PN combines its final August issues
AKRON, OHIO — This is a combined issue of Plastics News for Aug. 24 and 31. The next regular issue will be Sept. 7, and will feature the annual special report on plastics industry executive compensation.
Plastics News, based in Akron, will update its Web site regularly during the break, so readers should check PlasticsNews.com for the latest news every day.
New leadership spurs FDA review of BPA
WASHINGTON — The change in leadership at the Food and Drug Administration has prompted a review of whether the agency should support a ban on the use of bisphenol A in food packaging — in particular, baby bottles.
An FDA spokesman said Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, who moved into the top slot three months ago, will make a decision by Nov. 30 on how to proceed after receiving a draft report and recommendations from the agency's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
The six major baby bottle manufacturers in the U.S earlier this year agreed not to use BPA in polycarbonate baby bottles, making BPA bans largely symbolic for plastic bottles. But an FDA decision could have a huge impact on manufacturers of canned foods that use containers lined with BPA.
The willingness to look at additional scientific data is a 180-degree shift from eight months ago, when FDA reiterated its long-held stance that there was not enough data to support a ban on BPA in food packaging.
Fiberdome expanding, seeking workers
LAKE MILLS, WIS. — Fiberglass molder Fiberdome Inc. is expanding and looking for up to 60 experienced workers.
The Lake Mills-based company has been trying to recruit workers from other states such as Indiana, which has seen its manufacturing levels decrease because of a slowing recreational vehicle industry, said co-owner Steve Bendall in an Aug. 18 telephone interview. So far, though, the company has not found as many workers as it needs, he said.
Fiberdome currently has 140 employees producing composites using a variety of molding techniques including hand layup, open spray, resin transfer molding and vacuum forming.
Its expansion includes building an additional 45,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space in Lake Mills and buying new equipment, Bendall said.
Fiberdome makes a range of products, from its own proprietary hunting boats to bulk storage tanks, agricultural parts and components for military vehicles used in Afghanistan.
Beach Mold & Tool closing Mexico site
NEW ALBANY, IND. — Beach Mold & Tool Inc. will close one of its two injection molding facilities in Mexico to match its production to reduced output by its customers.
Beach, based in New Albany, will close its Reynosa, Mexico, plant and shift production to a sister plant in Querétaro, Mexico. Both plants produce automotive, consumer and electronics parts, although the Reynosa site has a greater emphasis on consumer products, said company spokesman Dale Yost.
The closer is needed to “offset the impact of lower sales volume … due to the global economic downturn,” the company said in a news release.
Calif. shelves bill banning PVC containers
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — An attempt to ban single-use PVC packaging containers in California has failed for a second straight year.
The much-amended bill, introduced by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, was moved to the inactive file Aug. 20, meaning there will no further action this year, but that the bill can be reconsidered in 2010.
The ban would have gone into effect July 1, 2014, for food and beverage containers and consumer goods packaging, with the exception of medical device packaging, petroleum-based products, pharmaceuticals, and containers used solely for transportation or to transport and protect building materials.
The proposal was passed in June by a 42-32 vote in the California Assembly and was approved in July by a 5-2 vote in the state Senate Environmental Quality Committee.
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