Kickstart: Prime Time for plastics

The most hyped team in college football today may help drive sales of some plastic products.

Deion Sanders made headlines as soon as he signed on to coach the University of Colorado. Now with the team 3-0 and tickets and CU clothing selling out, the coach and San Diego-based Blenders Eyewear have launched a line of Coach Prime sunglasses. Sanders, known as "Prime Time," promptly gave each of his players a pair.

The partnership through CU Athletics was announced Sept. 15. It's probably not a surprise to note that the news release did not conform to typical quotes from Sanders, who proclaimed in a statement that: "[Eyewear is] an outlet to EXPRESS YOURSELF, it's a CONVERSATION STARTER, it sets the DARN TONE! Look good, feel good, PLAY GOOD!"

(Yes, the capitalizations are his.)

Blenders launched in 2012 as a lower-cost alternative to Essilor Luxottica SA's Oakley brand of polycarbonate sports glasses, CEO and founder Chase Fisher told CNBC in 2021.

Blenders retail for about $100 less than an Oakley version. (Coach Prime versions are listed at less than $70).

Blenders are imported from China. Essilor Luxottica has six plants in Italy, two in the U.S., two in China and one in India.

Hemp is an old crop that has been used in sails, clothing, rope and a range of other products since before the U.S. was a country. It was also illegal to grow for decades in the U.S. because it was considered too close to its cousin, cannabis. (Hemp doesn't contain THC.)

Since being legalized again for U.S. growers in 2018, it's become a crop widely considered for bio-based fillers in plastic composites.

If you missed it, PN's Catherine Kavanaugh has a look at a research project involving BrightMa Farms Inc. of South Carolina and KraussMaffei Corp. to boost hemp content in nylon parts like those made for a Volvo truck.

"The impact hemp can bring to the plastics ecosystem is amazing," BrightMa CEO Harold Singletary said. "We just need an entry point and an opportunity."

Brazilians are recycling more, with 25.6 percent of plastics produced in the South American country recycled in 2022, a 46 percent increase since 2018, according to a new study.

Beatriz Santos from our sister paper Sustainable Plastics writes that MaxiQuim, a business valuation company in the chemical industry, ran the study sponsored by the Plastics Chain Incentive Plan, a partnership between the Brazilian plastics association Abiplast and Brazil-based petrochemical giant Braskem.

The Brazilian plastics recycling industry handled 1.7 million metric tons of plastics in 2022, an 8.5 percent increase from 2021, with post-consumer material accounting for 1.3 million tonnes of the total.