Kickstart: An Icelandic homecoming for rotomolding

Iceland is reclaiming its status as home to a global rotomolding business.

The island nation was once home to Promens Group AS, which at one point was the world's largest rotomolding company. But when Promens was purchased by packaging company RPC in 2014, which was then purchased in turn by Berry Global Group Inc., it lost that minor claim to fame. (Google "Iceland" and "plastics" and you'll end up with a lot of links to a United Kingdom grocery store chain.)

But now a newly formed group, Rotovia, owned by Icelandic private equity funds Freyja and SÍA IV and key management of the rotomolding plastics operations, has purchaed those rotomolding assets.

"It's great to see the ownership of the business coming back to Iceland where a significant part of the business and top management is located," CEO Daði Valdimarsson told Plastics News' Sarah Kominek.

With an expected $143 million in annual sales, Rotovia will no longer be the world's largest rotomolder. Tank Holding Corp., which has been buying and consolidating rotomolding operations, now has more than $400 million in annual sales.

Rosti Group AB's molding operations in Poland are out to improve their carbon footprint one tree at a time.

Rosti Poland, the Swedish company's largest manufacturing site in Europe, has planted more than 10,000 trees since 2019 and plans to plant another 14,000 by the end of this year.

Because each tree consumes 6-7 kilograms of CO2 per year, if the company and its workers can hit its goal, Rosti Poland will be able to fully offset its carbon dioxide emissions.

"Becoming carbon neutral is our No. 1 priority. At the same time our annual planting trees campaigns raise community spirit and build unity among Rosti Poland employees creating fully sustainable mindset within organization," Michal Lubik, managing director of Rosti Poland, said in a news release.

Policies involving single-use plastics in U.S. national parks have jumped back and forth over the "ban/no ban" line for the past few presidential administrations. Barack Obama's administration allowed parks to limit sales of plastic water bottles, but a few years later Donald Trump's said no parks could ban them.

Now President Joe Biden's administration has returned to the Obama team's point of view and taken it even further: calling for a complete single-use plastics ban in parks by 2032, not just bottled water.

Obviously that policy could change again with whoever is the next president, but I wonder if any plastics industry leaders would be willing to step forward and oppose sustainability measures at parks. Even the most ardent plastics industry groups have embraced measures that would reduce plastics pollution.

While water bottle sales inside parks may be good for the bottom line, would any company be willing to take a PR hit of proclaiming they're in favor of bringing bottles back? Wouldn't they prefer to get involved with selling reusable bottles and putting their logo on water filling stations rather than risk seeing photos on social media of their bottles floating in a pristine river?

I guess we'll have to wait to see what the next president does before we have those answers.