Kickstart: More storms on the Gulf Coast

This has been a long year for everyone, and it's not over yet. That lesson will especially hold true for residents of the Gulf Coast, where yet another storm system is expected to make landfall this week.

Tropical Storm Zeta is expected to be at hurricane strength when it arrives somewhere on the coast between Louisiana and the Florida panhandle, potentially early Thursday, Oct. 29. The forecast from the National Weather Service shows Zeta likely will land east of communities — such as Lake Charles, La. — affected by Hurricane Laura in August and Hurricane Delta earlier this month. The region is home to several chemical and plastics production sites. Power outages linked to the storms have hampered a return to full operations for some companies.

In case you're wondering, if there's another storm after Zeta? It will be named Eta. So far, 2020's storms still haven't surpassed those in 2005, which also included the deadly Katrina, Rita and Wilma. That year, there were 27 named storms, the same number of named storms as 2020, but in 2005, 15 of those storms reached hurricane status. So far, 2020 is at 10 hurricanes.

Steve Toloken has a story from this week's Rapid Responders coverage that marry two big plastics stories: the industry's response to the pandemic by shifting to produce personal protective equipment and Industry 4.0.

Eaton Corp., an Ohio company more known in automotive and energy supply, is looking at ways to incorporate digital sensors in PPE. It began making PPE this year along with other Ohio companies in a cooperative project.

The sensors it wants to include in future PPE could regularly monitor temperatures, to provide warnings if someone may be showing symptoms of COVID-19.

Trackers built into masks or shields could also alert you if you're too close to another person for too long, or if you were in the same area as someone who tested positive for COVID, to speed up contract tracing.

"Intelligent PPE" is just a concept for now, but if testing goes well, we may see it as options for wider use soon.

Nevada bottled water company Aquene Springs and Liquibox, a Richmond, Va., supplier of bag-in-box packaging, are joining forces to deliver water to areas of the Navajo Nation suffering from a combination of the coronavirus and a lack of running water.

Navajo communities in the Southwest have been a coronavirus hot spot since early in the year, and for homes without running water, it is hard to wash your hands to help stop the spread of the virus.

To help out, Liquibox and Aquene Springs donated 5,000 bag-in-box packages of Emergency Source Water to be delivered in October. In addition, Transplace, the transportation supplier, has provided $1,000 worth of donated freight.

Each box has 5 gallons of water in flexible bags with Liquibox's Liqui-Sure dispensing taps.