Plastics News by the year: 2010

As Plastics News marks its 25th year of publication, we take a year-by-year look back at some of the events, people and curious coincidences that have shown up its its pages. Check back through the end of the year (not including holidays) to follow along. This year: 2010.

JANUARY

The specter of pending national health care reform is expected to have the longest living impact on the plastics industry.

Duncan Toys exhibits at the Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair and is surprised to find a competitor with versions of a yo-yo which it believes violates its patents.

Wham-O Inc. is tossing production of its iconic Frisbee back to the U.S., the molding set to resume in the U.S. by the end of the month. Hula Hoops are slated to be reshored to the U.S. by March.

FEBRUARY

The massive recall of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles for faulty accelerator pedals all focuses on a small plastic assembly that the company says can “stick” in pedals. Toyota has recalled 2.3 million vehicles so far to fix the problem.

JM Eagle has been hit with a whistleblower lawsuit claiming it made faulty PVC pipes. While the court ruled against the company since then, the case is still ongoing, with the California company seeking a new hearing.

MARCH

Coca-Cola Co.'s new PlantBottle will “define the future of sustainable packaging” for the global packaging industry, it says.

Canada will move to plastic currency in mid-2011 for enhanced security against counterfeiting and longer life than paper bills.

APRIL

Solo Cup Co. is out to expand its product line with the purchase of InnoWare Plastic Inc., which will add production of take-out containers. In 2012, Solo will be purchased by competitor Dart Container Co.

German automaker BMW AG announces it will make its future electric car in carbon fiber, and is investing in carbon fiber raw material production with a plant in Moses Lake, Wash.

MAY

The pink lawn flamingo is coming home to Massachusetts. Cado Products Inc., has purchased the intellectual property and 200 blow molds and injection molds developed by Union Products Inc.

Attendance at Chinaplas jumps 17.5 percent in a year, moving it up to the world's second largest plastics show behind the K show.

Mold maker Wayne Sikorcin of Craftsman Tool & Mold Co. has become a toymaker with the development of Tie-Not, which creates knots in water balloons with a few simple twists. The Tie-Not goes on to wider success via the TV show “Shark Tank” which draws in new investors and interest.

Dart Container Co. develops a recycling center in Corona, Calif., that can process 20,000 pounds of expanded polystyrene.

JUNE

Australian packaging firm Amcor Ltd. will become the largest blow molder in North America with the pending purchase of Ball Corp.'s Plastic Packaging Americas for $280 million.

JULY

Mattel Inc. picks Plastic Man as its exclusive action figure for Mattel Inc.'s San Diego's Comic-Con International. The figure is molded from PVC and comes with a variety of accessories. “Words and pictures cannot do justice to how fun of a figure this turned out to be,” says industry pro Daniel Pickett.

AUGUST

The death toll from an explosion at film extruder Nanjing Jinzhongda New Material Co. Ltd. in Nanjing, China, rises to 13 with another 46 employees injured.

As Volkswagen AG invests in more production in Mexico, it is also looking for more experienced toolmakers. The carmaker wants to source 90 percent of its tools from Mexico, up from 60 percent.

SEPTEMBER

The California legislature rejects a bag ban that would have banned the use of plastic bags starting in 2012. Ban supports vow to bring the measure back again. The ban finally passes in 2014.

OCTOBER

Radford University professor Michael G. Aamodt sets out to dispel the myth that police officers have a high divorce rate, but in the process finds that extruding machine operators represent the fifth most divorce-prone profession, with 32.74 percent of marriages ending in divorce. (Most divorced profession? Dancers and choreographers at 43.05 percent.)

The amount of post-consumer recycled PET jumped 44 percent in 2009 to 28 percent 

NOVEMBER

Plastics machinery sales have rebounded in 2010 and expected to continue to climb into 2011, with Euromap predicting a 10-15 percent improvement by the end of the year.

DECEMBER

Injection press sales to U.S. molders are riding a sharp turnaround, climbing 49 percent with 1,909 machines shipped for the year compared to 1,285 in 2008.