Tesla Says It Can Now Recycle 92% of Battery Cell Materials

Good News Notes: “Tesla released its 2020 Impact Report this week, in which the electric vehicle (EV) automaker claims it has the capacity to recover approximately 92 percent of battery cell materials thanks to ongoing improvements to its recycling process.  The company has been working with third-party recycling firms for years to improve its capacity for end-of-life…

These entrepreneurs want consumers to reuse wine bottles

Good News Notes: “Americans aren’t the biggest wine sippers in the world — imbibing a mere 3.2 gallons per person in 2020 versus the 16 gallons guzzled by Portuguese residents, according to estimates from the industry’s primary source of stats.  But the habit still translates into a whole lot of single-use bottles: About 4.3 billion of…

Xiaomi Co-Founder Donates $2.2 Billion of Shares to Charity

Good News Notes: “Xiaomi Corp. co-founder Lei Jun donated $2.2 billion of shares in the smartphone maker to charity, joining other technology company chieftains in giving to philanthropy amid increased scrutiny on the industry. Lei on July 13 donated 616 million Class B shares to the Xiaomi Foundation and the Lei Jun Foundation, according to…

DC nonprofit uses donated miles to help connect military families

Good News Notes: “A D.C. nonprofit is helping connect military families who were unable to cover the costs of flights. Luke’s Wings began its mission in 2008. It started with helping patients at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center fly back and forth to their loved ones. It has since grown from providing 19 flights a…

PowerZ raises $8.3 million for its video game focused on education

Good News Notes: “French startup PowerZ has raised another $8.3 million (€7 million at today’s exchange rate) including $1.2 million (€1 million) in debt — the rest is a traditional equity round. The company is both an edtech startup and a video game studio with an ambitious goal — it wants to build a game that is…

How Sun & Swell Ditched Plastic for Compostable Packaging

Good News Notes: “The California-based company, Sun & Swell is distributing their organic food products in fully compostable packaging and reusable jars, making them one of the first companies to do so on a large scale. The company delivers organic, whole food to California and the surrounding region. As they grew and developed, the team became concerned…

Arvin Goods calls BS on sustainable fashion, launches its own apparel line

Good News Notes: “I always felt there was a better way to do what we are doing,” says Dustin Winegardner, co-founder and managing director of local sustainable apparel brand Arvin Goods. “As I learned more and more about the impacts of the apparel industry, and then how easily adaptable alternative materials are, it seemed like a no-brainer,”…

NASA is learning how to farm on Mars and the moon

Good News Notes: “Whether from continent to continent or coast to coast, people have always made their big moves together with plants. Traveling away from Earth would be no different. Our success on other worlds will rest, in part, on the supple stems of plants. “Plants are things that we take with us as explorers,”…