Kickstart: Yes, this 'paper' bottle is really plastic, and yes, it's a bad look

South Korean beauty conglomerate Amorepacific may have taken a nasty stumble on its journey toward sustainable packaging.

The company has rolled out a special edition of its Green Tea Seed Serum skin care from its Innisfree brand in a package labeled "Hello I'm Paper Bottle" (sic). But beneath the paper outer shell was a thin plastic bottle, as people quickly pointed out on social media. Those consumers were not pleased and labeled it a prime example of greenwashing. (You can see a Twitter thread on the topic here.)

For its part, the company says the bottle reduces its overall plastics use and is part of a program that also uses bio-based materials, recycled plastics and refillable containers. Videos from Seoul-based Amorepacific dating from mid-2020 also show how to separate the paper shell from the plastic inner for recycling. I doubt they will get much credit for that tutorial from frustrated consumers, however.

Who had ketchup on their list of COVID-related shortages?

The big shift to takeout rather than in-store restaurant eating has led to a shortage in individual ketchup packages, according to national reports.

Kraft Heinz Co., the biggest ketchup maker in the U.S., says sales of ketchup packets in flexible film rose 25 percent to an annual rate of 12 billion packets. Even with production bumped up, the company has had problems keeping up.

"The unmatched consumer love for our iconic Heinz brand as well as our longstanding partnership with the restaurant industry are two responsibilities we take very seriously — which was why we made strategic manufacturing investments at the start of the pandemic to keep up with the surge in demand for ketchup packets driven by the accelerated delivery and takeout trends," Steve Cornell, an executive with Kraft Heinz, told Lehigh Valley Live. "At the same time, we also fast-tracked future-focused culinary and packaging innovations, as well as further manufacturing expansion plans, as we believe there is an enormous opportunity to grow our brands in the exciting foodservice industry."

Two automotive summer traditions are changing in 2021.

The Center for Automotive Research has said its annual Management Briefing Seminars, set for Aug. 4-5, will be offered as a hybrid conference, with in-person events in Traverse City, Mich., that will also be available on a digital platform for those who cannot attend. (For the record, PN's Plastics in Automotive conference, May 25-27, will be all online.)

But other summer events may be canceled for some auto workers. Ford Motor Co. has told workers at some plants that it would skip the traditional two-week shutdown in July.

Those two weeks are used by automakers to change production lines in their plants to accomodate new model year vehicles, but because of ongoing shortages of microchips — which has forced car companies like Ford to curtail assembly lines throughout 2021 — Ford will keep rolling at some plants, our sister paper Automotive News writes.

"We also appreciate that this year's summer schedule may be disappointing to those who look forward to time away during the traditional shutdown weeks," John Savona, Ford's vice president of manufacturing and labor affairs, said in a letter to employees at the affected plants. "We thank you for your flexibility, understanding and your dedication — as we've seen throughout COVID-19 challenges and this year's semiconductor shortages. We will get through this, working together, and we appreciate all you do for Ford every day."