Kickstart: Is ‘anti-woke' impacting plastics?

We've been reading a lot of stories lately about the politically conservative anti-woke backlash against environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing. We wondered: Is that having an impact on plastics?

After all, publicly traded companies in the plastics supply chain are regular targets of shareholder proposals.

It turns out that plastics shareholder resolutions got less support this year at major public companies, a development that green investors say reflects rising anti-ESG sentiment around plastics issues. Steve Toloken has all the details, and he notes that the results are pretty nuanced.

Nearly all of the time, plastics-related ESG resolutions fail to get majority approval from shareholders. But when they get significant approval, they frequently prompt policy changes anyway. So a losing result might still be a win, and Conrad MacKerron of shareholder advocacy group As You Sow told Toloken that they've had some significant wins this year.

The big players in the ESG battle are institutional investors and asset managers, so what we're seeing is a shift in how they vote on environmental and social themes. MacKerron told Toloken that this year's proxy results continue to show that investors are concerned about plastics, even if it's too soon to say if lower support is a permanent shift or temporary blip.

Here's more evidence that plastics is, at least somewhat, a partisan issue in the United States.

The Environmental Protection Agency's request for public comment on a draft strategy to prevent plastic pollution generated dueling responses from state attorneys general. Some 16 Republican AGs signed a letter saying that the strategy was "deeply flawed" and that it "irrationally targets domestic industry rather than waste."

Meanwhile, some 14 Democratic AGs signed a letter of their own that recommends EPA adopts a more comprehensive strategy that includes reducing the production of virgin plastic.

The Republican response is similar to what plastics industry groups are saying, that EPA has gotten off track with its national strategy on plastics pollution by focusing too much on reducing plastics without considering the impact of other materials.

Journalism professors may say that the best stories are about conflict, but that's enough bickering for today. I'll wrap up my latest turn as the substitute Kickstart writer with some cool new technology.

Westec Plastics recently announced that it now has a Mantle P-200 metal 3D printer, which I will use to boost its tooling capabilities.

The Livermore, Calif.-based molder became Mantle's first production customer, acquiring machine Number 01.

President Tammy Barras said Westec can now build a tool insert in as little as two weeks, compared with the previous 12-week lead time. With this technology, "we can complete up to 70 percent of the job [with the 3D printer] and have our toolmakers handle the specialized steps only humans can do," she said.