Kickstart: Another acquisition in housewares

Creo Group Inc. may not be a familiar name to some, but its stable of companies manufacture household items that certainly are well known. Since forming in mid-2024, Creo Group has acquired suppliers to the home gardening and nursery supplies industry and the Rubbermaid brand of totes.

Now it has purchased HMS Mfg. Cos., which makes housewares products including items that carry the Home Logic and Hefty brand names. HMS, based in Troy, Mich., first opened in 1987 and has manufacturing in the U.S. and China. Its products are sold at mainstay retailers including Walmart, Target, Lowes and Home Depot. It opened what it terms a "state-of-the-art" manufacturing plant in Little Rock, Ark., in 2020.

HMS also says its use of recycled plastics cut its use of virgin plastics by more than 1.1 million pounds in 2024 alone.

Private equity company Mill Point Capital LLC created Creo as a platform for consumer products last year.

HMS CEO Janet Sofy said Creo will "enable us to achieve even greater success for our team and valued customers."

Most stories about plastics waste reduction in the airline industry focus on passenger aircraft and foodservice products. American Airlines Cargo says it has reduced its plastics footprint by concentrating on biodegradable materials to secure freight shipments.

In a Feb. 19 news release, American Airlines Cargo says that since it began a partnership with BioNatur Plastics as its sustainable supplier of biodegradable plastic products in 2022, it has reduced its yearly long-term traditional plastic waste by the equivalent of 6.4 million plastic water bottles.

In 2024 alone, it replaced 274,000 pounds of traditional plastic with a material BioNatur says biodegrades within eight to 12 years without any microplastics left behind.

American said it currently uses BioNatur plastic at most of its U.S. hubs, and at smaller domestic stations as well as in Latin America, with plans to continue expanding use of the biodegradable plastic across all operations in place of traditional plastic. Distributed by M&G Packaging, BioNatur uses include lower deck pallet covers, heavy-duty poly sheeting, stretch wrap, bottom sheeting and plastic covers.

"Sustainability is of paramount importance for us at American, and we are so pleased that our transition to BioNatur Plastics is one way we can implement real change in our cargo operations," Greg Schwendinger, president of American Airlines Cargo, said in the release.

A medical supplier in North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene flooding in 2024 says its production has fully recovered.

Baxter International says its plant in North Cove, N.C., is now running all 10 of its lines for IV fluids.

"We continue to make strong progress at North Cove as we advance sitewide recovery and inventory replenishment," Baxter said in an update on its website. "We have now returned to pre-hurricane production levels."

Flooding from Helene can be seen entering the plant in a time lapse video posted by the company on its website. The storm also washed out roads and bridges leading to the site that employs 2,500.