Liquor maker of Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Guinness pledges 100% recyclable packaging, 50% supply chain emissions reduction by 2030

By Emma Cosgrove, Supply Chain Dive

Diageo committed to reach net-zero carbon emissions in its owned operations by 2030, the company announced Monday. The beverage giant also pledged to reduce emissions from its supply chain by 50% by 2030.

The new goals come after the maker of Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Guinness reached its existing goals to cut emissions from its direct operations (scope 1) by 50% by 2020 from a 2007 baseline and reduce supply chain emissions by 30% in the same timeframe. Diageo’s Scottish distilleries, Oban and Royal Lochnagar, will reach carbon neutrality by the end of 2020, followed by its India operations in 2025, followed by the entire operation in 2030, according to the company.

The company also pledged to reach 100% widely recyclable or reusable/compostable packaging (currently at 99.5%) and 100% recycled content in plastic packaging (currently at 45%) by 2030.

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As 2020 rolls into 2021, companies with 2020 sustainability goals must develop their next phase of emissions, water-use and waste-reduction targets.

Beverage makers from Diageo and Pernod Ricard to Coca-Cola and Pepsi have two specific challenges beyond what many other CPG companies face, when it comes to sustainability.

The first is water. Diageo fell slightly short of its 2020 50% improvement in water efficiency this year, reporting a 46% reduction. The company said the shortfall was due to “delayed water recycling projects in Africa and lower packaged volumes in some markets both as a direct result of COVID-19 impacts.”

Diageo has pledged to reduce the water used in its production processes for each beverage by 30% by 2030 and achieve what it describes as “a net positive water impact in our key water stressed basins and communities.”

The second challenge for beverage producers is that their products are heavy and require a considerable amount of fuel per unit to move. Recyclability pledges often complicate emissions reduction work in this category, as highly recyclable glass is heavier than plastic.

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CIA psychological profiler who labeled Trump ‘dangerous’ dies of covid-19 at 86

By Sydney Trent, Washington Post

As a pioneering psychological profiler for the Central Intelligence Agency and later as a consultant, Jerrold M. Post plumbed the lives, leadership styles and, at times, the mental illness of foreign heads around the globe. Over decades, his expertise and instincts were greatly in demand, especially at the White House.

Jerrold M. Post, 86, (Family photo)

The Yale- and Harvard-trained psychiatrist advised former president Jimmy Carter about how best to negotiate with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat before the Camp David Peace Accords. He explained Sadat’s “Nobel Prize Complex” — his desire to be remembered as a great leader — and Begin’s biblical preoccupation and obsession with detail.

Post warned about labeling Saddam Hussein simply as “the mad man of the Middle East,” lest it mislead political leaders into thinking Hussein was unpredictable, when in fact he was not. As an expert in the psychology of terrorism, Post produced psychological profiles of suicide bombers in Israel and opined on the corporate leadership style of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.AD

And yet in late 2019 — a year before his death on Nov. 22 of covid-19 at the age of 86 — Post found himself doing what at one point would have been unthinkable: publishing a book about the alarming psychological makeup of an American president.

In writing “Dangerous Charisma: The Political Psychology of Donald Trump and His Followers,” Post risked violating the American Psychiatric Association’s “Goldwater Rule,” which forbids the diagnosis of public figures without full evaluation and consent.

“He was a Life Fellow of the APA, but he said if they kicked him out, he didn’t care,” said his wife, Carolyn Post. “He felt it was that important and that psychiatrists have a duty to warn.”

Those we have lost to the coronavirus in Virginia, Maryland and D.C.

By then, Post had had a storied two-decade career as founding director of the CIA’s Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior. He then used his expertise to found Political Psychology Associates, a research and consulting firm that specialized in industrial espionage, counterterrorism and leadership assessment. All along, he lectured as a professor at George Washington University, wrote 14 books and continued to see patients in a private practice he ran out of the basement of his Bethesda home.

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Ex-South Jersey lawyer gets 18-year jail sentence

A former South Jersey lawyer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for money laundering, federal prosecutors say.

By Jeff Blumenthal – Philadelphia Business Journal

A former South Jersey lawyer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for money laundering as part of a multi-year scheme to embezzle more than $13 million from his clients, federal prosecutors in New Jersey said Friday.

Michael Kwasnik, 51, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden federal court to information charging him with money laundering. Kugler imposed the sentence Friday by videoconference. In addition to the prison term, Judge Kugler sentenced Kwasnik to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $11.7 million in restitution.

On Wednesday, Kugler denied a motion from Kwasnik to rescind his guilty plea. He claimed he was pressured by family to resolve the matter. He was originally indicted in the scheme on Feb. 16, 2017 and pleaded guilty two years ago. Kwasnik agreed to be disbarred last year.

Kwasnik was previously a partner with Kwasnik Rodio Kanowitz & Buckley and its successor firm, Kwasnik Kanowitz & Associates, which had offices in Cherry Hill and Philadelphia. Federal prosecutors said Kwasnik specialized in estate and financial planning and used his position as a lawyer to convince his clients to open irrevocable family trusts to hold the client’s money and provide the client an opportunity to earn interest on their funds.

Prosecutors said he advised potential clients that estate planning was necessary to protect assets from federal and state taxes. As part of the estate planning, prosecutors said Kwasnik established various trusts, typically irrevocable family trusts for clients with Kwasnik named as the trustee. For each trust, an Employer Identification Number (EIN) was obtained and a bank account in the name of the trust was opened at TD Bank, prosecutors said. As trustee, prosecutors said Kwasnik had signature authority on the bank accounts

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Lawmakers Reach Deal On NJ Marijuana Bill: Here’s What’s Next

New Jersey legislators announced on Friday evening that they have reached a deal on a bill that would provide a framework for legalization

By Tom Davis, Patch Staff

(Shutterstock photo)

NEW JERSEY – New Jersey lawmakers announced on Friday evening that they have reached a deal on a bill that would provide the framework for marijuana legalization.

Gov. Phil Murphy, joined by Senate President Steve Sweeney, Speaker Craig Coughlin and two other lawmakers, announced in a joint statement that they reached an agreement on legislation that could be passed by the end of the month.

The statement, which also was attributed to state Sen. Nicholas Scutari and Assemblywoman Annette Quijano, noted New Jerseyans voted overwhelmingly in November in support of the creation of “a well-regulated adult-use cannabis market.”

New Jerseyans approved marijuana legalization in the Nov. 3 vote by a 67 to 33 percent margin. The constitutional amendment will legalize marijuana for anyone 21 and older on Jan. 1.

“This legislation will accomplish our shared goals of delivering restorative justice and ensuring that the communities most impacted by the War on Drugs see the economic benefits of the adult-use cannabis market,” the statement said.Subscribe

But lawmakers still needed to work out a framework for selling and distributing marijuana even as the constitutional amendment takes effect.

The details of the agreement were not announced, but lawmakers have long had differences over how much marijuana will be taxed and how it will be sold.

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Record-high COVID-19 cases for 2nd straight day in NJ, with 5,673 positive tests and 48 new deaths confirmed

By Matt Arco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

New Jersey on Friday reported a record number of coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day, announcing 5,673 more positive tests and an additional 48 newly confirmed deaths as hospitalizations increased for the sixth straight day, reaching the highest number of patients since May.

The state’s seven-day average for new coronavirus cases increased Friday to 4,367, up 4% from a week ago and 147% higher than a month ago. That’s the highest seven-day average of the outbreak, though testing was scare in the spring and the extent of the infections was likely undercounted.

“The end is of the pandemic is not upon us with the news of the first shipments of a vaccine, but it is getting closer with each day,” Murphy said during his latest COVID-19 briefing in Trenton. “Let’s do all we can to make sure our entire New Jersey family is intact when that end comes.”

The positivity rate for tests conducted Monday, the most recent day available, was 10.42%, meaning 1 in 10 people who sought tests were infected. That’s based on 49,845 tests reported to the state for Monday so far and that also doesn’t include rapid tests, which are not being reported by state health officials. The positivity rate has been over 10% for six days — since Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving.

“Trust me, there are more cases than 5,673 when you add in the antigen tests,” Gov. Phil Murphy said.

He warned the state isn’t likely to start seeing the Thanksgiving-effect — the potential for new cases from holiday gatherings — for several days due to incubation times for infections and the multi-day turnaround for test results.

Positivity rate
New Jersey’s positivity rate for tests conducted on Monday, the most recent day available, was 10.42%. The rate has been above 10% for six days.

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NJ industry needs tighter regulation to prevent chemical leaks, water watchdog says

Warning comes as water quality panel weighs new standards for pollutants

File photo: Testing water after a chemical spill

BY JON HURDLE, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, NJ SPOTLIGHT

The head of New Jersey’s drinking water watchdog said Thursday that industry should be required to take responsibility for any contamination of air and water that’s linked to its operations.

Dr. Keith Cooper, chairman of the Drinking Water Quality Institute, said existing regulations have not done enough to prevent pollution by industry, and they may now need to be strengthened so that corporations do more to ensure contaminants do not escape their plants.

“If you can instill within the industries themselves that if they are required to maintain their chemical footprint within their own industry, within their controlled environment, then you will have their responsibility for maintaining that,” Cooper said during a public meeting of the panel of scientists and water company executives that advises the state Department of Environmental Protection on safe levels of certain chemicals in drinking water.

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“But unfortunately, historically, we have not put that requirement,” he said, offering his personal opinion. “We have allowed the chemicals to escape off of sites either through gas or the utilization of wastewater treatment plants, and I think that in the future, we have to start looking at putting the onus back on industry.”

Environmental regulators are faced with a need to set health standards for a range of chemicals, some of which were listed by the water quality panel on Thursday for possible investigation. They include cyanotoxins, which have led to harmful algal blooms (HABs) at many New Jersey lakes over the last two summers, and radon, which is linked to cancer.

The list also includes replacements for the toxic PFAS (Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl substances) family, also known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down in the environment even after their use or manufacture has ended.

New-generation chemicals may be just as toxic

Scientists have warned for years that the unregulated replacement chemicals may be just as toxic as the compounds they are designed to replace, some of which are now subject to strict health limits set by states including New Jersey.

Concern about the risks of the new generation of chemicals grew in recent months with reports from two national scientific journals that Solvay Specialty Polymers, a chemical company in Gloucester County, has been using a substitute for PFNA (perfluorononanoic acid), a type of PFAS chemical that is now regulated by New Jersey. The company confirmed that it has been using a substitute for PFNA as a “process aid.”

In late November, Consumer Reports said it had obtained documents from the DEP and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showing that the replacement chemicals were found in the blood of Solvay workers, and that the company had known about the chemicals’ health risks for at least 15 years.

Last month, New Jersey sued Solvay, accusing it of discharging both the old and new chemicals into the environment for years, and not doing enough to clean them up.

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