Kickstart: CMI catches a different kind of Pokémon prize

If you're a person who's "gotta catch 'em all," you should appreciate the work done by thermoformer CMI Plastics, a packaging supplier for The Pokémon Co. International.

CMI, based in Ayden, N.C., was named the inaugural Manufacturer of the Year by Pokémon manufacturer TCG Production.

TCG said its team selected the winner through an anonymous ballot voting process, noting CMI's work in sustainability, "innovative, creative and superior" thermoform designs and its work in executing an increased volume of products for Pokemon's 25th anniversary.

"Winning this award is truly a testament to the partnership between our two companies and the relationship we have formed together as a team," TCG said in a notice to CMI on its win.

CMI, which began as a balsa wood model company named Consolidated Models Inc. in 1939, began thermoforming in the 1950s.

Burning Man, the big arts and music event in the California desert, is hosting the debut of an art installation highlighting plastic waste in the ocean as well as the work of a company collecting ocean plastics for recycling.

New York-based artist Jen Lewin's The Last Ocean is "a symbolic call to action on the fragility of ocean ecosystems," Lewin said in a news release.

The piece uses more than 10,912 pounds of recycled plastic and 9,268 pounds of glass fiber and recycled composites collected from coastal beach communities in South Africa by Ocean Plastic Technologies.

The piece has interlocking grids connected to LED lights to provide an image of the ocean's currents and power, she said.

With Burning Man wrapping up on Labor Day, The Last Ocean will travel to other exhibitions, including Detroit later this month and San Francisco in November.

If you've run across news lately about Michael Stipe, the lead singer of R.E.M., producing the "first" record using bioplastic rather than traditional vinyl, you may — like me — have scratched your head and thought: "Didn't some other band do that like a month ago?"

You're not wrong.

The same company, Music Declares Emergency, that announced the first commercially available bioplastic release in July is releasing Stipe's music. The only difference, essentially, is the size of the recording.

The July release was an EP and a compilation of works by a variety of artists. Stipe is releasing "the world's first commercially available bioplastic 12-inch" record.

The new release is limited to 500 copies.

This buzz generated from Stipe's music probably means we should expect similar announcements in the future, such as the "first" LP and the "first" 45 rpm single. I doubt we'll have to put up with the "first" bioplastic cassingle, but I wouldn't rule it out completely.