Kickstart: Sweet sustainability

Sometimes you need a reason to treat yourself to some chocolate. Like a reward for finishing a project, because you're reuniting with friends or because it's Friday. Or because the candymaker is using recycled content in its packaging. Sustainability is a good reason for snack, right?

British Columbia-based Chewters Chocolates Inc. and its packaging supplier, TC Transcontinental Packaging, talked about the complexities in improving the carbon footprint of its chocolate during Antec 2021.

Consumers want to see sustainability, Vice President of Sales Trent Thibert said during the online event sponsored by the Society of Plastics Engineers.

"We're pivoting in the marketplace and consumers are saying, 'Look, I'm tired of going to the beach and seeing this plastic, I'm tired of seeing this on the street and I'm tired of really not having a place for this stuff to go,'" said Thibert. "So you're seeing this incredible pushback."

The company considered compostable packaging but saw there would be issues with making it work at its normal production speed. It ended up landing on using recycled content. While there's a cost, Thibert said the company expects consumers will see greener packaging as a reason to buy Chewters products.

Now that Ford Motor Co. has 20,000 reservations booked for its F-150 Lightning electric truck, it's out to ensure it has battery production capacity lined up to support its growing range of electric vehicles.

Just hours after unveiling the Lightning, Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford announced it has a new joint venture to make battery cells and array modules in the U.S. with SK Innovation, the South Korean company that already has two lithium-ion battery plants under construction in Georgia.

BlueOvalSK will produce 60 gigawatt hours of cells and array modules starting in the mid-2020s, with the potential to expand.

"[BlueOvalSK] is just the start; it's a key part of our plan to vertically integrate key capabilities that will differentiate Ford far into the future," Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO, said in a news release. "We will not cede our future to anyone else."

Ford joins crosstown rival General Motors Co. in setting up a joint venture to secure battery supply. GM and LG Chem (SK Innovation's rival) are building an Ultium Cells plant in Lordstown, Ohio, and announced plans for a second plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., earlier this year.

Anti-plastic campaigners in the United Kingdom have set their sights on eliminating expanded polystyrene body boards, with some communities acting to ban foam boards from their beaches.

Plastic Free Torridge, Plastic Free North Devon and Keep Britain Tidy's Ocean Recovery Project have also signed on to a proposal for a countrywide ban on the boards.

"These boards, made from a block of standard polystyrene wrapped in brightly printed nylon cloth, are sourced from China, transported thousands of miles only to snap within minutes of use," the groups said in a news release. "Polystyrene is fragile and crumbles easily, posing danger to sea and shore life alike as animals mistake these small white polystyrene balls for food."

So far, three towns in Southern England — Croyde, Saunton Beach and Westward Ho! (yes, that's a town name and not a bad basic cable television series) — have foam board bans in place for this summer. They have not specified how they would enforce the bans.

But beach fans won't have to give up body boarding. Dick Pearce Bellyboards, a maker of wooden body boards, says it is sending its products to beach towns for free use by visitors.