Kickstart: Countdown to NPE2024

I've been waiting to write this in Kickstart for a long time: We're now one year away from the next NPE show.

NPE2024 is scheduled for May 6-10, 2024, in Orlando, Fla.'s Orange County Convention Center.

If you've joined the plastics industry in the past five years, then you might not know what I'm talking about. NPE is North America's largest plastics trade show, and it's organized by the Washington-based Plastics Industry Association. They're usually on a three-year cycle, but the pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2021 show. So now we're in the weird position of not having an NPE since May 2018.

A lot of people measure the length of their careers by how many NPEs they've attended. Next year will be No. 11 for me, and the fourth in Orlando.

The first NPE was held in 1946 in New York City. Is there anyone left in the industry who attended the first one? Let me know; that would make a good story!

NPE is pretty important for a lot of reasons, including because it generates a lot of revenue for the Plastics Industry Association. It's a big show for many of the exhibitors, too, because they like to make a splash with new products at NPE.

If you listen to any of our editorial livestreams, then you've probably heard me say — more than once — that I think a lot of the North American plastics industry is behind the rest of the world right now in understanding the importance of climate issues, and my theory is that's because we didn't have an NPE in 2021.

Climate was a huge emphasis at the last two K shows, held in 2019 and 2022 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Even machinery companies were talking about their scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions. I expect that to be a big theme of NPE2024, too.

Another industry event that's been around a long time — but not quite as long as NPE — is the Plastic Pipes Conference. That event, which is taking place Sept. 25-27 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

One unusual thing about the Plastic Pipes Conference is they use the same style as the Super Bowl, with Roman numerals. We're coming up on PPXXI.

The conference dates back to 1974, and it was started by the Institute of Materials in the United Kingdom. Now it's run by the Plastic Pipes Conference Association. The event draws an international crowd and covers all types of plastics pipe.

In the early days of the conference, plastic was battling with conventional materials for market share. Today it is the dominant material in most applications.

What's new in plastic pipe? David Fink, president of the Plastics Pipe Institute and chairman of the PPCA board, has an interesting take: "One thing that we have within our industry is a good background and a track record for developing products for specific application needs. And one of the upcoming innovations I see is hydrogen. It's growing in popularity as an alternative clean fuel source."

Starting in 2019, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Office started studying whether it was feasible to collect and recycle clean lab plastics. Thanks to enthusiastic support, today they're calling it a "huge triumph."

Since its pilot stage, the number of labs participating in the program has grown, increasing the total amount of plastic gathered and recycled. In 2020, EHS collected 170 pounds of plastic waste per week from participating labs. That increased to 250 pounds per week in 2021. In 2022, EHS collected a total of 19,000 pounds, or 280 pounds of plastic per week.

"Having more opportunities to recycle 'biologically clean' plastics would help us have a smaller carbon footprint," said Seychelle Vos, assistant professor of biology. "We love this program and hope it expands further!"