging while making sure the goods that customers receive remained top quality.
But, working with Vestas 11th Hour Racing and the sustainability team at the Volvo Ocean Race, Musto was able to identify pre-consumer waste as an area where efficiencies could be realized. This is waste generated in a manufacturing plant through the production of carrier bags, such as punch out holes and trimmings from measuring out plastic.
Pre-consumer waste is normally sent to landfill, but it was found that this plastic could be used as part of garment bags for delivery. This now means all Musto garment bags are 100 percent recyclable and are made from 30 percent recycled material.
The Musto manufacturing team also discovered that by adding a single fold to the garment delivery bags, the size could be reduced by 40 percent without any impact on product quality. These two initiatives will reduce the weight of plastic used in the manufacture, packaging and delivery of Musto goods by 70 percent.
Musto has committed to rolling out these innovations for packaging on all product lines in 2018. This is projected to save 11 tons of plastic a year, the equivalent of over 61,000 plastic bottles.
Mark Turner, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, said that “Partnering with Musto to make these changes reflects our commitment to sustainability, particularly, plastic pollution and our program to help ‘Turn the Tide on Plastic’.”
Mark Turner, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race. (Photo credit: Ainhoa Sanchez,
“We…hope our [sustainable product line] will help raise awareness of ocean health,” added Petra Carran, Head of Marketing at Musto. “We are proud of the sustainability innovations we have made in the past six months and remain committed to further exploring this area in the future.”
It would be good for SandSI to post these on our FB page and circulate to our network.
Allen