Kickstart: Beyond plastic

Some very well-known plastics companies are reaching beyond polymers for future growth.

Let's start with a global giant. Amcor Ltd. is launching a paper-based brand for the snack and candy market in Europe. LifeSpan Performance Paper offers high oxygen and moisture barrier performance and is expected to appear in European stores later this year, our sister paper Sustainable Plastics writes.

More than 80 percent of LifeSpan products' content is recovered in the recycling process, Amcor says. It will be the first new product launched as part of Australia-based Amcor's global AmFiber platform, which the company unveiled at the end of January.

LifeSpan is expected to be extended into packaging for drink powders, coffee, seasoning and soups for the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions, Amcor says.

The move comes as more companies look to cash in on brands' interest in moving away from plastic packaging. Footprint International Holdco Inc., with corporate offices in Los Angeles and Arizona, is planning to go public on NASDAQ to help finance its paper products aiming to replace plastic packaging.

Meanwhile, Bemis Manufacturing, an injection molder and maker of toilet seats, shopping carts and other products, is rolling out a line of faucets to complement its seats sales.

Sheboygan Falls, Wis.-based Bemis has been getting smarter about its bathroom products, buying the Bio-Bidet line in 2021 to offer higher-end options without the need to replace the toilet. Its Grove faucets will hit the market later this year and come with motion and touch sensors to turn them on and off, an integrated LED temperature display and a built-in timer (no more singing "Happy Birthday" to yourself twice to hit your hand-washing metrics).

The faucets come with metal finishes, unlike the plastics that make up the bulk of Bemis' products. They also join a line of air purifiers Bemis brought to the market in late 2021 to diversify its product line. The purifiers do use plastics for housings and also integrate smart sensors to track air quality in the home.

And while not specifically plastics — although the products use a lot of plastics — Peloton Interactive Inc., the maker of high-end exercise bikes and treadmills, has canceled plans for its own manufacturing plant near Toledo, Ohio, as it fights off a string of bad business news.

The Peloton Output Park was expected to employ more than 2,000 people when it opened in 2023. Instead, the company announced Feb. 8 that it would end the project. Construction crews will finish the building shell, then the property will be sold.

That could be good news for companies that make exercise equipment, however, since Peloton will instead rely on outside suppliers.

But the company will be cutting 2,800 jobs, affecting about 20 percent of its salaried workforce, and its CEO is stepping down.