Kickstart: Vinyl lobbying, a beer bottle shortage at K and blending with the family (firm)

Vinyl industry leaders returned to an annual tradition this week — flying to Washington to lobby for their political priorities.

This year, a lot of attention was put on PVC's role in lowering the carbon footprint for the country's clean water and energy infrastructure, according to the Washington-based Vinyl Institute.

VI said that included opportunities for vinyl in spending part of last year's Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act, which included $55 billion in clean water spending and $75 billion in broadband and electric vehicle infrastructure.

On May 17, industry executives spread out to more than 50 congressional meetings, where they also discussed the Toxic Substances Control Act and farm legislation.

"Industry leaders are underscoring the role that vinyl products can play in reducing carbon emissions," said Ned Monroe, VI's president and CEO. "Vinyl is often a lower carbon alternative relative to other materials for water and clean energy infrastructure."

At the K 2022 later this year in Germany, supply chain challenges will surely be on the minds of attendees at what is the world's largest plastics trade fair.

One in particular, though, could get a little personal — a predicted shortage of beer bottles in Deutschland.

The BBC is quoting the head of the German Brewers' Federation that the situation is "extremely tense," particularly for small and midsized breweries.

Considering that a post-show evening in Düsseldorf's Altstadt, or Old Town, often includes some of the city's well-known Altbier style of beer, maybe we all need to prepare.

Rising energy prices and shortages of truck drivers are pushing up the price of beer bottles and may push the price of beer up 30 percent, the BBC said.

The plastics industry has a lot of smallish family-owned companies, and how exactly leadership goes from one generation to the next can be a big topic.

My colleague Catherine Kavanaugh has a look at what you might loosely call a 10-year internship for 27-year-old Kane Rasner, who was recently named president of auxiliary equipment maker Advanced Blending Solutions LLC in Wallace, Mich.

Kane's dad and ABS founder and CEO Mike Rasner dropped president from his title, with the idea of handing over more day-to-day operations for the maker of material handling, blending, desiccant drying and controls for the plastics industry.

"I've been in the role for almost two months now but I was broken in long before then," Kane said, pointing to times in high school sorting bolts and sweeping floors, followed by an 18-month break from college to work at ABS and more roles in different departments after graduation.

Kane said he started out at Michigan Technological University wanting to be a doctor but said he didn't have to think long when his father asked him during one holiday break about working for the family firm. That's probably a story familiar to many family operations.