Kickstart: Tweaking California's bag ban

Bans sometimes have unintended consequences. One study from an environmental group, for example, said California's 2014 ban on flimsy single-use plastic bags actually increased the amount of plastic bag waste from the average Californian by 40 percent.

So California lawmakers took a step to fix that May 21.

On a preliminary vote, both chambers of the Legislature repealed the 2014 ban and replaced it with a plan supporters say favors recycled-content paper bags.

As you might expect, it gets complicated.

The plastic bag industry warns that California's new plan will gut an industry supplying 40 percent recycled-content plastic bags, mostly polyethylene, that grew up to comply with the requirements of the 2014 ban on the flimsy, free bags.

In testimony at a legislative hearing we covered in March, plastics bag industry reps predicted the new plan would increase the use of other kinds of plastic bags, namely the thicker, reusable nonwoven polypropylene ones.

But supporters of the new plan are pressing ahead, with final votes likely later this summer. They say a well-designed ban reduces pollution, particularly if it also puts a fee on paper bags.

Thanks to Plastics News' Steve Toloken for this item.

With the summer cookout season on us — and sustainability a goal for most businesses and consumers — let's talk hot dogs.

Specifically, the film used to package your favorite frankfurters.

Food giant Kraft-Heinz has a goal to make all of its packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. The flexible packaging for hot dogs isn't exactly easy to recycle, even if you have curbside recycling.

Kraft-Heinz, the owner of the Oscar Meyer brand, is aware of that, telling the Columbia Daily Tribune it wants to use funds from a tax abatement program in part to support packaging upgrades.

"We need to convert this remaining portion of our portfolio to more sustainable options, including evaluating new materials for Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs packaging," the company told the Tribune.

There's another expansion for health care molding as SMC Ltd., based in Wisconsin, buys a new facility in Charlotte, N.C.

The company told PN's Sarah Kominek it is in the "early stages" of building out the site. When completed, it will have lab-to-market development, analytical services, device manufacture, sterile fill and finish, final assembly and secondary packaging.

It already has production in California, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Ohio, Costa Rica, the United Kingdom and India.