Kickstart: More rough roads to do business in the auto industry

The auto industry can be very tough to its suppliers.

While the sheer quantity of plastics used in cars can seem attractive, the terms and conditions of doing business in the industry is tough. Suppliers need to bid for work years ahead of when a car goes into production and typically need to lay out money in advance for equipment and materials. A standard business practice in the auto industry is that money doesn't go to the supplier until a vehicle is actually in production.

Now our sister paper Automotive News reports that Stellantis, the company that owns Chrysler and Jeep brands, has a new contract in place that requires suppliers to pass along any savings they may find through better materials contracts or improved production. But the automaker won't reciprocate with extra funds if prices rise — such as the spike in polypropylene resin prices in 2021.

"They expect their suppliers to absorb those hits," Nicholas Ellis of the Detroit law firm Foley & Lardner LLP told AN. "That's the source of a lot of friction in the supply chain these days. Given the inflationary environment we're in ... and rather than trying to accommodate that, Stellantis essentially has kind of run in the opposite direction and doubled down on this idea that all of the risk of any cost increases remains on you."

You can check out Vince Bond's story on the Plastics News website here. It may give you second thoughts about whether you want your company to get involved in the auto industry, or if you're already an auto supplier, it may make you rethink your customer base.

I know I'm lucky to have a robust curbside recycling system available to me. Half of the U.S. population lacks any kind of curbside program, according to The Recycling Partnership, but I picture those sites lacking pickup as being in more rural areas, not residents in a major city that is at the center of the 17th most populous district in the U.S.

But soon, the 370,000 residents of Cleveland may have curbside recycling available to them once again.

Peter Krouse of Cleveland.com writes that the city is targeting a resumption of curbside recycling by April after ending the program in 2020.

Residents will have to opt in to the program — 27,000 households out of roughly 150,000 have signed up so far — although they won't have to pay extra for the service. The specifics of what will be accepted in recycling bins will depend on what company is picked as Cleveland's provider.

Can a new ad campaign ramp up interest in the coffee brand Folgers and its iconic plastic packaging?

Our sister paper Ad Age has a story on a new commercial for the 172-year-old Folger Coffee Co. that switches out the "Best Part of Waking Up" jingle in favor of Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" as a shopper swipes multiple Folgers containers into a shopping cart.

The ad attempts to make consumers think again about the New Orleans-roasted coffee, Erica Roberts, chief creative officer of ad company Publicis NY, told AA. That includes the 35 million consumers who don't ... well, who don't care about what people think of what they drink, but Roberts uses a bit more salty language in referring to Folgers' buyers.