Kickstart: Chickens, Super Bowl ads and PET recycling

If you're in a region where egg prices have soared, you may have considered becoming a chicken farmer and raising your own laying hens.

You're not alone. Tractor Supply Co. expects to sell 11 million chicks this year, up from 10 million in 2022, PN's sister paper Crain's Chicago Business writes.

"We've seen a lot of people do this as kind of like a new hobby that they kind of do together," Tractor Supply Chief Merchandising Office Seth Estep told Crain's Chicago. "But what I would say is with the uptick in egg prices, we have seen very strong demand this year already, similar to the last couple years."

The current interest comes on top of surging sales that began when the COVID-19 pandemic saw people moving to more rural locations thanks to work-from-home business practices.

All that chicken farming also is leading to more business for the makers of chicken coops and accessories.

One study estimates that the demand for chicken coops will see an annual growth rate of 8.1 percent between 2021 and 2028. That includes all-plastic coops, which can be easier to set up and are lighter to move. United Kingdom-based company Omlet won a top Plastics Industry Award in 2017 for its plastic Eglu coop. New Age Pet, based in California, sells a range of coops made with recycled plastic.

But don't go into backyard chicken farming thinking you'll immediately save money on groceries. Urban farming group Star Farm Chicago told Crain's that families invest between $1,000 and $3,000 to establish their chicken operation.

When auto aftermarket molder WeatherTech returns to Super Bowl advertising on Feb. 12, it'll be with a message that echoes its very first commercial during the big game, bragging about its made-in-the-U.S. message.

The game on Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of WeatherTech, the brand owned by thermoformer and injection molder MacNeil Automotive Products Ltd. of Bolingbrook, Ill.

The 30-second ad has the theme of "We All Win," focusing on its investment in U.S. factories and workers.

The ad even includes Scout, company owner David MacNeil's golden retriever, who appeared in previous ads and inspired the company's entry into the pet products market before he died of cancer. (The company still urges donations to the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he received treatment.)

We all know that the world is not recycling enough of its plastic. But what may be difficult to consider is that even the most recyclable item — PET — is far from being as circular as it needs to be.

PET recycling was a big topic in this month's Sustainable Plastics Live webinar with PN Editor Don Loepp and Karen Laird, the editor of Sustainable Plastics.

"We tend to see PET as a really circular material because we hear so much about bottle-to-bottle recycling, but it turns out we're not really there yet," Karen said. "There's a lot to be done."

SP has a story (available to read for free here) on a new study from Systemiq that says only about a quarter of PET is successfully recycled.

The full conversation with Karen and Don is available for subscribers here.