Kickstart: Shedding plastics

Plastic pellet spills are continuing to rack up attention from environmental groups and politicians.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin joined officials from Chicago's Shedd Aquarium and the Alliance for the Great Lakes to announce an introduction of the Plastic Pellet Free Waters Act, which would "require the U.S. [Environmental Protection Agency] to prohibit the discharge of plastic pellets and other pre-production plastic into waterways from facilities and sources that make, use, package or transport pellets."

In a news release, the Democrat said the act will be the first of many steps focused on plastic pollution in the Great Lakes and surrounding communities.

Durbin's office said 42 of 66 Great Lakes beaches surveyed in a study have pellet pollution.

The aquarium also has an ongoing initiative with Chicago restaurants, called Let's Shedd Plastic, to help them reduce the amount of single-use plastics in foodservice applications.

Sustainability may be a big movement in plastics, but Wall Street short-selling companies are continuing to put publicly traded companies focused on sustainability in their crosshairs.

PureCycle Technologies LLC is the latest company to face a negative report. As Steve Toloken writes, Hindenburg Research issued a report May 6 calling into question the Florida-based company's financial outlook. PureCycle followed that with its own statement saying that it has a sound fiscal base and noting that Hindenberg benefits if share prices decline.

Hindenberg previously has taken aim at recycler Loop Industries Inc. while Italian bioplastics company Bio-On SpA was forced into bankruptcy after a negative report from Quintessential Capital Management.

The reasons for the negative reports vary. There's the basic belief that the stock is overpriced (though plenty of other companies — cough, Tesla, cough — are also seen as overpriced) and complicated fiscal maneuvers that are raising a collective eyebrow.

Check out Steve's report on the specifics of the PureCycle story. We'll also be following up to see what happens next.

Plastics now has its own museum, in Spain. But unlike most plastics, it's not designed to last.

"Museo del Plástico," now in place in front of Spain's National Museum in Madrid, was created using only plastics and will be open only for 10 days. On May 17 — World Recycling Day — it will be dismantled and recycled.

Packaging company Paccor is a sponsor. Plastics platform EsPlásticos launched the museum to provide information about recycling, marine litter, climate change, safety and the circular economy.

"Thanks to initiatives such as EsPlástico, different agents in the sector join forces to reach a future of increasingly sustainable plastic. Given the constant and prejudiced attacks that the plastic industry has been facing lately, EsPlásticos is now launching an original campaign that showcases the amazing properties of plastics, including its recyclability, and Paccor is proud to be a part of it," Paccor CEO Andreas Schütte said in a news release.