Your top stories of 2011

Care to guess the topic of the most-read story on PlasticsNews.com in 2011? Was it about resin pricing? A major industry acquisition? A hot trend like sustainability? Take a guess -- I'll give the answer later in this column. But first, let's look at the biggest Plastics News stories from the second half of 2011, measured by web traffic. Again, these are only the stories posted after July 1. Let's look at the top 25:

1. Braskem buying Dow's PP business Brazilian plastics giant Braskem SA made another big move in the polypropylene market in 2011, this time acquiring the PP business of Dow Chemical Co. for $323 million.
2. Prices fall for PP, PE, PVC, PS and ABS This story from early November reported that commodity resin prices were tumbling, with polypropylene experiencing the steepest drop -- a 14-cent dive since Oct. 1.
3. Neil Kruschke Jr., former Stopol owner and CEO, dies in chainsaw accident PN was the first to report the sad news that Neil Kruschke Jr., former owner and CEO of plastics equipment dealer Stopol Inc. and its auction business, Stopol Auctions LLC, had died in a tragic accident on Aug. 26 at age 44.
4. Prices fall for polyethylene, polypropylene and PET resins Another resin pricing story -- this time it was polyethylene, polypropylene and PET bottle resin that were taking a tumble.
5. Sabic's Charlie Crew retiring, DuPont's Keith Smith on board In the afternoon of Nov. 23, just before the Thanksgiving holiday, Sabic Innovative Plastics announced that long-time executive Charlie Crew would retire on Jan. 1, and that he would be replaced by Keith J. Smith, most recently DuPont Co.'s vice president for sourcing and logistics.
6. Polypropylene resin prices dive, trailed by less-volatile polyethylene Another resin pricing story? Yep. This one was from late October, reporting that PP prices had plummeted an average of 14 cents per pound since Oct. 1, while PE prices had fallen 3 cents. Notice a trend?
7. Fortis Plastics announces shutdown One of the three stories in our top 25 on problems at a major Indiana-based custom molder.
8. Former PolyOne sales rep sentenced for embezzling Worker falls for the phony inheritance scam, steals company funds, ends up in prison.
9. Rubbermaid Home Products closing Greenville, Texas, molding plant Molding plant with 490 workers will close by the middle of 2012.
10. ConAgra chief talks sustainability A Q&A interview with Robert Weick, vice president of packaging and sustainability at ConAgra Foods Inc.
11. PET thin film shortage over; glut's now the potential problem The biaxially oriented PET thin film shortage of 2010 has turned into the glut of 2011 -- thanks in part to 29 judges in New Delhi and a concoction called gutka.
12. ConocoPhillips splitting in two, fate of plastics operations undecided In July, ConocoPhillips Co. announced it was splitting itself into two independent companies -- but the fate of its plastics joint venture was not clear.
13. China's new regulation shakes up plastic recycling industry In November we reported that plastics scrap imports through China's Guangzhou customs fell by more than 80 percent in the past two months, as the local customs stepped up enforcement of a new regulation on solid waste imports.
14. Markets shift, struggles persist Resin supply and demand is in the spotlight again -- this time it's our annual report on the outlook for commodity materials.
15. Kraft pushes innovation, sustainability How does Perfecto Perales, senior director of packaging research for Kraft Foods Inc., feel about the sustainability of plastics packaging? Not surprisingly, a lot of you wanted to know.
16. Fortis closing Fort Smith, Ark., plant This was our first story that hinted at problems at Fortis Plastics LLC. Within a matter of weeks, most of the company had shut down.
17. Bemis Co. to close 3 film plants Big news from one of the largest plastics processors in the world.
18. Sonoco buys Tegrant for $550 million A major acquisition that makes Sonoco a much bigger and more diverse player in plastics packaging.
19. Dow ramping up molding of solar shingles We've been writing about Dow Chemical Co.'s foray into solar shingles since 2008. Quite a few Plastics News readers are paying close attention.
20. Berry Plastics closing Henrico, Va., plant Berry announced plans to close a former Captive Plastics plant.
21. Phillips Sumika closing Texas PP plant As polypropylene prices fell in the second half of 2011, this supplier reacted to the news by shutting down capacity.
22. Prolamina's 3rd plant ready to roll The packaging industry is keeping a close eye on Harold Bevis' new company, Prolamina Inc.
23. Fortis Plastics to auction off equipment The New Year will bring a giant auction -- more than 130 injection presses and 20 extruders -- from four closed-down plants of Fortis Plastics LLC.
24. Flooding in Thailand does major damage to local plastics processors Steve Toloken, our Asia bureau chief, reported that flooding in Thailand was causing signficant damage to the country's injection molders.

I hope you enjoyed the list. Now, about that top story from 2011 -- how many of you guessed that it was a major packaging sector scoop? We posted the story on our website in April: Coke joint venture shuts down food-grade PET recycling plant (This link takes you to the story as it appeared in our April 25 print edition). Our coverage of the problems at the Coke joint venture recycling plant in Spartanburg, S.C., generated big reader traffic in the first half of this year.