Kickstart: That's ... not great news for suppliers to Kellogg

There's another potential hurdle looming for plastics processors, this one for packaging suppliers to food companies.

About 1,400 workers at Kellogg Co.'s cereal plants in the U.S. are on strike, marking the first work stoppage by Kellogg employees since 1972. The current strike comes after a summer that saw strikes at Nabisco (the first strike since 1969) and Frito-Lay.

There are obviously a lot of different reasons behind each strike — Kellogg workers are pointing to a need to change a two-tier pay and benefits program impacting some employees — but there's a common thread, Patricia Campos-Medina, the executive director of The Worker Institute at ILR Cornell, told the Associated Press.

The ongoing labor shortage in the U.S. is giving union members more clout than they've had in years to address what they see as a steady erosion in their status.

"Workers in general are demanding that companies invest more in the workforce and not just use the profits for the shareholders," she said.

Kellogg, based in Battle Creek, Mich., plans to restart production lines with management and nonunion employees. For suppliers of film and rigid plastics used by the cereal company, that may ensure there will be no disruption in demand for their products, but don't be surprised if another customer faces a similar strike in the future.

Speaking of cereal, the California Milk Advisory Board has a new public service message focused on getting consumers to recycle their high density polyethylene milk jugs.

The "Recycle the Jug" program is working to overcome a disconnect between the number of California consumers who say recycling is important, 70 percent, and the 47 percent of consumers who find milk jugs difficult to recycle. In addition, 32 percent of those consumers surveyed said they don't trust that the jug will actually be recycled.

"California consumers are dedicated to doing their part to recycle but many don't understand that the HDPE used for plastic milk jugs is one of the most widely accepted plastics in recycling programs across the United States," CMAB CEO John Talbot said. "We want to encourage consumers who buy milk in the jug to make sure that jug makes it to the recycling bin to help keep plastic out of landfills."

The program focuses on the three simple steps of recycling plastic milk jugs: pour out the milk, put the cap back on the jug and put it in a recycling bin. It also has videos showing how the jugs are recycled and what happens to HDPE that is recovered.

And if you just can't get enough of dairy, Chicago is about to become home to the latest Museum of Ice Cream, complete with a pool of "sprinkles" — actually multicolored resin pellets.

The museum got its start in New York as a temporary exhibit featuring hands-on art in praise of ice cream. It has since expanded to Austin, Texas, and Singapore.

The Chicago museum will be in downtown Chicago along the shopping and tourist mecca of Michigan Avenue and open in 2022.

"The opportunity to open one of the most ambitious formats of Museum of Ice Cream at Tribune Tower on the Magnificent Mile is incredibly exciting," said Maryellis Bunn, the museum's co-founder and creative director, in our sister paper Crain's Chicago Business. "The history of architecture, art and revolutionary commerce in this district over the past 100 years makes this a perfect setting for the next iteration of Museum of Ice Cream."

If you missed it, check out Frank Esposito's 2016 story on how Texas-based Birch Plastics came to the rescue with a pellet "sprinkle" delivery for the museum when it first opened.