Kickstart: Fewer plastics on screen

Get ready to see more reruns on TV.

I'm not talking about a typical re-airing of a show, but rather seeing more reusable containers on screen.

SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union, has joined with the Motion Picture Association to create the Green Council, a new initiative aiming to "promote environmentally conscious and sustainable practices in the entertainment industry," the Plastic Pollution Coalition writes.

"Mission No. 1 will be a conscientious effort to reduce single-use plastics and normalize reusables," SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a video announcement last month. "Together, the entertainment industry, when paired with the press and social media, can make a huge difference."

The Green Council follows up on Flip the Script on Plastics, a 2022 initiative from Plastic Pollution Coalition and the actors' union to replace single-use plastics with reusables when possible. (You can find a story on that project from PN's Steve Toloken here.)

With MPA on board, the Green Council will have support in movie studios' executive offices.

A 2019 report from the Producers Guild of America said that a 60-day movie shoot goes through about 39,000 water bottles. That is in addition to a typical movie set that can generate 225 tons of scrap metal, almost 50 tons of construction and set debris, and 72 tons of food waste.

Midwest grocery chain The Kroger Co. says it has hit a milestone in its work to make flexible packaging for its store brands more recyclable. Working with TerraCycle, Kroger provides pre-paid mailing labels its customers can use to send in flexible packaging for 2,500 different items. Last month, it registered its one-millionth piece of flexible packaging recycled.

The mail-in program began in 2021. TerraCycle uses the material in playgrounds donated by Kroger to youth and community organizations. The retailer also has drop-off centers for bags and other flexible plastics.

"Our customers sharing in [our] commitment by recycling packaging … makes important progress toward eliminating waste and creating healthy, thriving communities," said Juan De Paoli, vice president of Our Brands for Kroger, in a news release.

A $400 million investment in Michigan may show the next curve in the road for the auto industry: hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Norway's Nel ASA announced May 3 that it will build a 500-employee automated electrolysing plant in Michigan for proton-exchange membranes — the film and bi-polar plates at the center of hydrogen-powered fuel cells.

Nel previously announced that it is working with General Motors Co. to accelerate the growth of its PEM operations. Just as in the push for EVs, the supply chain for fuel cell vehicles needs to be developed, including a "critical need" for U.S.-made electrolyzers, our sister paper Crain's Detroit Business writes.

An exact location for Nel's new plant hasn't been announced.