Kickstart: Inventing plastic lumber

Thomas Nosker's work to create lumber out of recycled plastics has led to projects around the world. The Rutgers University professor has seen it on walkways and fencing in the Galapagos Islands. It was strong enough to support a tank during testing at Fort Liberty, N.C., formerly called Fort Bragg.

So it should be robust enough to hold Nosker's latest honor: being named a 2024 National Academy of Inventors Fellow.

"I travel a lot and it's in every country. I've been to China, I've been all over Europe and recycled plastic lumber is everywhere," he told Rutgers University's Rutgers Today.

Nosker and his team at the university's School of Engineering have been focused on new uses for recycled plastics since the 1980s.

And he's not done inventing. Nosker is now focused on using graphene as a structural component in composites for aerospace and defense, with a potential to make lighter cars, planes and tanks.

Freudenberg Medical's big investments in manufacturing in Ireland is earning it honors.

The molder, which is part of Freudenberg Group, was named Medtech Company of the Year and Medtech Partner/Supplier of the Year at the Irish Medtech Awards Dec. 5 in Galway.

Western Ireland has been a hotspot in medical molding, and Freudenberg has been a leader in new production.

In November it opened a 16,500-square-foot expansion at Carrick-On-Shannon, which will eventually add 250 jobs. By 2026, it expects to have 950 employees at the site.

The Medtech Awards honors are due to the staff, CEO Mark Ostwald said in a news release.

"This milestone highlights the reputation our Irish teams have earned as trusted partners in delivering complex catheter solutions to the world's leading medical device companies," he said.

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour has come to an end, but that doesn't mean we can't still take lessons from both the artist and the global phenomenon of her show for career advancement.

What's that? You never thought of Taylor Swift as a career counselor? Mercedes Landazuri and Lynzie Nebel have, and brought her lessons to the Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum in November in Nashville.

Landazuri is the market insight manager and North America team lead for Ampacet, while Nebel is an upstream hardware engineer for Cytiva. Together, they're the PlastChicks podcast team.

Think about the messages Swift puts forward about speaking up for yourself, surrounding yourself with strong, supportive people and finding your authentic voice. Those are lessons everyone can use in their career, they said.

If you missed out on the event, Plastics News' Jordan Vitick has a recap here.