Kickstart: Ditching plastic bags

Grocery store chain Aldi has always been known as a place where you need to bring your own bags — part of its low-cost culture — but you could always buy a heavier-weight plastic bag if needed.

Now those plastic bags are gone.

"Aldi met its goal to remove all plastic shopping bags by the end of 2023, becoming the first major U.S. retailer to eliminate plastic shopping bags from its more than 2,300 stores," the company headquartered in Germany said in a Jan. 10 news release. "A landmark moment for the industry, the decision to remove plastic shopping bags will prevent nearly 4,400 tons, or nearly 9 million pounds of plastic, from going into circulation each year."

Aldi, like every other grocery store, still has lots of plastics in its stores in the form of packaging, although it has been working to reduce the volume and use more recyclable options.

Hillenbrand Inc., the parent company of machinery maker Milacron, and Coca-Cola Co. are putting an emphasis on recycled PET for its Circular Plastics Case Competition, with the winners set to be featured during a special event at NPE2024 in May.

This is the second year the two companies sponsored the event from Net Impact. The 2023 competition drew 150 participants from 13 countries. That one focused on ideas to keep plastics and plastic products out of the waste stream. This year, participants are being asked to "collaborate and generate industry-shifting ideas to increase the supply of post-consumer recycled material," specifically PET.

Coca-Cola, obviously, has big plans to use more recycled PET in its bottles. For Hillenbrand, many of its customers use recycled material and want to increase the amount that is available.

"We initiated this competition to engage the next generation to think creatively and develop solutions that promote a circular plastics economy," Kim Ryan, president and CEO of Hillenbrand, said in a news release.

Entries are due in March. Teams of undergraduate and graduate students along with industry professionals will work with plastics experts. Finalists will present the proposals virtually at a showcase to be broadcast during NPE in Orlando, Fla. The first-place winner will receive $10,000 with $2,500 going to second place and $1,000 to third place.

You may want to spend a little extra time seeking out the perfect bottle of orange juice on your next shopping trip.

Tropicana Brands Group has shipped a limited number of bottles of its juice branded as "Tropcn" to Kroger stores across the U.S. as part of a marketing stunt timed for the CES electronics trade show in Las Vegas.

The hook behind the name change is the growth of — and interest in — artificial intelligence, especially at CES. Tropicana dropped the "a" and "i" from its name to brag that "artificial just isn't in our DNA," Monica McGurk, CEO of the North American business unit, said in a news release.

Consumers who spot a Tropcn bottle at their store can scan a code to potentially win a free trip to Florida. The company hasn't specified how many of those bottles are in circulation.