Kickstart: Awards for rapid responders

In this awards season to honor work in 2020, we've had the Golden Globes and the Grammys already, while the race for the Oscars has been narrowed down.

And of course Plastics News' Processor of the Year and Excellence Award winners were announced last week, along with the Best Places to Work.

Now it's time to name the Wisconsin Manufacturers of the Year, a group that includes plastics processors and suppliers.

For its list of winners, organizers changed from its regular selection of picking a few winners and instead chose to honor "a large group of manufacturers who truly stepped up in response to the COVID-19 pandemic."

Representing the plastics industry: machinery supplier CMD Corp. of Appleton ran personal protective equipment parts on its 3D printers and adapted machinery to adapt film lines for PPE gowns; injection molder Nicolet Plastics LLC of Mountain worked around the clock to produce 1.6 million pieces of PPE; tubing maker Teel Plastics of Baraboo adjusted production to ramp up manufacturing of test swabs; and flexible plastics maker Vonco Products LLC of Trevor put in overtime around the clock to make PPE gowns and help restock the national supply.

The demand for disinfectant wipes isn't slowing down, so Berry Global Group Inc. is trying to make a more sustainable wipe.

The Evansville, Ind.-based company announced March 23 that it would invest $110 million in nonwoven wipes with biodegradable content.

The capacity boost will target the European wet wipes segment for home cleaning and disinfecting, the company said.

"Prior to the demand surge of 2020, the European impregnated wet wipes segment ... was growing at the rate of 5 percent in the 2014 to 2019 time frame," the company said. "COVID-19 has increased heightened focus on sanitation and personal hygiene for infection prevention, suggesting permanent consumer trends away from the chore of cleaning to a health and safety priority."

Berry will build on its existing Spinlace platform, increasing capacity in Europe by more than 300 million square meters.

Virginia is out to ban single-use plastics, at least in its own state operations.

Gov. Ralph Northam signed an executive order March 23 that he says will see state offices "lead by example and transition away from single-use disposable plastics to create a cleaner, more sustainable future for all Virginians."

The order requires all executive branch state agencies — including state colleges — to "discontinue buying, selling or distributing items such as disposable plastic bags, single-use plastic and polystyrene food service containers, plastic straws and cutlery and single-use plastic water bottles within 120 days."

There are exceptions for medical, public health and public safety uses.

Previously, Virginia legislators had agreed to a "great polystyrene compromise" that would eliminate the use of expanded PS takeout food containers in exchange for providing a clearer path for chemical recycling.