Kickstart: Let's hear it for leftovers

Leftovers are a lunch staple. Now Tupperware Brands Corp.'s product portfolio of containers has an increased focus on recycled resins, which is just another way of reusing what you already have, isn't it?

The Eco+ line includes Lunch-It containers and Sandwich Keepers-brand products along with clear items using Eastman Chemical Co.'s Tritan Renew resins.

The Orlando, Fla.-based consumer product company first rolled out the Eco+ brand in 2019 and says it has reduced 100 tons of CO2 emissions by diverting waste that would have gone to landfills.

Adding the Tritan Renew products allows Tupperware to use recycled material in transparent designs, Bill Wright, Tupperware Brands executive vice president for product innovation, said in a news release.

"I know together, we'll work to reshape what is possible in regard to recycled material," Wright said.

South Korean automotive battery supplier SK Innovation's massive plant under construction in Georgia is in the middle of an international trade dispute that could be causing headaches for President Joe Biden's administration.

SK and fellow South Korean battery maker LG Chem have been battling in court over trade secrets related to their products. The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in February in favor of LG Chem, which would block SK from importing some components for batteries.

But SK isn't just a small operation. It broke ground on a plant in Commerce, Ga., in 2019, then announced a $1.67 billion expansion to that project in 2020.

The site would have capacity to make batteries for 310,000 electric vehicles, and as a story in Politico points out, the Biden administration's big plan for investment in EVs will rely on those batteries to make electric cars in the U.S.

"Federal law allows the president and the U.S. trade representative to overrule an ITC decision within 60 days — April 11 in the battery case," Gavin Bade writes. "Overturning the ITC decision would allow SK to finish its factory, letting the president brag about saving thousands of jobs in a swing state that he won by less than 12,000 votes and that later elected two Democrats to the Senate, giving the party a razor-thin majority.

"But throwing out the ruling would also undermine intellectual property laws that the U.S. fights to uphold worldwide ... sending the message that saving American jobs justifies breaking the rules."

Colorado lawmakers may not have decided yet whether to move forward with a ban on plastic shopping bags statewide, but voters in one town are enacting one on their own.

During an April 6 election, 59 percent of Fort Collins voters backed a measure to ban plastic bags from checkouts at large grocery stores, along with a 12-cent fee per paper bag. The fee for paper bags will not apply to purchases made using government assistance funds such as SNAP cards.

The ban will go into place in May 2022.

Fort Collins has set itself a goal of being zero waste by 2030 and has been eyeing proposals to limit single-use bags for a few years. It is the 17th Colorado community with a bag ban.