Kickstart: Thanksgiving and bio-based balloons

If you think something looks familiar during New York's Thanksgiving Day Parade, you're not wrong.

In fact, parade organizers say some 85 percent of floats and balloons in the annual event are made with recycled or reused materials and structures. More than 75 percent of the exterior surface area of the floats incorporate recycled items, such as using air cushion film to shape flower buds or converting old curtains into snowy mountain tops, according to a recent sustainability report.

The steel and aluminum float structures have been reused since 2012 when the parade ditched single-use wood frames.

The next big green project is to upgrade the material for iconic character balloons to a bio-based, compostable film.

"Engineers are rapidly iterating prototype balloon designs using plant-based materials that meet both environmental standards and flight dynamic requirements for the colder November air," according to ThanksgivingParade.com.

The Washington Post has a story on lawsuits accusing companies of collaborating to raise raw material prices, and thereby their own profits.

Some of that may sound familiar if you've been following the news about accusations that plastic pipe makers and research group Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) colluded to keep prices high for pipes used for everything from municipal water and sewer projects to conduits for wiring. But this accusation is based on a very different product: potatoes.

Antitrust lawsuits have been filed against Cavendish Farms, Lamb Weston, McCain Foods and J.R. Simplot, companies that sell frozen potato products such as french fries, hash browns and tots, which are accused of conspiriring to artificially increase costs by sharing trade information and coordinating price increases since 2021, the Post writes.

This kartoffel cartel (as the Germans may phrase it) controls 95 percent of the U.S. market for frozen potato products. The lawsuits say prices for those products rose 47 percent between July 2022 and July 2024, the Post writes.

McCain Foods denies the accusations.

Likewise, in the case of the lawsuits from private companies and the Erie County Water Authority in Buffalo, N.Y. — and an investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice — pipe makers maintain their innocence. Chuck MacFarlane, CEO of Otter Tail Corp., a maker of PVC pipe, said in a call with analysts earlier this year that "there are factual and legal defenses to the allegations … and we intend to defend ourselves."

Nelipak Healthcare Packaging has gotten flexible in North America.

The Rhode Island-based medical packaging company opened its first North American flexible packaging facility in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Nov. 26. It joins four existing thermoforming production facilities already in operation in North America, allowing the company to offer a wider range of items. It already has a combination of flexible and rigid medical packaging at other sites in Europe and Costa Rica.

The flagship site in Winston-Salem covers 110,000 square feet, has clean room manufacturing and will use a range of substrates — including films, Tyvek, paper and foil laminates. Nelipak first announced plans for the site in 2022.