Kickstart: No 'secret agenda' or 'looney-left'?

In case you missed it, Assistant Managing Editor Steve Toloken wrote about a new attorney hired by the Environmental Protection Agency. Jennie Romer had worked with the Surfrider environmental group and has been heavily involved in creating legislation aimed at banning plastic bags.

With EPA, she will be a deputy assistant administrator in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.

Steve also mentions in passing that Romer isn't alone in moving from environmental activism to a position involving public policy. Canada's new environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, is a former Greenpeace activist who was arrested in 2001 after scaling Toronto's CN Tower to raise awareness of climate change and in 2002 was involved in a Greenpeace stunt that involved climbing onto the roof of then-Alberta premier Ralph Klein's house to install solar panels, the CBC wrote.

Guilbeault said he doesn't have "a secret agenda" but will focus on "what many consider one of humanity's greatest challenges, which is climate change," the Canadian broadcaster wrote.

Leaders from regions with strong oil production raised concerns about his appointment, with one member of Parliament calling him a "looney-left environmental minister."

Plastic Oceans International, a U.S.-based nonprofit group that focuses on marine plastics pollution, is getting a boost this year as it backs a documentary film about a world's first swim expedition.

Against the Current debuted at the Washington West Film Festival on Oct. 22. It tells the story of Sarah Ferguson, a woman from South Africa, attempting to become the first person to swim around Easter Island, a 40-mile journey expected to take more than 30 hours to complete.

"It's not just the story of Sarah's amazing feat, but also one of a global team coming together for a collective cause [of plastic pollution]," said Tod Hardin, the film's director and chief operating officer of Plastic Oceans International. "Being part of the festival's Beyond The Limits double feature could not be more appropriate."

Against the Current is the first of three documentaries from Plastic Oceans aimed at raising awareness of water pollution. The Erie Situation will address agricultural runoff in Lake Erie, while Cutting the Line will focus on how abandoned fishing equipment injures and kills seals.

A Minnesota plastic film maker is putting its compostable bags to use in its own operations, adding organics recycling to disposal options throughout its building.

Cortec Corp. of Cambridge, Minn., says its Eco Film bags are certified as compostable in an industrial setting, our sister paper Sustainable Plastics writes. With the help of a grant from Ramsey County to get the program organized, Cortec now has located composting bins right next to recycling and trash bins.

Materials from apple cores to compostable eating utensils can go into the bags, which are then taken to a commercial, industrial composting site.

Cortec Senior Environmental Specialist Corey Cremers spearheaded the project, along with other environmental initiatives.

"Instead of sending waste materials to landfills, we can migrate the waste to a beneficial resource like compost, which can be used by the local community. It is cool to see all facets of employees from the office to the production floor participating in the program and adding value to our environmental management system," he said.