A drought-related supply chain ripple effect from the Panama Canal

There's another supply chain issue that may be of concern to U.S. manufacturers: The Panama Canal is in the middle of a drought and imposing restrictions on container ships passing between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The canal saw more than 13,000 transits in 2021. It hasn't stopped traffic but did reduce the draft line — the minimum depth of water the ship can safety navigate — by more than 9 feet since the beginning of May. That means that ships may have to carry smaller, lighter loads, which would increase shipping costs and time, the website Seatime Maritime News writes.

Gatun Lake, which is used to supply the canal's operations, was measured at a depth of 79.9 feet on June 8. In 2022, it was at 86.5 feet. Projections from the Panama Canal Authority is that the lake level could drop more than another foot by early August if conditions don't change. That would require even more restrictions on the ships passing through the locks.

There's a lot of buzz about bioplastics, but a major venture to make polylactic acid resins in France has just been canceled.

TotalEnergies Corbion, a joint venture between chemical company TotalEnergies and PLA maker Corbion, announced it "will not pursue a new PLA bioplastics plant" in Grandpuits, France, at a TotalEnergies site, following a review of its financial costs, Karen Laird from our sister publication Sustainable Plastics writes.

The company announced in 2020 that it would build a PLA plant at Grandpuits with a capacity of 100,000 metric tons per year of the material. It would have been its first in Europe. Corbion's plant in Thailand makes 75,000 tonnes per year.

TotalEnergies said it still plans to follow through on plans to upgrade the site in France to convert the refinery to use bio-based feedstock and become a "zero-crude platform."

Music lovers headed to the Glastonbury Festival in the United Kingdom from June 21-25 have a long list of things to bring — tents, food, sleeping bag, boots — but one thing they shouldn't bring? Disposable vape pens.

The plastic single-use pens lead to increased electronics waste as well as being nearly impossible to recycle. "They pollute the environment and can be hazardous at waste centers," festival organizers said.

The ban for 2023 follows a 2019 ban on single-use water bottles. (Glastonbury encourages attendees to bring a reusable bottle instead.)

Material Focus, a U.K.-based research group, said in a 2022 report that 1.3 million single-use vapes are thrown away each week, contributing to the fastest-growing waste stream in the country.