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Design Roundup: Sustainable Design Workshops, Recycled Clothing Tags

<p>&nbsp;In this roundup of design news, Autodesk creates online sustainable design workshops, Marks &amp; Spencer turns bottles into clothing tags, ConAgra moves away from bisphenol A in cans, and more.</p>

Design and engineering software maker Autodesk has launched the Autodesk Sustainability Workshop, an online portal with videos (left), resources and tutorials focused on sustainable design and efficient water, energy and material use. The Sustainability Workshop is aimed at mechanical engineering students and teachers, but the content is full of sustainable design concepts and information that can be useful to others. The first topics are whole systems design thinking and lightweighting, with more to come. Educators and students can also download Autodesk's digital prototyping software for free through the site.

U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer will use recycle plastic bottles to make care tags for two-thirds of its clothing starting in early 2011. The polyester tags will be made from PET drink bottles and include the message "Recycle with Oxfam," encouraging customers to donate old clothing at stores run by the Oxfam charity in exchange for a Marks & Spencer coupon. Marks & Spencer plans to use 2 million bottles a year to make more than 300 million care tags annually. 

Kimberly-Clark has made what it calls a multimillion-dollar investment in one of its facilities in order to increase the amount of recycled content it can put in Kleenex and Scott products. The investment at its Loudon, Tenn., facility is similar to one made in 2007 at its Mobile, Ala., facility, and will make it possible for Kimberly Clark to put up to 100 percent recycled fiber in some paper towel products.

The European Union's Food Safety Authority (FSA) announced it will not take any steps to ban bisphenol A (BPA) nor reduce what is considered the acceptable exposure limit. BPA, a chemical found in a variety of products and linked to a host of developmental problems and other health issues, has been banned by a handful of countries, U.S. states and cities. A recent study showed that BPA tests on mice are relevant to humans and estimated that human exposure to BPA is much higher than previously thought. The FSA said that after reviewing recent studies of the effects of BPA at low doses, it found no reason to reduce the tolerable daily intake of 0.05 mg per kg of body weight. 

In other BPA news, ConAgra Foods stated in its latest corporate responsibility report that it has started packaging some products like tomatoes in BPA-free cans and will evaluate other non-BPA can liners for its other canned products.

 

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