Kickstart: Not just a pipe dream

Home construction has always been a strong end market for PVC pipe. But as construction slows because of higher interest rates, pipe makers are seeing help ahead in the form of federal infrastructure spending.

A federal infrastructure spending bill has set aside $55 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure improvements.

"Federal infrastructure spending will soften any slowdown [from construction]," Vinyl Institute CEO Ned Monroe told PN's Frank Esposito. "Improving the nation's water infrastructure is a focus for the federal government over the next five years, and PVC pipe will play a significant role in that effort."

"Pipes inventories are very low," Bruce Hollands, executive director of the Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association, told PN's Catherine Kavanaugh last month. "The market is booming."

And federal spending will aid the PVC industry beyond pipes, Monroe noted. The recently signed Inflation Reduction Act sets aside money to help develop the electric vehicle industry and infrastructure. That includes charging stations filled with PVC electronics, wiring, connectors and housings.

Drivers in Atlanta will soon have the chance to participate in a pilot program to recycle automotive oil and lubrication packaging.

The National Lubricant Container Recycling Coalition — made up of oil suppliers including Castrol, Valvoline, Chevron and Pennzoil along with packaging suppliers such as Plastipak, Berry Global and Graham Packaging — will use the one-year pilot at 40 locations in Atlanta to "assess and measure the economic and market drivers for post-consumer recovery and recycling."

Used oil containers will be collected at retail stores, auto care centers and instant oil change facilities.

"For contaminated packaging from petroleum and related materials [collection and sortation] isn't really happening," Tristan Steichen, director of NLCRC, said in a news release. "The pilot focuses on the heart of the problem – collection – to find the most efficient ways to aggregate and transport the materials to processors who want them."

A polycarbonate sheet supplied by Curbell Plastics Inc. is helping students get a feel for the weather.

Buffalo, N.Y.-based meteorologist Andy Parker first created The Weather Machine as a desktop tool to show how clouds, fog, winds, storms and other weather systems developed.

"Students can reach in and touch a tornado, for example, to feel the air and the vortex, without fear," Curbell said in a news release. You can see it in action here.

When COVID-19 interrupted his regular visits to schools, he spent time rethinking the machine as a far larger prop that could be used with a bigger group.

The new version required a far larger piece of PC, one that had to be clear from all angles, with no obstructed views and light enough to move and easily set up at schools.

Curbell, based in Orchard Park, N.Y., donated the polycarbonate sheet.