Kickstart: Shake ‘N Bake ditches the plastic bag

Can you believe that consumers buy so much Shake 'N Bake that just eliminating the plastic bag from the package will save 900,000 pounds of plastic annually?

Kraft Heinz Co. announced Nov. 10 that it's removing the plastic "shaker" bag from its Shake 'N Bake product. According to the company, that will eliminate 900,000 pounds of plastic — equivalent to the weight of more than 270 mid-size cars.

But how will we coat our chicken wings and pork chops without that "shaker" bag? The company is encouraging Shake 'N Bake fans to use a reusable container instead.

"While the 'shaker' bag is an important part of our legacy, our product is just as effective and delicious without the plastic waste, and we are excited for all the good to come from this simple, yet effective packaging change," Brand Manager Brianna Galvin said in a news release.

The company says the brand is healthy, experiencing steady double-digit sales growth since 2019. Myself, I can't read the words "Shake 'N Bake" without mentally adding, "and I made it," or "and I helped."

I've been saving this one for a while, but with Rhoda Miel at the Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum today, I finally get a chance to share the important news that Elon Musk might like plastic straws.

More accurately, perhaps, he doesn't like paper straws and other alternatives, according to Torque News, which compiled all of Musk's tweets and retweets related to plastic straws. There's more than you'd think.

"Stop the war on straws," he wrote. But while Musk complained that paper straws taste "like cardboard," the rant seems to be aimed primarily at political correctness. "The straw war is emblematic of larger social issues," he wrote back in May.

The civic-minded folks at Auburn, Ill.-based pipe extruder Springfield Plastics Inc. are in the news again, this time for donating $2,000 to the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight, an organization that provides round-trip transportation to World War II, Korean Era and Vietnam Era veterans from Springfield, Ill., to visit their memorials in Washington, D.C.

"Springfield Plastics understands the importance of showing our veterans how grateful we are for their service," Jennifer Furkin, vice president at Springfield Plastics, told the local media.

Earlier this year, Springfield Plastics made headlines for supporting Drain for the Cure, which supports the Simmons Cancer Institute.

In this week between Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving, is seems appropriate to say thanks to the team at Springfield Plastics for their community involvement.