Kickstart: A change at the top

This week's issue of Plastics News has our latest ranking of the 100 biggest injection molders in North America. Molders outside the Top 100 will show up in the June 29 issue.

Each year, this is one of our most anticipated rankings — and one of our most anticipated issues. And for the 20 years I've worked with Plastics News, with the exception of the Great Recession, auto suppliers have dominated at the very top of the ranking. Not in 2020.

This year, Berry Global Group comes out at No. 1, based on our estimates. As our research coordinater notes in a blog that will be posted on plasticsnews.com later today, that's due to both a combination of acquisitions, divestments and an auto industry that had started to cool slightly in 2019.

If you can't wait for your print issue of PN to arrive in the mail, you can download a digital copy to see how the rest of the Top 100 turned out.

For a few weeks as communities began battling the coronavirus pandemic, single-use plastics regained some luster as a safer option to reusable items.

Plastics companies gained acclaim for converting production to needed medical equipment and, for workers at two Braskem plants, volunteering to stay at the plant around-the-clock to ensure production would continue for needed materials.

But don't kid yourself into thinking that the sustainability fight involving plastics would simply disappear. Some bans on plastics are resuming. Vermont launches its bag ban on July 1.

And in California, state legislators are opening a multiyear study into microplastics in the water, which likely will be used in future health guidelines. Steve Toloken has more.

And speaking of bags, I bring you a scene from the grocery store this week, where three women (including me) are attempting to open one of those thin film produce bags.

It may not be the most hygenic thing, but in the old days, I'd moisten a finger to separate the layers and open the bag. With masks required in stores in Michigan, however, a new tactic is required.

So there I am, pulling and stretching at the top of the bag to try and open it. A few feet away from me, another women is trying to separate them by starting in the middle. Finally a third woman walks by and offers that she moistened her finger on the ice for a display of fresh asparagus to open hers.

So, that's the state of the world today. Three grown women trying to figure out how to open a bag. Which begs the question: Any of you film experts have any tips? If you do, have mercy on us and please share.