Kickstart: Processors ditching PFAS | Another plastics ban | Bill Maher

The plastics industry is witnessing an unprecedented shift as manufacturers accelerate the transition to PFAS-free products.

Just a year ago, Plastics News hosted a livestream on PFAS because we felt that regulations and lawsuits were going to affect supply chains and that most companies weren’t ready.

But our recent coverage shows the industry clearly has been paying attention. First, Sarah Kominek reported on unique challenges in the medical device sector that quoted Shalene Thomas, senior emerging contaminants program manager at Battelle.

We’ve also published two stories by Steve Toloken from the Society of Plastics Engineers’ technical conference, “Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in the Plastics Industry.”

In the first, which Rhoda Miel already highlighted in Kickstart, Steve reported that plastics companies using PFAS may face greater long-term risks from lawsuits and product liability concerns than from government regulations.

Steve’s latest story highlights how rapidly the plastics industry is phasing out PFAS products. He quotes Robert Sherman, a U.S.-based researcher for German additive producer Baerlocher GmbH, saying: “What normally takes a decade, in some cases, took less than six months.”

Steve’s story also covers how processors can be sure their supply chain are PFAS-free and whether they should consider going a step further and becoming fluorine-free, too.

We had plenty to write about last week related to the presidential election and the impact on plastics. But there was a specific plastics angle to Nov. 5 that we haven’t reported yet.

Voters in Bozeman, Mont., overwhelmingly approved an ordinance that will ban businesses from the sale or distribution of polystyrene foam containers, single-use plastic bags, or single-use plastic straws or beverage stirrers, starting May 1, 2025.

Getting this initiative in front of voters was a long and difficult process, according to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Proponents of the ban had to challenge a state law that preempted cities, towns and citizen ballot initiatives from regulating single-use plastics.

Then there was a disagreement about the number of signatures that proponents needed to get the measure on the November ballot.

Although the measure passed with more than 63 percent of 27,855 votes cast, this plastics ban may still face another legal challenge before it takes effect. But the newspaper quoted Bozeman lawyer John Meyer with Cottonwood Environmental Law with a defiant message: “We’re going to kick their ass even if they challenge us again.”

Political comedian Bill Maher ended his Nov. 8 Real Time program on HBO with a rant about plastics and ocean pollution, which he tackled from a post-election angle — think Puerto Rico.

“There actually is an island of garbage in the ocean. The only person to mention it during the whole campaign was the insult comic?” Maher asked. “Yes, of all our addictions, plastic, that is the one that is going to kill us.”

Maher admitted that ocean plastic seemed off-topic for a week dominated by the election. And his monologue wandered from facts into hyperbole when he recklessly charged that plastic from blue bins doesn’t get recycled, it ends up being dumped in rivers.

It’s a serious topic, worthy of attention, but Maher’s take missed the mark based both on laughs and facts.