Kickstart: A gift from California

Here's an unexpected gift for the plastics industry from California: Gov. Gavin Newsom ended the legislative year with a veto on some sustainability measures involving plastics.

Those vetoes included a measure that would have banned plastic gift cards.

Senate Bill 728 would have prohibited the sale and distribution of the cards after January 2027 with a fine of up to $100 per day.

"While I support the … goal to reduce our reliance on single-use plastic materials, I am concerned that an outright ban without any incentives for compliance will disproportionately impact the state's small business community as digital gift cards may not be a feasible option for many businesses or consumers," Newsom said in an Oct. 8 letter that accompanied his veto.

While Newsom had signed Senate Bill 54 in 2022 — a measure aimed at increasing recycling and putting in place an extended producer responsibility system for packaging in California — this year he went against measures that would have added to regulations.

In most cases, the website packagingdive.com noted, Newsom pointed to what he termed unneeded extra regulations when SB 54 is still in the process of being implemented.

At least one automotive strike in North America was settled quickly.

Canada's Unifor said it had reached a settlement with General Motors Co.'s Canadian operations on Oct. 10, about 12 hours after workers walked out of three GM plants.

Unifor President Lana Payne said GM's offer met the outlines of an agreement it had reached earlier with Ford Motor Co. of Canada.

The tentative agreement covers nearly 4,300 hourly workers. Workers were to resume production immediately, GM said.

In the U.S., the strike involving the United Auto Workers and the Detroit Three automakers is in its 27th day. Although the UAW declined to expand its targeted walkouts as of Oct. 10, it also seems to be making little progress toward a final settlement.

The ongoing strikes are being felt throughout the supply chain, with the auto supplier group MEMA saying earlier this month that about 30 percent of suppliers have had to make some layoffs related to the UAW action.

Plastic composite railroad ties have arrived in Europe.

Japan's Sekisui Chemical Co. Ltd. has started making glass-fiber-reinforced urethane thermoset ties — or sleepers — in Roemond, Netherlands. The plant, first announced in 2020, should help expand the use of urethane in rail infrastructure in Europe. They have been made and used in Japan for more than 40 years but use in Europe of the fiber-reinforced foam urethane (FFU) from Sekisui has been limited in part by the distance for shipping.

The new plant will be able to produce 100,000 ties per year and employ 50.