Today we're introducing a new feature on PlasticsNews.com that I expect will be very popular with our readers.
Or, more accurately, let's call it eight new features.
For the first time in a couple of years, my blog, The Plastics Blog, won't alone. We're introducing new blogs written by all of our staff reporters, and a few of the editors.
Most of the new blogs are live today, I encourage you to check them out and give feedback to the writers.
They include:
Heavy Metal, written by Bill Bregar, our senior reporter who covers plastics machinery. Bill is always quick to remind me that he's an original Plastics News staffer, he joined the newspaper in 1989, and I didn't come on board until two years later.
Bill will cover machinery news and more, with a special emphasis on one of his pet issues, encouraging young people to join and advance in the plastics industry.
Check it out … Bill's first post is pretty funny.
Pop goes Plastics, written by PN news editor Rhoda Miel. Rhoda loves pointing out plastic references in pop culture, and she's contributed some great posts and ideas to my blog the past few years. I'll miss having her contributions to myself, but I'm happy to share them directly with our readers.
This is going to go far beyond the cliché references to The Graduate … and don't get Rhoda started on those.
Just plan to check her page frequently, and enjoy her dry sense of humor.
Behind the Lens, written by Jeremy Carroll, our video editor and assistant managing editor. Jeremy has promised to include bonus footage from Plastics News' video reporting on his blog, which makes me nervous… I guess I'll have to watch those bloopers when we're filming Material Insights.
I expect Behind the Lens to have a lot of good bonus footage from our video interviews with key industry executives, good information that's too long to include in our PNN, Material Insights, What Keeps You Up At Night, Processor of the Year and Plastics Hall of Fame video projects.
The Other Side, written by Nina Ying Sun. This marks a return to PlasticsNews.com for Nina's blog — many of you will remember that we used to have her China Blog on PN's home page. A few years ago we moved that exclusively to our PlasticsNews China pages (in English and Chinese).
Now Nina returns her award-winning blogging to the mothership, with a rebranding. She liked the idea of looking at more than just China, but taking a look at high-growth areas for the global plastics industry, and the issues that companies face in those areas.
One Good Resin, written by Frank Esposito. Anyone who knows Frank — which, seriously, seems like at least half the plastics industry — will want to read his blog to see what he has to say about materials and pricing news.
Frank says he's going to keep an eye out for offbeat and unusual stories. His first post includes an extended scene from “The Devil Wears Prada,” and he ties in how plastics compounders forecast the latest in color trends.
It's a great start, and has me wanting to read more.
Reactions, written by Kerri Jansen. I used to read Kerri's blog posts when she was a new staffer at sister newspaper Waste & Recycling News, and I'm excited to see her blogging again, now for Plastics News.
Kerri is a fan of chemistry and science, and she promises to write about the science and scientists behind the news. She'll cover snippets from her many beats too — automotive, tooling, design, housewares and office furniture — and she's promising puns without apologies.
No. 7, written by Jim Johnson. Jim has some of my favorite beats at Plastics News, because they used to be my beats — packaging and recycling.
No. 7 refers to the SPI resin code for “other,” and that's exactly what he plans to write about: recycling, packaging, and anything else that catches his eye. Jim knows a ton about recycling, especially, and I expect his blog to be on the must-read list for people in that plastics industry sector.
From Pillar to Post, written by Catherine Kavanaugh. Cathy has been on the construction beat for Plastics News for nearly two years now, and she's already becoming an industry expert. That's what happens when you write for a weekly business newspaper, you get up to speed on the content quickly because you write so much about it.
Cathy's very enthusiastic about covering plastics and construction products. She's developed a lot of contacts and relationships in a relatively short period of time at PN, and she's eager to bring that energy to the blog, too.
View from Washington, written by Gayle Putrich. Gayle is our Washington-based staff reporter. She first joined PN in Washington in early 2013, but she's been covering D.C. for other publications for far longer.
It seems like every week Gayle comes up with a story or two that she thinks would be perfect for the blog format — something that's not necessarily a story, but that will interest all of the political junkies in our audience.
Brics and Plastics, written by Steve Toloken. Steve is our news editor — international, a new position we created earlier this year to match his unique talents and experience.
When I announced Steve's promotion to our staff in January, I told them “In addition to covering news in dozens of cities in China, Steve has also covered shows and events for PN in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, India, Thailand, Brazil, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Hungary, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Germany.
“Ask to see his passport. You'll be impressed.”
Now Steve will bring that experience, and high-quality, award-winning journalism, to the blog world. He'll cover plastics and emerging economies, and the issues and challenges that the plastics industry faces in regions with rapid growth.
I encourage you to check out all of the blogs frequently, and we'll make sure to push the latest posts to you in our daily emails.
Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]