Kickstart: Brainstorming for a safer hockey rink

Getting checked into the boards may be fun for people watching highlights from a hockey game — but painful for players — but a "make-a-thon" is out to improve player safety for dasher boards.

The fifth "Rethinking the Rink" program is a joint effort by materials supplier Covestro LLC, the Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering and the Pittsburgh Penguins to task CMU students to improve some aspect of a hockey rink.

This year, PPG and Athletica, the maker of high density polyethylene boards, joined in the five-day program looking at ways to improve both the materials used and board design.

"It's incredibly rewarding to see our students journey through the innovation process under the counsel and mentorship of the 'Rethink the Rink' collaborators," Bill Sanders, dean of the College of Engineering at CMU, said in a news release. "I look forward to seeing the resulting prototypes and witnessing new material and design ideas that will heighten hockey player safety."

Previous Rethink the Rink studies developed a dasher board that improves energy absorption upon body mass contact by up to 65 percent, Covestro said.

For a town with about 40,000 residents, New Berlin, Wis., is home to some strong plastics industry firms, with five firms in Plastics News' database.

New Berlin Plastics Inc. recently announced it has signed a lease on a second building to meet demand that has grown by 65 percent in the past year. (PN's Sarah Kominek has the story on the injection molding company's growth.)

And the city is also home to Wisconsin Engraving Co., a mold engraving and texturing specialist marking its 100th anniversary in 2022.

"We apply our services to injection molds, thermoform molds, blow molds, rotational molds and stamping dies," the company noted on its website. "Every team member at Wisconsin Engraving takes pride in our craftsmanship and the products we make. It is our universal belief that you deserve the same integrity and care from your vendors as you put into your work."

Here's something to add to all the recycling stories in the past week or so: The state of Oregon is considering legislation to provide funding to collect and recycle mattresses and box springs.

The state Senate passed legislation in February to set up the program under the Department of Environmental Quality, our sister paper Urethanes Technology International writes. If the state House of Representatives approves the measure, it could go into operation by early 2023. It would be funded by a fee added to mattress sales.

The move comes as the Mattress Recycling Council announces it has recycled more than 10 million mattresses in the three states where it runs programs: California, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

MRC estimates it has diverted more than 380 million pounds of foam, steel, fiber and wood since starting its first program in 2015.