Nearly 30 Girl Scouts from the Chicago area have a little more information about engineering, packaging and sustainability. They even have a patch to prove it.
The PMMI Foundation helped fund a one-day visit by scouts and their parents at Pack Expo in Chicago. The students earned the Sustainable Packaging Patch, developed by the Society of Plastics Engineers and the Institute of Packaging Professionals.
"The Girl Scouts have a mission to build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place," PMMI Foundation writes on its website. That mission includes access to science, technology, engineering and math education programs.
SPE and Girl Scouts introduced a polymer science patch in 2022, beginning with a regional offering in Texas that expanded nationally in 2023.
The Sustainable Packaging Patch has a tighter focus on one area of the plastics industry, but PMMI Foundation has big plans, hoping to reach 4,000 scouts annually.