Kickstart: Picking a charity that 'speaks to your heart'

Each year, as companies and individuals take part in annual charitable contributions, it's interesting to how they approach gift-giving.

It's understandable, of course, that we all have priorities. We all need to pick and choose where we invest our time and money. No one can respond to every request for help. As one of the speakers said at last month's Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum, it's important to pick a group that "speaks to your heart."

Some firms may prefer working with operations such as the Society of Plastics Engineers and its education programs or with programs focused on plastics sustainability projects such as Herrmann Ultrasonics and its recent donation of 10,000 euros to The Ocean Cleanup, which hopes to remove 90 percent of the plastics floating on or near the surface of the Pacific Ocean by 2040.

Dave Preusse, president of Wittmann USA, continued his tradition of sleeping outside during a Connecticut YMCA Freezin' for a Reason event in December to raise money for the homeless.

PN's Frank Esposito writes about Chase Plastic Services Inc.'s annual Giving Card campaign that allows customers and suppliers to nominate groups to receive donations, with more than 500 charities nominated since 2016 and almost $40,000 distributed.

Even as some auto industry watchers fear a slowdown in new car sales linked to inflation and recession, automakers, suppliers and government agencies are investing in new projects for electric vehicles.

As a result, you can see headlines about Chrysler owner Stellantis idling its Belvidere, Ill., plant within hours of Ford Motor Co. adding workers and another shift for its EV pickup while Lear Corp. expands molding of parts for electronics and battery systems.

Even for carmakers producing EVs, the route ahead isn't simple. Consider the current issues facing Rivian as it burns through cash and struggles to keep production on pace.

It's all very confusing, and I don't have a simple answer to what to expect, but it does appear that the industry will be facing more rough road ahead.

A couple of weeks ago, Editor Don Loepp raised the question in Kickstart about who is paying Rick Berman to boost the plastics industry. If you haven't seen it yet, Berman responded, via a perspective column in this week's print issue of Plastics News and online, to say that he's not revealing his backers.

"It's not fun being targeted by radical environmentalists," he writes.

Berman maintains that his group is working to "reframe the issue" related to plastics and sustainability.

He goes into depth in the column about his take on why plastics deserve more support.

I'd like to point out, however, that if he wants to draw people to his cause, he could update his statement that the U.S. is "responsible for less than 1 percent of the mismanaged plastic trash in the ocean. Almost all ocean trash comes from 10 rivers in Africa and Asia."

Berman points to a 2018 report in his column.

Note: An earlier version of Kickstart stated that Berman did not cite the study. Links to the 2018 report were accidentally omitted from the original column. They have now been restored.

But for me, you should also address follow-ups to similar studies (including authors of a 2015 report who have since backed away from initial findings saying it failed to take into account the original source of the plastic, namely U.S.-based packaging) if you want to take a look at the whole issue.  If you say plastics' opponents aren't providing the whole truth on the material, you shouldn't obscure all the information available on something you're citing in your support.