Kickstart: California making a big push for EVs

Maybe this will tip the scale toward electric vehicles in the U.S., with California planning to eliminate the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will act by having the California Air Resources Board develop regulations to mandate 100 percent of in-state sales of new cars and trucks to be zero emission in 15 years.

Granted, a lot can change by 2035, so whether this actually happens is far from certain. But it comes in a week when automaker Tesla claimed it will be able to sell a new electric vehicle for $25,000 within three years and Volkswagen said its ID4 EV will begin selling in the U.S. later this year with an optional lease of $379 per month and a 250-mile range.

On the battery side, while Tesla's Elon Musk backed away from speculation that he would make a big announcement on a new battery technology during an event this week, consultants with IHS Markit said on Sept. 23 that lithium-ion battery technology is advancing rapidly and that it will drop below the $100-per-kilowatt-hour milestone by 2023.

That will help in lowering the cost to buy EVs.

The average cost per battery has already dropped more than 80 percent since 2010, according to Sam Wilkinson, associate director of clean energy technology, IHS Markit.

So while California's plans to go internal combustion engine free by 2035 may sound like a dream, I wouldn't bet against it yet.

With autumn officially here, it's time to break out something warm and comforting (and I don't mean that monstrous "pumpkin spice" macaroni and cheese that one food company is introducing). We're talking about tea.

And for lovers of tea, flexible packaging supplier ProAmpac is making it possible to also sip some with a more sustainable background.

The Cincinnati-based company's ProActive Compostable package for The Metropolitan Tea Co., a New York-based wholesale tea supplier, uses film that is both home and industrial compostable while also retaining the barrier properties needed to preserve a fresh product.

It can also be printed with up to 10 colors, ProAmpac said in a news release.

"We passionately challenged ProAmpac with our vision for a tea bag pouch made with 100 percent home and industrial compostable material. In a remarkably short period of time, ProAmpac delivered, or as we like to say, 'We pushed the envelope, and ProAmpac sealed it!'" said Gerry Vandergrift, founder of Metropolitan Tea.

In other news that will likely trickle down to impact packaging suppliers for Mars Inc., Uncle Ben's rice is changing its name and image.

Instead, the product will be called "Ben's Original."

The update to the brand is part of a trend by major food companies — including Mars and PepsiCo Inc.'s Aunt Jemima pancake syrup and mix — that are being reconsidered by companies finally moving away from racial stereotypes.

Mars is also "working with the National Urban League on a scholarship fund for aspiring Black chefs, as well as investing in the community of Greenville, Mississippi, where Uncle Ben's products have been produced for more than 40 years," according to our sister paper Advertising Age.

What kind of changes will this mean for the packaging? That's not quite clear yet. While the company said it wants to "create more equitable iconography," it did not release a new image along with the name "Ben's Original," which will begin appearing on packaging in 2021, AdAge said.