Kickstart: Purell keeps growing

The year of Purell is still happening.

Gojo Industries, the family-owned company that dominates the hand sanitizer gel business, just rented 700,000 square feet at the mostly empty I-X Center in Cleveland to stockpile inventory, according to our sister paper Crain's Cleveland Business.

Akron, Ohio-based Gojo hasn't said exactly what it will store at the site, but noted it has produced and shipped 300 percent more Purell in 2020 than it did in 2019. It previously purchased an extra 2 million square feet for manufacturing and doubled the number of its plants in North America.

And as packaging suppliers have noted, demand for sanitizer containers and dispensers has soared in 2020.

A lot of us have probably seen the unsettling video of marine researchers pulling a straw from a sea turtle's nose. It became an iconic image and increased awareness about plastics in the oceans.

Now one environmental organization is out with a report trying to document the broader impact on wildlife in U.S. waters.

The Washington-based group Oceana says its report found records of 1,800 marine mammals or sea turtles getting entangled in or eating plastic since 2009. Almost 90 percent of them were from endangered or threatened species.

The report, which said those 1,800 incidents are likely a significant undercount, said the most commonly ingested items are bags, balloons, recreational fishing line, plastic sheeting and food wrappers.

As you might expect, given how both animals and plastics in the environment can capture public attention, the report got a lot of media coverage.

A New York Times story, as one example, takes a detailed look at the conclusions but also quotes a university marine scientist saying that researchers in general need to do more to measure the harm from plastic against other potentially bigger problems for marine life.

During discussions for Plastics News' Women Breaking the Mold networking forum Nov. 17-19, I had a chance to talk to a lot of interesting women (and a few men) about their careers in the industry.

Along with advice about seeking out mentors, how to implement diversity in the workforce and progress in the plastics field, there was a lot of discussion about how to advance in your career. You can still access the archived event, and see a video highlighting the class of 2020 Women Breaking the Mold here.

Part of the work in advancement, noted Karen Reid, president and founder of Kaber Communications, is getting out of your comfort zone and speaking up for yourself and your accomplishments.

Making yourself stand out isn't always easy, especially when you're new in your career, but there are opportunities.

Which brings me to this: PN has opened the process to nominate individuals for the annual Rising Stars recognition.

This will mark the eighth year in a row that we're featuring talented young people — ages 35 and under — on the path to becoming plastics industry leaders, or who are already there.

Go to plasticsnews.com/risingstars for more information.