Today's Web searches bring two stories about journalists trying to live without plastics. Not all plastics, of course -- no one is talking about stripping the insulation off their electrical wiring, or getting rid of their indoor plumbing. More specifically, they're trying to live without plastic packaging or some housewares.

The first is a column by Bowen Island, British Columbia, blogger James Glave. He writes with passion about why his family has decided to get rid of plastics -- culminating in a trip to the recycling depot to get rid of his beloved food storage containers.

I can hear you snickering out there, and I don't blame you. As far as eco-resolutions go, this one is probably both ridiculous and futile. We know that the lion's share of our food -- yogurt, milk, berries, applesauce, nuts, cooking oil, you name it -- is sold to us in plastic packaging. For decades, industry and government scientists have assured us these "food grade" pots, tubs, and sacks are completely benign.

They're lightweight compared to glass -- which means less of a carbon penalty from shipping -- and of course they're recyclable. And as a former Servin' Savers evangelist, I know the convenience is unbeatable.

But here's the thing, Mr. Industry and Ms. Government. I've been struggling with a few trust issues as of late.

His concern relates to polycarbonate safety, because of the recent controversy over bisphenol A. He notes that the company that made the PC baby bottles he used to feed his children now sell bottles made of another type of plastic, but that's not good enough:

Oh I know, I know: The third-party research is solid; polypropylene and everything else with a number inside a triangle is perfectly safe. Plastic will remain a staple of our lives for many years to come. Hey, I'm touching it as I write this story.

But I don't trust that science anymore, and as a result, I'm no longer going to eat off the stuff. I'm no longer able to brush aside the odd taste the water in my squeeze bottle assumes after it's spent a hot day under my sea kayak's deck rigging. I'm not going to microwave yesterday's macaroni in the fresh-saver locking-lid container and then serve it up to my family. I'm not doing any of that anymore. This stuff is petroleum, and I've lost my enthusiasm for its endless miracles.

Glave notes that he's not a Luddite "who would do away with life-saving medical devices and send us back to the oxen in the fields," adding, "there are many scenarios where plastic is the more sustainable choice. I think of my lunch-kit reboot as the start of a personal investigation into my relationship with plastic; we can't live without this stuff, but I wonder if maybe we can learn to live with less of it, or figure out how to deploy it more thoughtfully."

Taking more or less the same approach is Christine Jeavans of BBC News, who plans to do without plastic packaging for the month of August. Why? Check out this video, where she shows how much plastic she and her family goes through in an average month.

Right off the bat, she talks to Paul Davidson of the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) about the plastic she plans to do without. She asks him, how difficult will it be to stop using plastic? His reply is interesting:

"I think it's going to be quite a challenge. But also, I think, it may not environmentally be the best thing to do. Plastics actually play a really important role in making sure that our food gets to us in the best condition that it can possibly arrive in," Davidson said. Avoiding plastics means food will have a shorter shelf life, or it will otherwise increase the amount of waste, he said.

It's interesting how these two journalists are both trying to avoid plastics, but for two different reasons -- one because of waste issues, the other because of chemical safety concerns. In a nutshell, this captures some of the main challenges that the plastics industry is facing.

The Christian Science Monitor has a story about a cool new application for plastics -- in thin, bendable screens that can be used in a wide variety of electronics goods.

The technology will make possible the kind of technology we saw in Steven Spielberg's film "Minority Report," where "Newspapers updated in readers' hands and advertisements talked to passersby. Even cereal boxes were animated."

Plastics are making the technology possible, because they are cheaper than silicon. The market is growing fast -- the plastics electronics industry will grow from $30 billion in 2015 to $250 billion in 2025, according to an electronics consulting company quoted in the story. The market for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays and lighting could reach $15.5 billion by 2014.

Flexible displays -- LG Display and Sony have prototypes -- will likely be on store shelves in the next five years, although they probably won’t be widely affordable for a few more years after that, says [Janice Mahon, vice president of technology commercialization for Universal Display Corp. in Ewing, N.J.].

For a peek at where the technology is today, check out the October issue of Esquire magazine, which will have a special e-paper cover that blinks to commemorate its 75th anniversary.

Michigan State University is touting a start-up company that is commercialing a material developed by researchers from the school's Composite Materials and Structure Center. The material, -- xGnP Exfoliated Graphite NanoPlatelets -- can make "plastic stiffer, lighter and stronger and could result in more fuel-efficient airplanes and cars as well as more durable medical and sports equipment."

The company is XG Sciences Inc., with offices in East Lansing and a manufacturing plant in Lansing, Mich. The research was led by Lawrence Drzal, a professor of chemical engineering and materials science and director of the composites center.

The company claims its technology can make better nanocomposites:

Our nano-particles consist of small stacks of graphene layers that can replace carbon nanotubes, nano-clays, or other carbon compounds in many composite applications. When added in trace amounts to plastics or resins, our nanoparticles make these materials electrically or thermally conductive, and less permeable, while simultaneously improving mechanical properties like strength, stiffness, or surface toughness.

For example, when our graphene nanoparticles are added to nylon, the resulting nanocomposite is significantly less permeable to gasoline or other fuels while also dissipating static electricity. This composite is an ideal material for lining fuel tanks.

Other applications listed on the company's Web site inlcude electronic enclosures, automotive parts that can be electrostatically, aerospace composites, appliances, batteries and fuel cells.

Automotive applications for nanopolymers are especially interesting. These materials are proving that they can help plastics compete with metals in new applications, saving weight and therefore boosting fuel economy.

We saw a story that referenced PVC pipe in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune back on Aug. 1 that didn't make any sense. The story was basically a list of laws that were taking effect in Minnesota that day, with a brief description of each one. Here's the blurb that got our attention:

GLOBAL WARMING: Producers and buyers of industrial and commercial gases with a high "global warming potential" must now report data on their sales and use to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Outdoor lighting fixtures installed or replaced with state funds must use specific cutoff luminaires that conserve energy and minimize light pollution.

Additionally, homeowners can get up to $250 from the state when replacing PVC piping in home heating oil systems with metal piping.

I showed the story to Matt Griswold, our staff reporter who covers building and construction, and it had both of us puzzled. What does replacing PVC pipe in home heating oil systems have to do with global warming? Why would the state pay anyone to replace PVC with metal? (If you think we were confused, check out the comment section of the story on the Star-Tribune's Web site. It's obvious that none of the readers have any idea what this law is about).

Matt did some checking, and here's what he found:

The state of Minnesota will pay homeowners up to $250 for replacing PVC pipe being used in residents' home heating oil systems with iron pipe. But it is a simple engineering problem, not an environmental one, according to Steve Lee, manager of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Emergency Response unit.

In an Aug. 5 telephone interview, Lee explained that in rural parts of the state, many homes are heated with fuel oil. Often, the oil systems are built in a home's basement. When homeowners remodel their basements, some of the do-it-yourself types are relocating the heating oil systems, and using PVC pipe to connect their tanks to the fueling ports outside their homes.

In addition to being non-code-compliant, fuel oil has a tendency to attack PVC joints, and can cause the system to fail after a few fill ups, Lee said. The end result can be a homeowner's basement flooded with fuel oil.

Where does the money come from? Minnesota has a Petro Fund, Lee said. Anyone who sells petroleum is taxed a penny or two per dollar earned, and that is deposited into the fund. That fund will finance the $250 pipe replacement projects, he said. Also, the state can help homeowners arrange for someone in the pipe trade to come in and put in the proper metal piping that meets the code, he said.

So that's the real story: PVC pipe doesn't contribute to global warming, and Minnesota isn't really interested in paying its residents a bounty to get rid of plastic pipe. They just want to protect homeowners from flooding their basements with fuel oil.

I don't know about you, but I can sleep better at night knowing the truth. Thanks to Steve Lee and Matt Griswold for solving the mystery.

The San Diego Union-Tribune's Web site has a story today about the city of Solana Beach, Calif., linking up with Trex Co. Inc. to recycle plastic bags.

This is an unusual step, for a community to make a deal directly with a manufacturer like Trex. Kyle Pogue, a supervisor at the California Integrated Waste Management Board, told the newspaper that Solana Beach could serve as a model for other cities.

The idea came from Debbie Sandler, described as a stay-at-home mom involved in school recycling efforts.

The story also notes that Solana Beach has a reputation for embracing environmental initiatives.

Trex is a major recycler, using waste film and other materials to make decking. A Washington Post story recently noted that the company boosted its profit last quarter thanks to "improving productivity and buying lower-quality recycled plastics."

Solid Waste & Recycling magazine has a story that offers some insight into what some paper manufacturers think about the plastics industry.

The story quotes from a news release from the Paper and Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council: "It seems like every time something goes badly for the plastics industry that it lashes out at paper."

"We're getting a bit tired of this distraction campaign, frankly," said John Mullinder, executive director of the Etobicoke, Ontario-based PPEC. He says the plastics industry leadership "resorts to taking cheap shots at paper, using emotive and non-scientific terms such as 'environmentally friendly' (a meaningless term, according to the Canadian Standards Association and the Canadian Competitions Bureau) and 'tree-hungry' paper bags."

The plastics industry is also fond of trotting out so-called scientific or "life cycle" studies, PPEC says, many of them commissioned by themselves, and others that have little relevance to Canada and Canadian circumstances. "There is no, repeat no, peer-reviewed life cycle analysis of paper and plastic grocery bags used in Canada that meets ISO standards. In fact, we would welcome a credible analysis that recognizes the environmental impact of manufacturing polymers from oil and natural gas and shipping plastic resin and/or bags all the way from coal-dependent China. That would be interesting."

It's interesting to see the competitive arguments between plastics and paper. To add some perspective to the story, let me add that the paper industry rarely sees the sort of negative perception that the plastics industry is constantly battling. As an example, here's a feature titled "The dangers of plastic bags" on the Stroudsburg, Pa.-based Pocono Record newspaper's Web site. I see this type of thing every day. When's the last time you saw a "dangers of paper bags" feature in the mainstream media?

The American Chemistry Council and the Progressive Bag Affiliates are reporting today that three California bills that were being closely watched by the plastics industry have failed to win approval from the state Senate Appropriations Committee.

According to the groups, the bills -- which would have taxed plastic bags and banned polystyrene food service packaging and some PVC packaging -- failed to advance past the Senate Appropriations Committee on Aug. 7.

While ACC and PBA tout the victories, keep in mind that more proposals to ban or tax plastic packaging in California are extremely likely.

The American Chemistry Council is mounting a campaign to stop a California bill that would ban bisphenol A. The effort is attracting some attention this weekend, including this critical news story in the Orange County Register.

Mailers and ads appearing in newspapers across the state depict an empty grocery cart in the desert and warn that if BPA is banned, canned food and beverages might be vulnerable to spoilage or contamination. Food products, the ads say, could disappear from grocery store shelves even though "rigorous scientific reviews" conclude the products are safe.

"Maybe that's why no other state in the country bans BPA," the ads say.

But experts say that pitch is misleading in several respects.

The bill wouldn't regulate the majority of food found on grocery store shelves. It only restricts BPA in products for kids ages 3 and younger, such as formula cans, sippy cups, baby bottles and glass jars of baby food, said Tracy Fairchild, a spokeswoman for the bill's sponsor Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco.

"It's designed to deceive consumers" Fairchild said. "This is toxic to the political process. It's fine to oppose, but you have to tell the truth."

ACC's Steve Hentges defends the ads in the story, saying: "We do believe that the bill could potentially affect a wide range of products... and it could extend quite a bit beyond that to containers and serving dishes -- anything used to feed a child."

For a look at the ACC ads, check out this link from the Cheese Slave blog, which includes copies of the campaign.

Opponents of the recently adopted plastic bag tax in Seattle haven't given up the fight. According to this Seattle Post Intelligencer story, a trade group representing independent grocery stores is trying to gather enough signatures to put the issue to a voters' referendum this fall.

The group started mobilizing grocers and volunteers to areas around the city last Friday to gather signatures -- they'll need to have accumulated 14,374 legitimate signatures by Aug. 28 for the petition to make it on to the ballot.

"We think taxing family grocery bills is a really bad idea," said Jan Gee, president and CEO of the Washington Food Industry. "Food prices are so high right now, and price increases keep going up -- they're really out of the control of grocers."

A lot of people in the plastics industry have fond memories of Stanley Gault, the former CEO of Rubbermaid Inc. and later chairman and CEO of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Gault was in the news recently in his hometown, Wooster, Ohio, when he announced plans to close the H. Freedlander Co. department store at the beginning of 2009.

This story from Wooster's The Daily Record explains that the venerable store will close after 125 years in business.

"When I bought Freedlander's nine years ago, it was for two reasons -- to maintain the presence of a major facility in the downtown area and to provide employment for the Freedlander's associates," Gault told the newspaper. "It was never meant to be a long-term investment. I didn't buy it expecting it to be a financially rewarding investment and it hasn't been. We offer quality, brand-name merchandise and services you can't get anywhere else in town. There were no false advertisements for sale events, but people just didn't support it."

Following the Christmas shopping season, a developer will raze the building and plans to replace it with a 30,000-square-foot development that includes retail stores and condominiums.

Here's some bad news -- within 10 years, the price of plastic resin will be so high that it may be economically worthwhile to dig up landfills and collect the stuff that we're throwing away today.

That's the story from Plastics & Rubber Weekly, our sister publication in Europe. Online editor Katie Coyne has a story today quoting Peter Mills, a waste specialist from New Earth Solutions Ltd., who says plastic prices are fast reaching a point where mining landfills will be a viable option.

Mills says plastics in well maintained landfills should be perfectly preserved. He adds that another source of material could be all the plastic marine debris that's causing so many problems today.

So I guess there's some good news here too -- higher resin prices will mean less litter, and people (and companies) will be willing to recycle more.

Since many experts in resin pricing think prices are going to go down next year, I wonder how many years away we really are from starting to dig in landfills for old plastic trash.

The Boisset Family Estates winery is making a big deal out of its decision to package all of its Beaujolais Nouveau being imported into the United States in PET bottles. Never mind the glass bottle shortage in France -- this is all about sustainability.

"It is critical in today’s time, with the scarcity of our planet’s resources and the known environmental impacts of human activity, that we consider whether we should still ship thousands of cases of wine in heavy bottles via air throughout the world in order for the wines to arrive on time for their annual release date in November, when we can reduce fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions by more than half through a responsible choice of packaging," said President Jean-Charles Boisset, in a news release.

"Were all of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau imported to North America similarly packaged in PET or other alternative packages, we estimate saving literally millions of pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from entering our atmosphere," he added -- and estimated 37,000,000 pounds of carbon dioxide.

Consumers will share in the benefits. The company expects its freight costs will be 33 percent lower, and "This savings will be directly passed on to the consumer," Boisset said. Instead of $13.99 to $14.99 per bottle, the wines will retail for $12.99.

I have a feeling U.S. consumers are ready for Beaujolais in PET -- after all, they've already accepted "Two Buck Chuck."

From time to time the Plastics Blog will devote space to debunking myths about plastics, and directing readers to some good sources of information where they can turn when they see a story that looks like a hoax.

The latest hoax to hit the Internet seems to be the story that cancer patients will receive free chemotherapy in exchange for plastic caps. Thanks to Jody Murphy, a reporter for the News and Sentinel in Parkersburg, W.Va., we now know this story is not true. Murphy's story found that many churches in West Virginia -- and no doubt elsewhere -- are needlessly collecting plastic caps for a charity that doesn't exist.

If someone started this as a joke... well, it's an understatement to say that it's sick.

A colleague in Europe today sent me a copy of an email that's been circulating for months (if not years). It's about the alleged research at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health about the safety of freezing or microwaving plastic containers. If you ever get a copy, make sure to send this link back to the sender -- it's a rebuttal from Johns Hopkins, confirming that the story is a hoax.

Here's some more information about myth-busting Web sites, from a column I wrote back in 2005:

If you want information about the safety of plastics in microwaves, for example, check out www.plasticsmythbuster.org, a Web site developed by the American Plastics Council. The Vinyl Institute's site, www.vinylinfo.org, also deals with common misinformation.

If you're trying to convince someone who is skeptical of industry-sponsored information, here are a few more good sources for plastics-related science:

www.stats.org, which is affiliated with the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. This site monitors the media to expose the abuse of science and statistics.

www.acsh.org and www.healthfactsandfears.com are maintained by the American Council on Science and Health. Founded by scientists, the group aims ``to add reason and balance to debates about public health issues and bring common-sense views to the public.''

Finally, www.snopes.com is a fun site for debunking urban legends. It's searchable and has a fair number of science-related items.

Feel free to add more suggestions for myth-busting Web sites in the comments section.

Evansville, Ind., a city with a very healthy plastics industry, has won a readers' choice poll of favorite places to work, live and play sponsored by Kiplinger's Personal Finance.

You'll recall that Kiplinger's recently named another plastics-intensive city -- Houston -- as the No. 1 U.S. city.

Here's what Kiplinger's has to say about Evansville:

A low crime rate, affordable homes, good schools, hardly any traffic and plenty to do. Who wouldn't want to live in a city that offered all this? Perhaps that's why Kiplinger.com readers picked Evansville, Ind., as their favorite city, with almost twice as many votes as runner-up Green Bay, Wis.

What do you say, Evansville residents? Does the city deserve this applause?

Gloucester Engineering Co. Inc. is among the companies that are saving money by participating in a federal program called WorkSharing, where full-time employees are scaled back to part-time status, and the government pays them unemployment benefits for the hours they're not at work. This story (and audio report) from WBUR radio in Boston explains the plan.

Gloucester, which went through a management buyout in October, is paying some workers to come in four days a week instead of five. They "keep full benefits: health care and 401ks. But for the fifth day they're not on the job, they collect unemployment from the state," according to the report.

The story quotes Edward Malmborg from the Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance, who notes that WorkSharing does not appear to drain the state's pool of unemployment money any more (or less) than conventional layoffs.

This is an interesting way to cut costs. I've seen other stories in the past few months about companies changing shifts to improve efficiency, but this is the first time I've heard about the WorkSharing program. Are there other plastics companies that have tried this strategy?

Congratulations to Frigel North America, which was named one of two finalists for the 2008 Illinois Sustainable Technology Award. The award honors companies that have developed technology that supports sustainability efforts and benefits the environment.

Frigel was recognized for its Ecodry system, which replaces traditiional cooling towers and helps conserve energy and reduce noise. According to the company's release announcing the news, a conventional 100-ton cooling tower might use as much as 1 million to 1.5 million gallons of water per year, but an Ecodry system with the same capacity requires only 20,000 to 40,000 gallons.

To be considered for this award, Frigel had to demonstrate how the Ecodry was a unique, proven technological advancement that promoted sustainability. Now that the two finalists have been selected, a committee from the Institute of Science and Sustainable Technology will be conducting on-site visits to see the technology in action and hear from a customer how it helps them operate a more sustainable process.

So some plastics processors are likely to have a role in whether Frigel brings home the gold.

The winner will be announced on Oct. 23. For a list of previous winners (including a company that makes an alternative to plastics packaging last year), check this list on the University of Illinois Sustainable Technology Center's Web site.

Sustainability is the latest buzzword in the plastics industry, and now some universities seem to believe it's an issue that will be with us for a long time. The latest to jump on board -- specifically related to plastics -- are the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland.

The universities announced the news today. Their agreement -- they call it a "partnership to promote plastics sustainability" -- "will accelerate research into new-generation plastics that are biodegradable, and environmentally friendly manufacturing techniques," according to the release. Peter Halley, director of the Centre for High Performance Polymers in the Australian university's School of Engineering, said polymer research was vital in developing a sustainable future for the plastics industry.

“The partnership connects leading researchers and research laboratories in nanocomposites, biopolymers and polymer processing, and allows us to share equipment and expertise,” Halley said.

In the United States, the University of Massachusetts Lowell has a sustainability effort with a notable plastics angle. (It's interesting that UMass Lowell also has a "Precautionary Principle Project," a topic that also of interest to the plastics industry.)

To learn more about sustainability, check out the Sustain '08 conference in November organized by Plastics News Global Group and the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.

Polyester film extruders -- prepare to save the planet. An Australian PhD student has won top prize in a global competition for a proposal to save the earth from a possible collision with an asteroid dubbed Apophis by wrapping the intruder with plastic film.

The theory is that if we could wrap enough reflective film on the surface of the asteroid, the film would act as a solar sail. "Such a coating may increase the asteroid’s reflectivity, enabling deflection by solar radiation pressure."

The prize winner is Mary D'Souza, a student at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Queensland in Australia (two blog posts in a row from U of Q? Just a coincidence). Her paper is titled "A Body Solar Sail Concept for the Deflection of 99942 Apophis.”

The project is getting some media attention today, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it featured in your local newspaper or TV report sometime soon.

But isn't this all a bit far-fetched? Maybe so. (How would we get enough film into space? How could we wrap the asteroid?)

But maybe it's just crazy enough to work. It's not as photogenic as blowing up the asteroid in the nick of time, but it is brilliant nevertheless.

Here's a post that's sure to make some Plastics Blog readers angry. It's a Web-based cartoon called Gorilla in the Greenhouse, and its first episode is devoted to plastic bag litter.

I don't think most readers will have a problem with the idea of communicating to kids that they shouldn't litter, or that they should recycle or reuse things like plastic bags. Those messages are in the cartoon. The part I think some will find objectionable is how the cartoonist portrays the plastic bag company. The factory is run by some smarmy characters named Wormulus and Dr. Hufflebot, a "destructive duo" bent on world domination. In this episode, titled the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" (which not a new concept to this blog's readers), Wormulus and Hufflebot are creating billions of plastic bags in order to create a floating empire called Baglandia.

Remember, this is aimed at little kids. The tone is that plastics are bad, and factories are run by evil people. The Web site urges kids to push for legislative bag bans -- they're told that's the only real solution to the problem.

Thanks to the Los Angeles Times' Daily Deal Travel blog, of all places, for alerting me to this cartoon.

The Discovery Channel's Web site has an interesting story today on how the city of Vandergrift, Pa., plans to use plastic strips to generate electricity thanks to the strong currents of the Kiskiminetas River.

Lisa Weiland, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, explains that Vandergrift is a steel town that is "reinventing itself and going for sustainability." The town hopes to generate between 20-40 percent of the city center's electricity using the technology.

Here's how the plastic strips will work:

That sustainable power will most likely come from a grid of undulating strips made of polyvinylidene fluoride or PVDF, a material that generates a slight electrical current when it is moved, in this case, by the currents and eddies in the Kiskiminetas River. Such materials are described as piezoelectric and the resulting electrical current would pass to small substations along the river's edge before charging a group of batteries. ...

The exact details about how dense the grid would be, how long the PVDF strips will be, or even when the grid would be laid down, are still being worked out. But whatever the final plans are, the researchers claim they will maintain the health and appearance of the Kiski, which is used for fishing, canoe trips and other recreational activities.

Sounds like an interesting technology that, no doubt, could easily be duplicated elsewhere. It will be interesting to see if the project is really cost effective, which would make it truly sustainable.