Giorgio Armani has extended its safe drinking water initiative, Acqua for Life Challenge, to three continents for 2012 through a partnership with Green Cross. Following its Acqua for Life Challenge in 2011, which provided access to clean drinking water to 16 communities in Ghana, fashion house Giorgio Armani has committed to the initiative for 2012 but on a wider scale. While proceeds from last year’s challenge funded projects exclusively in Ghana, the partnership with Green Cross this year means projects in Bolivia and China will also benefit, thanks to the Green Cross Smart Water for Green Schools initiative.
Waitrose Olympic store hails green BREEAM milestone
Waitrose has beefed up its green credentials with the announcement that its latest store will be its first to run entirely using renewable energy. The John Lewis Partnership-owned firm will today confirm its new Stratford branch, overlooking the London Olympic Park, has become the first retail building in the UK to secure an ‘outstanding’ rating under the popular BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) standard scheme. The store is the first Waitrose branch to run completely on renewable energy, generated from a combined cooling, heat and power plant at the Westfield shopping centre in which it is located.
After nearly two decades of touting their “no animal testing” policies, cosmetic giants Avon, Estée Lauder, and Mary Kay have reportedly resumed paying for animal testing, without informing consumers about their change in practices. PETA has confirmed with each company that chemicals are being dripped into rabbits’ eyes and that substances are being rubbed onto animals’ skin because of requirements of the Chinese government as China requires tests on animals before many cosmetics products can be marketed there.
Sodexo foundation mobilises young people in the fight against childhood hunger in America
Sodexo Foundation, an independent charity that supports hunger-related initiatives and Youth Service America (YSA) have awarded 77 grants to young people to support projects designed to reduce childhood hunger in America. As part of each project, grantees educate and mobilise their peers around the issue of childhood hunger, expanding the pool of people actively searching for solutions to the problem. The grant projects position young people directly as problem-solvers in this crisis that affects their generation.
China plans to recycle 7 billion tonnes of industrial waste
China’s industrial authority on Friday released a plan to recycle 7 billion tonnes of industrial solid waste during the 2011-2015 period, in an effort to help ease the environment deteriorating trend. The figure is nearly double the amount of such waste recycled during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in the plan. Over the five years, the country will reclaim a total of 23,333 hectares of land previously occupied by industrial waste, a change that will greatly improve its ecological environment. By 2015, annual recycling of industrial waste will reach 1.6 billion tonnes, achieving a utilisation ratio of 50%, according to the plan.
The 50kW PV system installed just 150 metres from the main runway by Orta Solar last month is said to be the first in the UK to be installed at an airport. However, Nick Pascoe, Orta’s chief executive, is confident the Gatwick system could encourage other airports to make better use of the open space alongside their runways, saying the company is in early stage discussions about installing systems at other major UK airports. The solar array is part of a wider initiative designed to reduce Gatwick’s carbon emissions by 50% against 1990 levels by the end of the decade, while also reducing energy and water use 20 per cent against a 1990 and 2010 baseline respectively.
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