Kickstart: Starting the year off with a ban

The start of 2022 kicked off a range of new bans and regulations related to plastics.

The state of New York's new ban on expanded polystyrene for "single-use foam food and beverage containers and polystyrene loose fill packaging materials, commonly known as packing peanuts" began on Jan. 1.

In Virginia, cities and counties can begin imposing a 5-cent fee for "each disposable plastic bag provided to shoppers in local grocery stores, convenience stores and pharmacies." The fee is an option that must be approved by local community leaders. So far, the cities of Alexandria, Fredericksburg and Roanoke and the counties of Arlington and Fairfax have begun charging the fee.

But in Hawaii, the mayor of Maui County — which includes the islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai — announced Dec. 29 the government would suspend a pending ban on plastic disposable foodservice items until March 1.

"I want to support businesses that face enormous challenges in this ongoing pandemic," Mayor Michael Victorino said. "COVID-related supply chain disruptions have caused severe shortages of supplies and delays in shipping. I have provided this grace period to help businesses survive, while I remain in full support of this ordinance to replace plastic foodware with compostable alternatives."

If you set one of your resolutions around getting more fit, you're not alone. Some 90 percent of people who make New Year's resolutions named improving their fitness as a goal, according to a 2021 survey. (The survey was sponsored by gym chain Planet Fitness, so those numbers may be a bit skewed.)

But if you have targeted better fitness and dropped into your local running shoe store to equip your feet, you may find yourself a bit overwhelmed. There are so many variations of styles, brands and price points in shoes it may be tempting to just go home and put your feet up instead.

Athletic shoes have been going through a technical revolution, which is one reason so many track athletes have been setting world records recently. There are carbon-fiber plates to improve performance and 3D printed foot beds to improve comfort.

Simon Robinson, the editor of our sister paper Urethanes Technology International, recently talked with shoe industry leaders and materials suppliers about new technology for everything from production to end-of-life recycling. You can find his story here. Maybe after reading it you'll feel a little more confident in your future shoe shopping, or at least be familiar with the materials on offer.

Between the crunch of completing tasks before the end of 2021 and keeping up with everything complicating business travel this year, you may have overlooked one or two things.

If one of those tasks on your to-do list was nominating someone (or nominating yourself) for the Plastics News Rising Stars class of 2022, you have less than two weeks to follow through before the Jan. 17 deadline.

Rising Stars must be 35 years of age or younger. This will be the ninth year PN has profiled the executives, engineers and sustainability leaders of the future.

You can find the nomination form at plasticsnews.com/risingstars and find stories about the 2021 class at plasticsnews.com/topic/rising-stars.