Kickstart: Offers too good to pass up

Mergers and acquisitions may not be setting records this year, but they've still been strong. That's especially true for proven firms supplying key industries such as health care.

Consider Molded Devices Inc., a Tempe, Ariz.-based molder with injection molding, tube extrusion, blow molding and dip molding that was just sold to TruArc Partners LP. TruArc purchased the stake in the company that PNC Mezzanine Capital had owned since 2015.

"The markets, in my opinion, got crazy in terms of the multiples being paid," founder Brian Anderson told PN's Jim Johnson.

Anderson and CEO Jack Slinger had been managing three to five incoming acquisition inquires each week, Anderson said. That was too many for them to handle so MDI hired advisers Piper Sandler to help out.

And it's not as if Anderson, Slinger and their team were unfamiliar with the M&A marketplace. Anderson bought his first company when he was 28. As of 2016 when Anderson spoke with PN for the What Keeps You Up At Night series, MDI had completed 10 acquisitions since 1998. And even after hiring Piper Sandler, Molded Devices put the sale process on hold so it could acquire Seitz LLC to expand its production base. The final value of the sale to TruArc has not been disclosed.

"But it's not all about price," Anderson said. "We wanted to have a good home."

And now that Molded Devices has a new financial backer, you can expect more deals to come.

It seems chemical companies aren't the only groups getting involved in reclaiming hard-to-recycle plastics.

In Portland, Ore., 24-year-old James Harris is overseeing a neighborhood recycling program that accepts hard-to-recycle items, a program that has people lined up to pay $3 per bag to recycle foam takeout containers, straws, toothpaste tubes, contact lens packaging, pill bottles, coffee cup lids and other items.

Harris, who was diagnosed with autism when he was 4, "found his passion in protecting the environment and the welfare of animals," according to James' Neighborhood Recycling's website.

The business operates only in the Bridlemile neighborhood of Portland, with collection locations posted on Harris' website. He also offers a collection service for $15 per month.

"I like collecting stuff by people dropping off things they'd throw away," he told Laural Porter of KGW News. "I'm saving the planet and earning money."

How much plastic packaging did you get with your last online shopping order?

A California lawmaker thinks it's time for retailers to stop using so many flexible plastic mailers, air pillows and other items, an idea that has some support among environmental groups.

At this point, Assembly Member Laura Friedman's Assembly Bill 2026 doesn't have a lot of attention, with more focus on a state Senate bill that has already passed and carries extended producer responsibility requirements that likely would cover some of those same items.

PN's Bridget Janis has more details on the proposal and what it could mean for plastics suppliers.