Kickstart: Carl Allen’s retirement plan: Fish and hunt for treasure

I think Carl A. Allen may have figured out retirement. Since selling Heritage Bag Co. to Novolex for a reported $300 million in 2017, Allen’s been spending time fishing, restoring an island getaway and hunting for lost treasure.

Beats pickleball and golf, right?

I’ve been intrigued with Allen’s story for the past year and for kind of an obscure reason. In the web traffic reports I get for PlasticsNews.com, his father’s 2023 obituary has been a popular story nearly every week.

I did some sleuthing and realized that readers aren’t searching for information on Carleton Frederick Allen, the guy who founded Heritage Bag in Dallas in 1973. (And it’s not that he doesn’t deserve the attention. Carl F. Allen was a noted philanthropist, outdoorsman and athlete in his own right.)

No, readers are searching for information about Carleton Albert Allen, one of Carl F.’s children. And I’m sure that quite a few have been a little shocked when one of the top stories on Google led them to a Plastics News obituary. Well, we can clear this up now: Carl A. Allen is alive and well, leading a charmed post-plastics retirement.

Allen was the subject of an excellent CBS Sunday Morning interview a year ago, where he talked about how he ended up spending his retirement in the northern Bahamas hunting for gold, silver and gems from the wreck of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas, which sank in a maritime accident in 1656.

He owns a fleet of research vessels — including a submarine — called Allen Exploration (AllenX for short). In his latest newsletter, Allen says he’s been busy going to universities, conferences and organizations to talk to people about the project. This spring he was recognized by Prince Albert II of Monaco with the Explorer Award in Adventure and Environmental Ethics.

Allen frequently mentions his plastics industry background in interviews, and Heritage Bag was a pretty interesting company. But I have a feeling he’s having more fun finding pieces of eight than he did extruding trash bags.

Now for some optimistic news from the recycling sector: Last week the winners of the Plastics Recycling Awards Europe 2024 were announced at the Plastics Recycling Show Europe in Amsterdam.

For the first time in the seven-year history of the awards, the judges named two Plastics Recycling Ambassadors as well as four product and two innovation category winners. The winners exemplify the best advances in the circular use of plastics in products, as well as the latest technology and machinery innovations facilitating plastics recycling.

Karen Laird, my colleague and editor of Sustainable Plastics, was one of the judges, and she said the quality of submissions continues to improve.

“It used to be that the products on show were not necessarily useful, attractive or in any other way noteworthy -- it was about finding an application for recycled material. Now, the products are attractive, the packaging is functional and has appeal, and the technology being used is becoming more intelligent,” Laird said.

One of her highlights in the 2024 awards is the Blue Finn Chair by Bywyd BV. The stackable, multifunctional chair is made from from 85 recycled impact-modified Bluewrap, which is the wrapping used for keeping surgical instruments sterile.

Plastics have been the focus of a lot of debate in state legislatures this year, with extended producer responsibility getting the most attention.

But in Massachusetts there’s been some progress on some old-school issues too, namely proposals to ban some single-use plastic products and to expand the state’s container deposit law.

On Tuesday the state Senate approved an update of the state’s bottle bill, adding noncarbonated beverages, wine and spirits, doubling the deposit amount to 10 cents and adding small alcohol bottles, known as “nips,” to the program.

Last week the Senate also passed a ban on carryout plastic retail bags. That bill would also require straws and plasticware to be available only by request.

Those plastics bills still need approval from the state House before heading to Gov. Maura Healey.