Kickstart: Cleaning beaches and a 'recyclability crisis'

The Ocean Conservancy has 35 years of data from its worldwide beach cleanups and the results aren't pretty.

About 70 percent of what teams of volunteers collect is not effectively recyclable, and about half of that is food and beverage packaging waste. It's a "recyclability crisis," the group said in a new report.

The OC's 36th International Coastal Cleanup kicked off Sept. 18 and continues through the rest of the year, with thousands of events that typically attract about a million volunteers. OC said records from the first 35 years of the cleanup constitute "the world's largest database on marine litter."

It points fingers at food-related waste, saying that items like straws, cutlery and takeout containers are more than 60 percent of what's collected.

A survey conducted this summer also shows that Americans have very inaccurate ideas about what food packaging can actually be recycled. One-third erroneously believed that expanded polystyrene could be recycled in curbside bins, and nearly six in 10 Americans incorrectly said the plastic-coated paper beverage containers could also be recycled.

Thanks to Assistant Managing Editor Steve Toloken for this item.
 

SK Innovation is spinning off its lithium-ion battery unit into a new company next month. The new firm, tentatively called SK Battery Co. Ltd., will open the first of two massive battery production sites in Georgia in early 2022, representing a more than $2.5 billion investment in the region.

As a stand-alone business, SK Battery will be able to seek more financing for its operations, Reuters reports. South Korea-based SK Battery America (SKBA) is building two plants in Commerce, Ga., to supply automakers including Hyundai and Ford. It is spending nearly $1.7 billion on the first plant and nearly $1 billion on the second.

SKBA began hiring employees this year for the first plant, set to open in early 2022. Construction on the neighboring plant will wrap up late next year.

It seems like only yesterday that I was writing about things that aren't necessary. Oh wait. It was. Well, here's another item to add to that list: Oreo-scented flip-flops.

Havaianas, the Brazilian flip-flop brand, is teaming up with Oreo maker Mondelez on a product mashup that includes a sandal with chocolate-scented straps, our sister paper Advertising Age writes.

The sole is printed to resemble the layers of the sandwich cookie. The collaboration also includes toe socks featuring the Oreo brand and earphone cases that resemble Oreos.

Havaianas sandals are made using an unspecified plastic, although the company notes that it has begun using plastic recovered from its manufacturing process to make new flip-flops.

The Oreo sandals go on sale in the U.S. and Canada this month and expand to Australia and the Philippines in November.