Kickstart: You can't ignore plastics sustainability

I know it seems like we've had a lot of sustainability and recycling stories in Plastics News lately. That's because we have. And because those issues are very much in the news.

Plastics and sustainability even made it into the final statements coming out of this year's G7 meeting, where all seven of the leaders of the top democracies signed on to a statement supporting talks that could lead to a global plastics treaty.

Then there's the split seen between most materials companies and leading packaging firms with the U.S. Plastics Pact. The pact released its road map toward a circular future for plastic packaging last week. But the American Chemistry Council and most of its member companies have balked at the idea of focusing only on some materials, while others would be termed "problematic."

These are big issues, with deadlines looming in the very near future. And as the latest recycling numbers show, maintaining a status quo isn't working. Recycling rates in the U.S. actually dropped 0.5 percent in 2019, according to a new report. Even PET bottles — some of the easiest plastics to recycle — dropped by nearly 40 million pounds in 2019.

I know some of you are fuming about "demonizing" plastics right now, but here's one fact: We can't ignore issues about the lack of a circular economy for plastics and hope it will go away. There's too much work to do.

Installing fiber-optic cables for the cameras and traffic monitoring systems for Southern California's freeways is hard enough, requiring nighttime installation that shuts down a lane of traffic.

Doing it when the raw materials used in the high density polyethylene flexible pipe that holds those wires is hard to source adds a whole new level of complexity.

"We had concerns about the order due to the volatility of the market," a project manager for the work noted in a news release.

The state turned to United Poly Systems, a Springfield, Mo.-based maker of HDPE pipes and conduits, for assurance.

The company worked closely with its suppliers to ensure the "several thousand feet" of 4-inch conduit made it on time to the project near San Bernardino from its production site in Albuquerque, UPS said in a news release.

The conduit is in the process of being installed now, a process expected to last through October.

How good are you at solving a Rubik's Cube? Now how are you at art? One more question: Do you like soccer?

David Wright, from Huddersfield, England, combined his interests as he created a mosaic of Danish soccer player Christian Eriksen, using only Rubik's Cubes.

Eriksen collapsed while playing during the Euro tournament on June 13 and had to be resuscitated on the field. (He has since recovered.) Wright was inspired to create the mosaic and documented it on Twitter, using 500 cubes.

He told the BBC it took him about five hours — not counting breaks.

I don't know about you, but it would take me five hours just to solve one Rubik's Cube, never mind the rest of the work.