Our biosphere is in danger, and brands are answering the bat-signal.

They’re implementing programs and steps to help us (consumers) keep our carbon footprint in check and work to repair the environment.

You’ll start to notice more and more that products we use every single day are being upcycled, as a way to both offset environmental waste and raise awareness of our pressing climate issues. Take, for example, these efforts:

APPLE: Meet Liam. (Hi Liam!) Liam is the robot whom will take apart millions and millions of old iPhones to repurpose their materials. Considering 94M+ people own iPhones, and many trade-in every single time a new version comes out, that’s a lot of material being repurposed thanks to Liam.

DASANI: A bottle cap that could literally save billions of gallons of water and cut water waste by 33%. Now there’s an idea.

ADIDAS: As part of its ‘Sustainable Footprint’ customers in Brazil can bring sports shoes of any brand (See: Nike) into a store so Adidas can shred them, and turn them into alternative fuels and raw materials. What’s more, there’s a discount for doing so.

Annually, the world generates 1.3 billion tons of solid waste. This number is expected to go up to 2.2 billion by 2025. In the U.S. alone, the average person throws away their body weight in waste every month.

So, yeah, it’s about time brands stepped in to help.

Many experts believe that we can reverse some of the harm the planet has suffered, but the challenge has always been getting enough people to take action, to make a difference. Programs and ideas like those listed above are making it so much easier for all of us to do our part.

Good news for business owners, the United States Government is even doing their part. A new legal company entity was established, the Benefit Corp (fancy that), which is a mix between a not-for-profit and for-profit company and available in 30 states today. As our brands evolve, so too will they become superhero startups, much like Warby Parker and Toms Shoes before them.

To the Batcave.