Kickstart: Dig into our mobile app for spring

Erin Sloan, audience engagement editor, donning overalls and digital gardening tools here to share the changes you might have noticed popping up on PlasticsNews.com in the last few weeks.

First, we have a new mobile app! You can find it by searching for Plastics News in the Apple or Google Play app stores, or tap the link here to take you straight there.

The new app has the latest news feed, plus customizable topics you can rearrange for the types of stories you read the most. (Check out that Kickstart tab!) Be sure to also turn on notifications and set up push alerts so you don't miss any news. I promise not to pester you too much with them; we strive for a good balance with breaking news and interesting reads. The app also has our digital edition built right in for optimal mobile viewing.

Speaking of which, our home for digital editions has upgraded to an interactive-style book. Subscribers can still download the edition for personal use. Some archived editions are available from that webpage at the storage box icon; if you're looking for farther back, then our old archives are still available. Digital editions of our coveted show dailies from NPE, K show and Fakuma are available here, for free.

Not sure which bin to use when you're disposing of a takeout coffee cup? There's an artificial intelligence tool that's ready to provide advice.

Oscar Sort, which uses a screen, AI and real-time monitoring to direct users to the proper place to drop waste, is rolling out to airports, colleges and other public spots.

Chicago's McCormick Place exhibition hall used the Pack Expo trade show in November 2024 for a pilot demonstration of Oscar Sort. The technology was just one of a series of steps that show organizers the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies (PMMI), Dow Inc., waste management provider Independent Recycling Services and McCormick Place used to improve their carbon footprint.

The partners said Pack Expo 2024 diverted 284.88 tons of waste from landfills, conserved nearly 2 million gallons of water and reduced more than 1 million kilowatts of energy at the show.

The show said it also "deprioritized" single-use plastic water bottles by having refill stations, while nonperishable food leftovers and booth furniture were donated to nonprofit groups Salvation Army and Fight2Feed.

Greene Tweed & Co. has sealed a very speedy sponsorship deal.

The Lansdale, Pa.-based maker of seals, elastomers, engineered components, composites and thermoplastics has been named an official partner of McLaren Racing's Formula 1 and Indy Car racing teams for 2025.

The multiyear deal will include Greene Tweed's logo on McLaren cars while the company also will "support McLaren in exploring design, manufacturing and delivery of high-performance and resilient materials" to meet the race team's needs.

Greene Tweed already has been a supplier to McLaren prior to 2025.