Kickstart: Heading back to the office ... sometime

The last couple of days on social media, I've seen comments from people about when they realized that COVID-19 would mean a very big change in how we live. For me it was a one-week period at the start of March 2020 when my social group went from running with 40-50 people to support a local store on a Sunday to a local 5K race being canceled on that Saturday.

The Plastics News staff hasn't been back to the office full time since March 13.

But after a year of Zoom and Teams virtual meetings, some businesses are beginning to consider a return to the office. Our sister paper Crain's Detroit Business — normally located right next to PN at the corporate headquarters in Detroit — writes that business groups are pushing the state of Michigan to reconsider rules related to office work.

"With spring quickly approaching and COVID vaccination rates rising, talk of returning to the office is now becoming a daily conversation, particularly among Detroit's larger employers," CDB writes.

But while some businesses push for offices to reopen, many event organizers are continuing to shuffle their plans. The JEC composites show in France had already been pushed from March 2021 to June. Now it has been canceled for 2021 with a new date in March 2022.

One of the first big trade shows hit by the pandemic in 2020 was the housewares show in Chicago. The event typically packs McCormick Place each year in March with introductions of new kitchen gadgets, cleaning products and even demonstrations by celebrity chefs.

It is also a place for suppliers, like Tritan maker Eastman Chemical Co., to meet up with key customers.

For 2021, the International Housewares Association tried to hedge its bets by having the show in August. But with no certainty on when Chicago's bans on large group gatherings will be lifted, the group has canceled the show for the year, our sister paper Crain's Chicago Business writes.

"Over the last year, we have been closely watching the status of large events from a health and public safety perspective, and have consistently sought feedback from our industry about how travel restrictions and mass gathering bans have impacted their normal operations," IHA President Derek Miller said in a statement. "With the health and safety of our exhibitors and attendees top of mind, we realized that it is infeasible for [the show] to proceed in August of 2021."

Aquariums want stricter guidance from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association when it comes to fishing gear such as nylon and polypropylene nets and rope.

A new NOAA rule aims to limit risk of entanglement from fishing gear for right whales by 60 percent, but the New England Aquariaum says the amendment to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan doesn't go far enough.

The rule should aim for an 80 percent improvement in entanglement risks, the aquarium says, while NOAA should do more to support the use of "ropeless" fishing gear to support whales while still allowing for fishing in the North Atlantic, in addition to other measures.

"We cannot emphasize enough that bold and quick action is required if we are to save North Atlantic right whales from extinction," the aquarium wrote. "This is a problem we can solve, and the Aquarium looks forward to working in collaboration with the fishing industry, conservationists, scientists, and government agencies to be a part of the solution."