Kickstart: Is there a bad guy in the growth of vinyl records?

The rush to embrace music on vinyl again — and the growth of the vinyl pressing industry — has one very high-profile artist questioning the culture behind vinyl sales and the sustainability of the records.

Billie Eilish, a Grammy- and Oscar-winning musician, already required vinyl releases of her most recent album, Happier Than Ever, to be made using 100 percent recycled PVC, while shrink wrap covering the records are made from sugar cane-based plastics.

But she said in an extensive interview about music and sustainability with Billboard that the music industry's way of counting record sales encourages artists to create multiple versions of the same product.

"I can't even express to you how wasteful it is. It is right in front of our faces and people are just getting away with it left and right, and I find it really frustrating as somebody who really goes out of my way to be sustainable … and then it's some of the biggest artists in the world making … 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more," she told Billboard.

This attitude isn't new. Eilish and her mother, Maggie Baird, said they questioned record company executives about their sustainability practices from the time she was 15 and seeking her first contract.

Eilish works with Reverb, a company specializing in helping musicians tour more sustainably, to eliminate unnecessary plastics at performance venues and backstage, and limits the merchandise on sale at concerts to reduce packaging and shipping volumes.

Sigma Plastics Group founder Alfred Teo has made a new acquisition, but not one in the plastics industry.

A venture led by Teo recently purchased the Schaumburg Towers office complex, including a pair of 20-story office towers in Schaumburg, Ill., properties our sister paper Crain's Chicago Business called "distressed."

The sale price hasn't been listed, but the site has struggled to find renters in a post-COVID market that has seen companies reduce their office space as more workers spend at least part of their workweek at a home office, CCB writes.

Sigma Plastics Group is one of North America's largest film and sheet makers, coming in at No. 4 on the most recent Plastics News ranking of North American sales.

California may add another layer to its plastic bag ban.

State leaders say the wording of the original ban, passed in 2014, led to stores selling thicker, reusable bags in place of single-use bags. But consumers simply use the thicker bags as single-use, leading to an increase in plastics use overall. The thicker bags are required to use recycled content, however, which bag makers say creates a market for 180 million pounds of recycled plastic.

But while some legislators want to see all plastic bags replaced with paper, industry representatives are pushing back, PN's Steve Toloken writes. You can find the full story here.