Another California surfboard blank company has suffered a major setback. This time, though, a fire is to blame.

Thanks to our sister magazine Urethanes Technology International for alerting me to this story: Just Foam, an Oceanside, Calif., company that makes polyurethane surfboard blanks, burned to the ground on March 27. Just Foam is one of the startup companies that jumped into the PU blank business when Grubby Clark unexpectedly closed his Laguna Niguel, Calif., plant in late 2005. At the time, according to our coverage, Clark Foam had supplied about 90 percent of all PU surfboard blanks globally.

UTI has a story about the fire on its Web site, but since it's for subscribers only, I'll also link to this story from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Scott Saunders, co-owner of Just Foam, said he planned to relocate to another space in Oceanside and rebuild the business with his 23 employees.

Saunders, a surfer and lay minister who lives in San Clemente, said his company is part business and part ministry. As part of his work with the nonprofit Prison Fellowship, Saunders started Just Foam about two years ago to provide employment for former convicts and people in rehab programs.

He said Oceanside officials contacted him yesterday with a list of five vacant buildings that he could move into immediately.

“We'll have to see how many molds are still good and order the material, but we anticipate delivering foam blanks within four to six weeks,” Saunders said.

According to the Union-Tribune story, damage to the 11,000-square-foot building was estimated at $1.5 million, and the lost equipment and inventory could cost as much as $1 million. This sounds like an interesting company, and it's nice to see someone trying to make a difference for a group of people who need a break. I hope Saunders is back in business soon.

Craig Bovaird, president of Lancaster, Mass.-based Built-Rite Tool & Die Inc. and its Reliance Engineering division, has been picked as the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2007 Massachusetts Small Business Person of the Year, which is the state SBA’s top award.

The honor is presented annually to a small business person or persons "who exemplify excellence in entrepreneurship," according to a news release from the SBA. There are seven criteria: staying power, growth in number of employees, increase in sales/and or unit volume, current and past financial reports, innovativeness of product or service, response to adversity, and evidence of contributions to community-oriented projects.

The news release indicates that success in the face of adversity was a big part of Bovaird's appeal

The most impressive part of building this company is that Mr. Bovaird did it when the plastic molding industry was in a major decline and many plastics’ companies were closing their doors,” said SBA District Director [Maurice] Dubé. “Mr. Bovaird is to be commended for increasing revenues and creating manufacturing jobs in Massachusetts and for having the wisdom to seek out the SBDC’s assistance.

Built-Rite Tool & Die does component and mold design and toolmaking. Reliance Engineering is the company's custom molding division, which serves aerospace, medical, defense and electronics customers.

The Worcester, Mass., Telegram has a write-up and photo of Bovaird on its Web site today. There's also a nice feature on the company on the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network's Web site.

The Canton, Ohio, Repository has a breaking news item on the Web today, TTI Floor Care of North America announced this morning that it is closing the flagship North Canton plant that makes Hoover sweepers.

More than 800 Hoover employees are expected to lose their jobs by September. TTI will consolidate its manufacturing of Hoover sweepers in El Paso, Texas, and assemble them in Juarez, Mexico.

Here's some more information from a TTI news release:

Chris Gurreri, president of TTI Floor Care, said, "Speculation about the future of Hoover's Stark County facilities has held a cloud of doubt over this region for many years. The people here deserve to have such speculation ended now. When TTI bought Hoover at the end of January, we promised to do a comprehensive assessment of its facilities. We also promised to avoid dragging out the process and to communicate our decisions promptly."

"This is hard news to hear and to deliver. We know how difficult this is for the Hoover people and the community because of the history, heritage and importance of this facility in the past," Gurreri said.

It adds: "Gurreri noted that even if North Canton costs were dramatically lower, the company has twice as much manufacturing capacity as is needed, with over 900,000 square feet of unused space and millions of dollars worth of dormant machinery in North Canton."

"There is no way this plant can be kept open. There is just far too much capacity throughout the company. If Ohio-based TTI Floor Care is to become the global leader in floor care and we are to develop and build the innovative products that enable us to do that, we must resolve this immense issue of overcapacity that is dragging on the company," he explained.

Our story from December, when TTI bought Hoover, explained that the North Canton plant is predominantly an injection molding operation.

The Lorain, Ohio, Morning Journal has a story today that's pretty unusual: a new toolmaking company is getting ready to open.

Some machine shops may be closing, and some jobs may be shifting to other countries, but that's not stopping Tom Reichert from starting up his own shop and using a lot to do it. The 43-year-old Huron man used his four-bedroom home as collateral to get a loan to help get Custom Tool and Mold LLC up and running. The company, which should open within the next two weeks, will make and repair injection molds that could be used for things like fishing lures and vacuum and car parts.

Reichert has prior experience -- he has been in the injection mold industry since 1984, and he owned a shop in Port Huron, Mich., from 1994-2001, according to the story.

''I guess it comes down to just believing in yourself that you can do it,'' he said. ''I think if you find a niche and you stay efficient, you can compete with the overseas (companies),'' Reichert said. ''I think the quality of American-made tools is still higher than foreign tools.''

It's nice to see that the plastics industry still holds promise for entrepreneurial-minded individuals. Best of luck to Reichert, and to all the small privately held firms working hard to compete in the global economy these days.

You know an issue is the focus of mainstream American thought when USA Today makes it the focus of its lead editorial. That's the case today with a thoughtful column on the San Franciso plastic bag ban.

McPaper comes out against the ban, with a provocative headline: "Our view on the environment: Plastic-bag ban full of holes." But the column isn't exactly a pro-plastics essay. The writers just feel that the ban is misdirected.

The real culprit is the slob who litters or refuses to recycle either one — or communities that don't provide the means for him to do so. Our throwaway society is to blame as well.

The best answer to the paper or plastic question is neither. Each individual can do more to help the environment by reusing whatever bags groceries distribute or buying a canvas sack to carry goods.

Public education campaigns about littering and recycling can help more than ineffective bans on products that are used every day by billions of people worldwide. It needn't take 1,000 years to alter anti-social behavior.

Keeping with the newspaper's tradition, the editorial page also features a counterpoint. In this case, the author is Ross Mirkarimi, a San Francisco supervisor who authored the ban. Its headline: "100 billion reasons for ban. We’re protecting the environment, and we’re saving oil, too."

(That definitely would depend on whether consumers start using reusable bags, because if they don't the energy will continue to be used, only in the manufacture and transport of paper or degradable plastic bags. And the claim ignores the fact that U.S. polyethylene producers use natural gas, not oil, to make resin. But let's not cloud this argument with too many facts...)

"Despite San Francisco's excellent residential recycling program, the recycling rate for plastic bags is only 1 percent," he writes. "Each year, we spend $8 million sweeping bags from our streets, untangling them from recycling machinery, scooping them from storm drains so sewers don't back up, and, ultimately, dumping them into landfills. Local governments are subsidizing the production of waste because producers know that whatever they manufacture and distribute, taxpayers will shoulder the bill. This is unacceptable."

How many more U.S. cities will adopt plastic bag bans this year? In the spirit of the NCAA tournament (I still can't believe I picked Texas), I'd put the over-under at 10.

Thanks to the National Association of Manufacturers' ShopFloor.org for pointing out this news: According to the latest trade data, the United States is now the third largest exporting country in the world.

It used to surprise audiences a few yeas ago to learn the the largest exporter in the world was the United States. In fact, we held that title for a long time, until Germany nudged us aside a year or two ago. Then we were the second largest exporter.

The world does not stand still and it's a darn competitive place out there. Yesterday the World Trade Organization released the latest trade data and in the last six months of 2006, China nudged us out of even second place, making the US the third largest exporter in the world. With current trends, China will become the world's largest exporter in 2008.

Here's a link to WTO's full news release on the trade data.

NAM takes a pro-trade stance, pointing out that, "It's well documented that jobs in exporting firms pay more than jobs in companies that sell only domestically. Innovation drives a big part of our exports and if the U.S. is slipping, what does it say about policies here that encourage exporting and innovation?"

Free trade agreements are a tough sell in Washington right now, so it's likely that the United States might slip to No. 4 or No. 5 in the near future.

Dow Chemical Co. announced this morning that it has terminated two top officials: Pedro Reinhard, a senior advisor and member of the board of directors, and Romeo Kreinberg, one of the company's top plastics executives. A news release from the company accused the pair of engaging in "business activity that was highly inappropriate and a clear violation of Dow’s Code of Business Conduct. Reinhard and Kreinberg were involved in unauthorized discussions with third parties about the potential acquisition of the Company.

"The Company took swift action: information about the misconduct was first disclosed to Dow on Tuesday, April 10; the Board of Directors was informed on Wednesday, April 11; and the employees were terminated this morning with full support of the Board.

“The values of integrity and respect for people are at the very core of our Company,” said Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO. “I think I speak for all employees when I say we are greatly saddened by the disrespect shown by our former colleagues. But we will move on to shape our future with an even greater resolve to execute our strategy and deliver value to our shareholders. We will uphold Dow’s 110-year history of commitment to the highest standards of integrity, ethical conduct and corporate governance.”

It will be interesting to see if this news is linked to all of the rumors about Dow being acquired that have circulated in the business press for several weeks.

Earlier this week, Dow announced that it is forming a styrenics joint venture with Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP.

The Science Museum in London will open a new exhibit, "Plasticity – 100 years of making plastics," on May 22. The show will run until January 2009. The event is timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Leo Baekeland's patent on Bakelite, on July 14, 1907, the plastics industry's birthday.

The news release from the museum makes it sound like it has an interesting collection of products to display:

Among the 400 exhibits are design classics such as Ekco radios and Art Deco mantle clocks, beautifully engraved cigarette boxes, the 1960s Finnish Futuro House whose design was inspired by the Apollo space mission craft, a 1960s PVC mac and boots, a polyurethane 2006 World Cup football, a working chandelier made from hundreds of Bic biros, an ergonomically designed Herman Miller Mirra office chair, made from recyclable materials and itself 96% recyclable, and even an extremely rare Bakelite coffin together with a phone made from plant-based plastics.

The exhibition will reveal the simultaneous but separate work of Baekeland and British scientist Sir James Swinburne to discover the formula for Bakelite – Baekeland pipping Swinburne to the patent by 24 hours – and will draw on the Museum’s collections to present an array of Bakelite products.

Plasticity will be brought up to the modern day with new uses of plastics, such as plastic blood, a wondrously light and resilient ski suit, a plastic model-producing printer and aeroplanes which are able to change shape during flight to optimise flight at different speeds.

Susan Mossman, a curator at the museum, also is the author and editor of a Early Plastics: Perspectives 1850-1950, a book on the history of early plastics. She's quoted in the release: “The story of plastics is a key story of the material world over the past century. Plastics allowed a consumer revolution with the cheap mass production of an array of goods such as radios, televisions, computers, synthetic clothing and disposable biros and razors. However, whilst we have become reliant on plastics for a variety of consumer goods, this exhibition will enable visitors to consider the changes needed in the production, reuse, recycling and disposal of plastics to continue enjoying them in the future.”

If you're a fan of plastics industry history, a visit to this museum sounds interesting. Also watch on Aug. 6 for Plastics News' special report, "Celebrating a Century of Plastics."

During a webcast today announcing a new Xenoy resin for fuel tanks, GE Plastics spokesman Chris Tessier gave a short update on the possible sale of the company.

Tessier said General Electric Co. is sharing information with potential bidders now, and hopes to announce a serious bidder in second quarter, with deal closing later this year.

A few more communities made headlines today for considering plastic grocery bag bans. The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors is considering a ban on polyethylene bags, similar to San Francisco's, at a meeting today. Here's a link to the motion that's being considered.

The Los Angeles Times has a interesting story on its Web site about how San Francisco's law would not make sense in LA because the city doesn't have a composting infrastructure for handling degradable bags. But don't think that means plastic bags are off the hook. One environmentalist suggests that the solution should be to ban all plastic bags -- both the polyethylene and degradable varieties.

"We're all for any community that wants to pursue a ban on plastic bags," said Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste, a nonprofit group based in Sacramento.

"But if I was going to Los Angeles or any other communities that are thinking they might take this approach, we would propose they look at a straight-out ban on plastic bags" — including compostable plastic bags, he said.

Meantime, a small community on the opposite coast also is making noise about banning plastic bags. Isle of Wight, Va., a small county on the James River near Smithfield, blames plastic bags for, among other things, contaminating the local cotton crop.

Tom Ivy, chairman of the Isle of Wight board, said he's not sure Isle of Wight has the power to ban the bags because Virginia is a Dillon Rule state. That means cities and counties can only exercise powers granted by the state.

But it's worth looking into, Ivy said, if the bags damage farmers' crops. Cotton is a major crop in Isle of Wight, where farmers grew 19,600 acres of it in 2005 - the second-highest producer of cotton in the state.

Bags can go through cotton gins, which shred them into pieces that can damage the cotton's quality, Parker said.

Plastic bag makers are going to have a tough time fighting to keep their products legal in cities and towns as geographically and demographically diverse as Los Angeles and Isle of Wight.

Dow Chemical Co. and Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP announced this morning that they have signed a deal that would form a joint venture combining their polystyrene and styrene monomer businesses in the Americas.

This is definitely a trend: Nova Chemicals Corp. and Ineos Group announced the same kind of deal in late March.

Dow intends to contribute: a styrene monomer plant (Camacari, Brazil) and six polystyrene plants (Gales Ferry, Connecticut; Ironton, Ohio; Joliet, Il.; Torrance, Calif.; Cartagena, Colombia; and Guaruja, Brazil). Chevron Phillips Chemical intends to contribute a styrene monomer plant (St. James, La.) and a polystyrene plant (Marietta, Ohio).

In semi-related news, Dow came out with a firm denial of the rumors of a leveraged buyout that drove the company's stock up yesterday.

Some plastics-related projects are being honored again this year in the National Dairy Council's Global Dairy Innovation Awards.

The trade group has a program called the "New Look of School Milk," which involves providing milk in plastic re-sealable bottles. According to the group, more than 6,700 schools across the United States now offer this type of packaging, and they're pleased with the results. For example, St. Vrain Valley School District in Colorado "Experienced a 40 percent increase in milk purchases following the introduction of 10-ounce single-serve bottles of white, chocolate, strawberry and orange crème flavored milk, in conjunction with Robinson Dairy."

We wrote about this trend last year at NPE.

In a survey conducted for the dairy industry in 2005, 51 percent of school-age children said they would buy milk when it is offered in plastic, compared with 24 percent who said they would buy milk when it is in a cardboard container.

Real world pilot tests bear out those numbers, said [Camellia Patey, vice president for school marketing at Dairy Management Inc.] When plastic milk containers were introduced at schools in 2001 and 2002, those schools saw a 22 percent boost in milk sales. Those numbers have continued to remain higher in comparison to cardboard packaged milk, Patey said.

Those numbers makes sense, she said. Plastic bottles are easier to open, easier to drink from, recyclable and do not leak. Students appreciate those same benefits — and she added that kids think milk tastes better when it is in plastic. That gives dairy products a better competitive edge against soft drinks and other beverages among middle school and high school students.

“With all of the other beverages that are out there, we felt we needed to offer something different,” Patey said.

This is a nice success story for the plastics industry, using consumer preferences to fuel additional growth.

The Society of Plastics Engineers and Plastics News will announce today that Antec, SPE’s annual technical conference, and PN’s Plastics Encounter trade show, will collocate again next year. The combined event will be held May 4-8, 2008, in Milwaukee.

The first collocated Antec/Plastics Encounter is coming up in just a few weeks. It is set for May 8-10, 2007, in Cincinnati.

In an unrelated development, Plastics News has shifted the dates of its 2008 Executive Forum. The rescheduled event will be two weeks later than originally announced. The new dates are March 9-12, 2008, at the same location (Tampa, Fla.'s Saddlebrook Resort).

The New York Times has a cool story today on a new technology for making a "fuel-latent plastic." I'll link to the version in the International Herald Tribune, since there are no password issue to access the story there.

"It can be used like ordinary plastic, for packaging or other purposes, but when it is waste, it can easily be turned into a substitute diesel fuel. The process does not yet work well enough to be commercial, but the U.S. Defense Department was impressed enough to give $2.3 million for more research."

According to the story, the researcher on the project is Richard Gross, a professor of chemistry at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn. First he turns plant oils into bioplastics. Then, at the end of the useful life of the plastic, he uses an enzyme to break down the plastic into fuel.

Conversion begins with shredding the plastic. An office paper-shredder will do, Gross said. Then the shreds are immersed in water with a small amount of the enzyme. In three to five days, the process is complete, and the biodiesel floats to the top.

Unlike a lot of the stories I see on plastic being converted to fuel, this one looks like it could have some legs. Probably not on the commercial scale, because I doubt it is cost-effective compared to recycling or waste-to-energy incineration. But the military application could work, for example, aboard Navy ships and submarines.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on Page 1 today that parents of newborns are so concerned about leaching bisphenol A from polycarbonate baby bottles that glass bottles are making a comeback -- and local stores can't get enough to keep up with demand.

As the story says, some parents simply don't want to take any chances with their children's health. It's the "precautionary principle," but instead of government making the decision, families are making the choices.

After reading The Chronicle's November story about bisphenol A and phthalates, David Lippman of Berkeley switched his 16-month-old daughter, Lucina, to glass bottles and sippy cups made of softer, opaque plastic, which some environmental health advocates are promoting as a safer alternative to polycarbonate.

"She's going to be exposed to enough plastics in the world that I can't be so obsessed about it," Lippman said. But "it was something small I could do in my own home."

The story cites three suppliers of glass baby bottles that all report seeing a big jump in sales -- one cited a 10-fold increase.

I'm not sure that glass really qualifies as a safe alternative to polycarbonate. I'd be concerned about breakage. But this is a trend worth watching.

Dog food and car interiors. What do they have in common? Both products have been in the news recently. But, more specifically, both stories are hard to understand because media reports on the topics seem too simplified, and scientific experts quoted give contradictory explanations. I'll call them "whose science do you believe?" stories.

The pet food story is a good example. A week ago, the Food and Drug Administration said melamine in certain brands of pet foods was killing dogs and cats. FDA linked melamine to wheat gluten from China, and announced that companies had voluntarily recalled certain products. In the past week, the news wires have been filled with stories and updates. Various experts have either disputed or confirmed FDA's theory. It's not clear to pet lovers whether melamine is to blame, and, if so, where it came from. It's all very confusing.

The other "whose science do you believe?" story is the result from a report from a Michigan group called the Ecology Center that charges that plastics in car interiors emit toxins. The group's newest report ranks cars, so that consumers can avoid cars that emit the most and worst toxins.

Here's what a typical news story, from CBC News, had to say about the report:

A new report from a U.S. environmental group suggests the "new car smell" long beloved by the purchasers of vehicles could be a sign of harmful chemicals inside the car.

Much of the smell comes from plastics and materials used inside the car, from the steering wheel to the dashboard to the carpets — parts often made with chemicals including flame retardants, plasticizers and other chemicals that can give off gas or leach into the environment.

However, shortly after that report was released, another came out with the opposite conclusion.

Toxicologist Jeroen Buters at the Technical University of Munich in Germany and his colleagues investigated the health effects of volatile organic compounds that cars emit. They focused on conditions mimicking those where the molecules would likely get emitted most in cars—when parked in hot sunshine. ... New car smell does not appear to be toxic, the scientists found. Air from the new car did cause a slight aggravation of the immune response that could affect people with allergies, but the same was not seen with the older vehicle.

Which report should we believe? It's hard to tell. One place I like to check is www.stats.org, which is affiliated with the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University. The site monitors the media to expose abuse of science and statistics. (The site has a post on the "new car smell" toxin story that's worth reading.)

But if most of the news media won't bother to put these "whose science do you believe?" stories into the proper context, we certainly can't count on most consumers to do it themselves.

A colleague found this an easy, do-it-yourself project for storing used plastic bags. I've already got a used-bag holder, but this one seems like a fun alternative. You just need a 2-quart plastic bottle, a box cutter and/or scissors, a Sharpie, some durable tape, and plenty of excess plastic bags.

As the Web page notes, "Chances are you already have everything you need to make one for free. Or you can buy one at The Container Store for $4.99 plus $6.50 [shipping & handling]. Your choice."

Plastic bags are probably the most reused item in my household. I use them for lunches, the kids carry stuff to school in them, and ... well, we have two dogs. You get the picture.

Portland, Ore., may be the next U.S. city to ban plastic bags. The Portland Business Journal has a story on the Web today quoting a staffer for city commissioner Sam Adams, saying that he might introduce plastic bag ban legislation this summer.

"He's concerned about the problem that all litter, but especially plastic bags, cause in our society," said Shoshanah Oppenheim, a policy analyst for Adams. "They're a nonrenewable resource. They exist forever and they're a common source of litter."

Adams has poll on his blog where readers can give him feedback on the proposal. So far, the comments are strongly in favor of a ban.

Are you a U.S.-based company going to the K show, and want to make sure you make the most of the trip? The U.S. Department of Commerce is offering what it calls a "CEO" program that might be just the ticket.

The CEO program provides participants with a multilingual personal assistant and meeting space in the department's business center where you can meet customers and potential distributors. Cost of the program is $4,100 if you sign up by May 15.

For more information on what's included in the program, as well as other services that the Commerce department can offer, check out this link.

Dow Chemical Co. CEO Andrew Liveris yesterday "launched an impassioned defense" of his strategy, according to this Financial Times story, saying he had "earned the right" to run the company.

Andrew Liveris told the Financial Times that over the past few months he "felt I was in a rugby scrum" as takeover rumors intensified and the alleged plot to sell the company to a buyout group led to the sacking of two high-level employees.

The turmoil at Dow, the largest chemical group in the US, underlines the pressures faced by companies that attempt to overhaul their business while remaining listed, bucking the current trend for private equity takeovers.

Mr Liveris argued that the majority of shareholders backed his plan to reduce Dow's reliance on commodity businesses and focus on higher-margin products in an attempt to reduce the traditional cyclicality of its earnings.

"Few people remember that in 2002-2003 we were on our knees. We have earned the right to transform this company," he said, noting that unlike most of its competitors Dow wanted to remain independent and publicly listed.

I'm sure Liveris is ready for the soap opera that has been Dow Chemical's past few months to end. Appealing directly to investors, via the press, looks like a good strategy.

Reuters has an interesting story today about which potential buyers are still interested in GE Plastics. The meat of the story is entirely attributed to "sources familiar with the situation," so there's no way to tell if it's inside information or just Wall Street speculation. But it's very interesting nonetheless, especially for GE Plastics employees (and perhaps their competitors).

Private equity firms Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. [KKR.UL] and TPG [TPG.UL] are no longer involved in the process, these sources told Reuters, with Carlyle Group's status unclear.

Blackstone Group [BG.UL] remains in the bidding, separate sources say. Apollo Management appears to have advanced to the second round as well, sources say.

At least two corporate buyers -- Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) (2010.SE: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's largest chemical firm by market value, and Basell (BASL.UL: Quote, Profile, Research), the Dutch petro-chemical maker -- are also expected to submit second-round offers for the division, according to some of the sources.

It was unclear whether Koch Industries, the world's largest private company, which Reuters previously reported had partnered with Blackstone, was still in the running.

GE shed very little light on the topic at its annual meeting yesterday. Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt told reporters that the company expects to close a deal in the third quarter, which is what they've been saying for a while.

The Frisbee flying disk is 50 years old this year, and this story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gives a fun overview of Frisbee history, current trends, links to Frisbee-related Web sites (really), and even a how-to-throw it video.

Here's a bit if Frisbee history for trivia buffs:

Walter Frederick Morrison, the man credited with inventing the Frisbee, said this month that he got the idea as a teenager in the 1930s after his family began flinging popcorn can lids around to burn off the tryptophan from a Thanksgiving dinner.

It wasn't until 1955, though, that he invented the plastic disc, which he originally named the Pluto Platter in honor of all the UFO sightings being reported at the time.

Two years later, Mr. Morrison sold the rights to the disc to Wham-O Inc., which patented it as the Frisbee. The name was changed to evoke the pie tins made by the Frisbie Pie Co. of Bridgeport, Conn., which Yale students had been tossing around for years.

It's amazing how many Frisbee varieties exist today, especially for Frisbee golfers. Some of these definitely are too fancy to play fetch with your dog (although you can buy a whole golf set for less than $25.

Myers Industries Inc. will soon have a new owner. The Akron, Ohio-based company, which makes plastics housewares, horticultural containers, reusable material handling containers and pallets, announced today that it has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by GS Capital Partners, a part of investment firm Goldman, Sachs & Co.

The deal is valued at $1.07 billion. However, other bidders may submit competing offers over the next several weeks.

GS Capital Partners will pay $22.50 cash for each share of Myers common stock, and would assume or repay $276 million of debt.

In the news release, John C. Orr, Myers' president and CEO, said: "We have undertaken many successful initiatives over the last two years to transform and grow, with the goal of creating more value for all of our stakeholders. After careful review of our strategic business segments and the best avenues for growth, we are excited about this opportunity with GS Capital Partners.”

Chalk another deal up to the private equity market, which seems to have an insatiable appetite for plastics companies.

The news that Segolene Royal will participate in a runoff election for president of France reminds me of her visit to the K show in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1992.

Royal, then France's Environment minister, participated in a debate sponsored by the Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe. About 300 people attended, including leaders of most of the plastics trade associations in the Western world.

I got a big kick out of covering event. I was in my second year at Plastics News, and on my first trip to Europe. Royal spoke in French, and I took notes while I listened to the translation on a big set of headphones. It was like covering a United Nations session.

After the event, I got copies of photos of Royal supplied by the event organizers. Most were very serious shots of her speaking, but there was one goofy photo where she was smiling broadly and making an exaggerated gesture toward her headphones. I included that photo in the batch that we shipped back to Akron -- this was pre-email, of course -- thinking that the copy desk back home would get a kick out of it. Later, I was surprised to see that was the photo they chose to use in print!

I looked back at our story from our Nov. 9, 1992 issue today, and it's interesting to see how environmental issues that were important to the industry then still are making headlines. It's also interesting to note that Royal was not the event's "headliner." The real big name was Klaus Topfer, then the German minister for the environment and author of his country's package recycling legislation.

I quoted Royal just once in our story, on a then-new French law that called for dramatic increases in recycling: "Even if we have to be brutal here, there was a crisis, and we had to deal with the crisis," Royal said.

I'm not sure I agree that plastics packaging waste was creating a "crisis" in Europe in the early 1990s. But legislators were behaving that way, and industry responded with a variety of recycling initiatives. Likewise, some cities and states are dealing with plastics waste issues today as if they have a crisis. Unlike then, so far, I have not seen much of a response from the plastics industry.

Cerberus Capital Management LP is pulling out of its previously announced deal to buy Delphi Corp. out of Chapter 11 reorganization. Delphi, in a news release today, said Cerberus, a private equity firm, is withdrawing becauses of differences over Delphi's future value.

Other private equity players that are part of the bid to buy Delphi for as much as $3.4 billion remain interested, including Appaloosa Management LP.

Delphi has a nonbinding agreement to sell its interior and closures unit to Renco Group Inc. Cerberus' move does not appear to jeopardize that deal. That unit ranks as North America's third largest injection molder, according to our recent special report.

Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategy magazine has a feature in its March issue about aligning your company's supply chain with your business strategy. The story highlights D-M-E Co., the Madison Heights, Mich.-based mold component supplier, as an example of a company that is finding a competitive advantage in this area. The story compares D-M-E's approach to that prescribed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Supply Chain Center and to those used by Wal-Mart and Toyota.

That might sound a little dry, but the bottom line will get your attention. According to the story, companies that synchronize their business strategy to their supply chain generate up to 73 percent higher profit, higher growth, and better shareholder returns.

D-M-E is seeing a payback. The company has reduced its lead times by 80 percent, according to the story, and it has been able to tailor its supply chain practices to provide better service and more specialized products for its customers.

The story also includes some tips for other companies that want to try this strategy. It's definitely worth reading, even for folks like me who aren't experts on supply chain management issues.

I like to highlight stories where processors get attention for doing something positive, and here's an example from the Worcester, Mass., Telegram & Gazette.

Nypro Inc. for years has helped sponsor teams from Clinton, Mass., High School in the FIRST national robotics competition. This year, the Clinton-Nypro “Gael Force” team made it to the semifinals of the national tournament.

Nypro spokesman Alfred J. Cotton said the Clinton team formed an alliance with teams from Connecticut and Rhode Island in the quarterfinals. The team, battling an alliance of high schools from Connecticut, Delaware and Michigan, won two out of three quarterfinal matches, 94-68 and 78-50, and tied the second match, 8-8.

In the semifinals, however, against an alliance from California, Ohio and Michigan, the Clinton alliance was defeated, 56-40 and 50-32.

I'm sure this bit of publicity from the local newspaper doesn't nearly compensate Nypro for the time and expense that the company devotes to the project. But it's good for community relations, not just for Nypro but for the whole plastics industry. Nice job.

Singapore's National Environment Agency sponsored a "bring your own bag" day at supermarkets today, and officials are declaring it at least a partial success.

According to a story from Channel NewsAsia, one supermarket reported that it reduced its plastic bag use by about 30 percent. Another reported that it sold out of the special reusable bags that it was encouraging shopper to buy by midday.

Singapore plans to continue having "bring your own bag" days, on the first Wednesday of every month.

Here's a link to an Associated Press photo that shows how one supermarket promoted the project.

This looks like an interesting way to reduce waste without resorting to a ban on certain types of bags.

The Home Depot store chain is jumping on the green bandwagon, announcing an "Eco Options" labeling program that features products that offer benefits to sustainable forestry, energy efficiency, health, clean air or water efficiency.

This New York Times story on the project says it will include "6,000 products by 2009, representing 12 percent of the chain's sales."

And it signals that Home Depot, the country's second-largest retailer, is joining the largest, Wal-Mart, in pursuing issues of public concern like climate change that stores have left to governments and environmental groups.

Like Wal-Mart's packaging score card, Home Depot is looking at packaging as part of its green equation. There's a link on the company's Web site that gives some very sketchy guidelines for packaging, with bullet points like "We will strive to eliminate unnecessary packaging," and "We will recycle and encourage the use of materials and products with recycled content."

This is a trend worth watching. When retailers make promises and environmental claims, they know that the public is paying attention. I don't think they're going to set any goals that they won't reach.

The Los Angeles Times won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting for "Altered Oceans," its series that "revealed how man has choked the oceans with trash and basic nutrients -- killing advanced sea life, making people sick and effectively reversing the course of evolution back toward "the primeval seas of hundreds of millions of years ago."

The fourth part of the five-part series focuses on the "plastic plague" of marine debris.

If you wonder why cities in California are banning polystyrene food service products and polyethylene grocery bags, reading this story will help explain why these issues are getting so much legislative attention this year.

Dow Chemical Co. remains in the news today following last week's firing of senior executives Romeo Kreinberg and J. Pedro Reinhard. The latest news: Reinhard has released a statement denying that he was "involved in any clandestine effort to take over the company," and Dow is taking steps to remove Reinhard from its board of directors.

According to an Associated Press report, Reinhard's statement says: "I categorically deny that I have been part of any secret effort to take over or acquire Dow Chemical." It adds: "I have always faithfully complied with my fiduciary duties to Dow," and "My conscience is clear."

On the board action: Midland, Mich.-based Dow announced that its board has "authorized a revised slate of nominees" to be considered at the company's May 10 annual meeting. The new slate includes "each of the current directors, with the exception of J. Pedro Reinhard."

What happens if shareholders already returned their proxy, casting their ballots for the board of directors? Dow said it will not count ballots cast for the board's nominees for Reinhard, "in light of his no longer being a nominee of the Board of Directors."

I don't think we've heard the last word on this battle. Corporate annual meetings typically are boring, scripted affairs, but Dow's annual meeting could be a bit more interesting this year.

Toter Inc., the second largest rotational molder in North America, has a new owner. The buyer is Wastequip Inc., a Beachwood, Ohio-based maker of waste handling, recycling and material handling equipment.

Wastequip announced the deal today, but did not disclose the terms. Toter is based in Statesville, N.C., and makes plastic carts used in residential curbside waste and recycling systems.

A news release from Wastequip quotes John Scott, Toter's president and chief executive officer, saying the deal "will allow us to continue to expand our product and service offerings."

Toter has plants in Statesville; Del Rio, Texas; Acuna, Mexico; and Sanger, Calif.