Kickstart: Beyond Plastics and news coverage

We could hear you, you know. Or at least I can imagine I heard a collective groan when Plastics News published a story Oct. 31 on a new study from Beyond Plastics and the International Pollutants Elimination Network questioning the viability of chemical recycling.

The issue of contention, I expect, is along the lines of: Why give attention to these groups that are trying to eliminate plastics?

Obviously, it's news. Beyond Plastics and IPEN are known in public policy circles. (As we've often noted, Beyond Plastics' leader Judith Enck was an official with the Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama.) PN Editor Don Loepp noted there were reporters attending a virtual press conference on the report from non-industry publications.

In addition, chemical recycling is a hot topic in a lot of regions beyond Washington, D.C., so the report will likely be referenced at state legislatures.

It's also notable that Lew Freeman, who was once the second-highest ranking person at the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. — now the Plastics Industry Association — wrote the report's foreword, casting doubt on chemical recycling's ability to deliver on some big promises by industry leaders.

Even if you don't agree with the statements or studies from environmental groups such as Beyond Plastics, you should be familiar with them in case they come up in the future. Think of it as "opposition research" if nothing else.

Blow molder Greif Inc. has been busy adding to its jerrycan production operations. That includes the acquisition of iPackChem, a France-based competitor, announced on Oct. 31.

"The iPackChem portfolio is in perfect alignment with Greif's strategic growth aspirations in jerrycans and other small plastics," Greif CEO Ole Rosgaard said in a news release about the $538 million purchase.

In writing about the purchase, PN's Jim Johnson also notes some background about the versatile containers and just how they got their name. Essentially, the original metal cans were standard issue by the German military during World War II.

"Allied forces had containers of lesser quality and design and eventually replicated the German model, which features handles for easy carrying," Jim writes. The name comes from the Allied forces' nickname of "Jerry" for Germans. The first plastic jerrycans were produced in 1970.

For more on the current interest in jerrycans, and a little history, you can find Jim's story here.

If you have a kid — or a kid at heart — who loves toys and dinosaurs, Lego A/S has just the project.

The Danish toymaker has introduced a Lego version of a Natural History Museum, complete with a plastic dinosaur skeleton.

Priced at nearly $300 and with more than 4,000 pieces, the museum set is geared at the adult enthusiasts (or "kidults") who have been as much a core customer as children for Lego for the past several years.