At the National Plastics Center & Museum, we read with interest the July 15 Plastics News editorial about the proposed plastics exhibit at Disney's Epcot Center. We agree the project represents a great opportunity for our industry to generate understanding and appreciation for plastics.
For many years, part of our mission at the NPCM has been to provide this kind of outreach. Thus we could bring valuable expertise to an Epcot project. In turn, by stimulating more awareness of the vast importance of plastics in modern life, the Epcot project would generate greater industry and public interest in all plastics educational and outreach programs, including our own. That is why I am delighted to participate in SPI's Epcot Steering Committee.
An Epcot plastics exhibit would benefit the NPCM even more directly if, as your editorial suggests, its key elements found a permanent home at NPCM after the exhibit runs its course.
There is one point in your editorial with which I disagree: that “there is only so much cash to go around” in support of plastics outreach. Fund raising for programs like ours is not a zero-sum game, in which a dollar going to another institution is a dollar less for the NPCM. Clearly, many of the roles we play for the industry are beyond the scope of a theme park exhibit. Our contributors, who often display a deep commitment to the NPCM recognize this, and we are confident that potential new contributors will as well.
David P. Hahn
National Plastics Center
& Museum
Leominster, Mass.