Kickstart: Rubber tires and microplastics

Activist shareholder group As You Sow is targeting tire maker Goodyear over "microplastic" pollution.

That's because a lot of the waste found floating in oceans that is labeled as microplastics is, in fact, tiny pieces of vehicle tires that slough off during everyday use, called tire and road wear particles, or TRWP.

As You Sow, which has frequently targeted brand owners and companies with a large business related to plastics, has a proposal that will go before the Goodyear annual shareholder meeting on April 14 urging the company to take action to reduce the release of debris from tires.

"Studies looking into tire and road wear particles suggest that such chemicals and particles are polluting the air and leaching into bodies of water and surrounding environments," the proposal states. "Six million tons of tire wear particles, which can contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals, are released globally each year. Large particles are transported by road runoff via rainwater, resulting in the leaching of toxic chemicals and environmental damage; micro and nanoscale tire particles may be small enough to become airborne and ingested."

The proposal goes on to cite work taken by competitor Michelin to reduce the release of particles.

Goodyear executives are recommending shareholders reject the proposal, calling it unnecessary, our sister paper Tire Business writes.

Another past target of As You Sow shareholder activism, the grocery store chain Kroger, is facing scrutiny over its inability to meet its own sustainability deadline.

In 2018, Kroger set itself a goal of eliminating single-use plastic bags in its stores by 2025. But its most recent sustainability report indicates it is still trying to determine just how to do that.

"During the past two years, our retail operations team has conducted multiple pilots in select stores to test bag alternatives and incentives to encourage customers to move away from single-use plastic bags," the report notes. "These tests have provided valuable insights and wide-ranging customer feedback that is affecting our pace of change and potential road map for phasing out single-use bags."

The website Modern Retail notes that Kroger's report still lists phasing out single-use bags as a goal but did mark the process as being "on track."

Students interested in the plastics industry have less than a week to apply for a range of scholarship programs handled by the Society of Plastics Engineers.

The deadline to apply for the 2025-26 academic year is April 1 for most of the scholarships.

There are scholarships from the SPE Foundation, the Plastics Hall of Fame, the Plastics Pioneers Association and Western Plastics Pioneers Association, the Automotive Composites and Conference Exhibition, and dozens more.

ALPS Inspection, which provides in-line testing service for blow molders and packaging suppliers, has its first scholarship opportunity this year, aimed at co-op students seeking hands-on training.