Kickstart: Partying with Arburg

This is not a photo from a Taylor Swift concert. Or Harry Styles. Or Luke Combs.

The photo up there is from a concert by Austrian folk rock musician Andreas Gabalier at a July 15 party to mark the 100th anniversary of machinery maker Arburg in Lossburg, Germany. The company says 10,000 people turned out for the event.

The concert was just one of 30 events Arburg has hosted at its sites around the world. The Lossburg concert included a massive stage covering nearly 1,900 square feet flanked by two massive LED display screens so everyone could see, the company said. The concert was interrupted by thunderstorms but continued after about 90 minutes.

"The logistical feat was enormous," Michael Hehl, managing partner premesis development, said in a news release. "... All in all, our anniversary event was a complete success for the employees and just as special as Arburg itself."

While vinyl has once again become the favorite medium for music lovers buying physical copies of records (streaming tops physical record sales) polycarbonate is becoming another option, and not in CD form.

Our sister paper Crain's Grand Rapids Business has a story on a Michigan man who has opened a studio that makes lathe-cut albums. The process uses specialty equipment to cut audio tracks directly onto PC, rather than using a metal master that molds vinyl albums.

"Here in the United States, there's no one really trying to manufacture something like this," George Paulin of Grand Rapids Voice Over said.

Not that the process is about to overtake the resurging vinyl format. Paulin can cut only a limited number of records at a time. But that can give small artists a chance to offer "vinyl" records to fans at a lower cost and volume than standard records.

PVC pipe is playing a part in recycling fishing line.

The pipe serves as receptacles for broken line from recreational anglers, posted at docks and popular fishing spots.

The city of Holland, Mich., recently installed fishing line recycling stations made of pipe at four popular parks.

"The fishing line poses a major hazard … because it's monofilament — you can't see it," Holland Sustainability Manager Dan Brosersma told local TV station WOOD. "But it also is a hazard for boaters. It gets caught up in paddles and propellers, so it's just a hazard all the way around. And it's a highly recyclable material."

Similar pipe receptacles have been placed at other sites around the U.S. An Eagle Scout created seven fishing line recycling sites in Charleston, S.C.

More than 100,000 marine mammals die from ingesting or being entangled in fishing lines, nets and other types of derelict fishing gear, Charleston noted on its website. Missaukee County leaders in Michigan — which also benefited from an Eagle Scout project — noted that line thrown into trash may be scavenged from landfills by animals building nests and end up back in the environment where it's not wanted.