Kickstart: Walmart investment in Caroline's Carts makes shopping easier

Walmart Inc. is welcoming more customers with special needs — along with their families and caregivers — by offering shopping carts with an integrated plastic seat for older children and adults.

Caroline's Carts, made in Denver, N.C., by Wanzl North America, are now available at Walmart stores in multiple states, including Arizona, Missouri, Louisiana and Colorado. They have a molded seat with a harness capable of holding people from 35-250 pounds.

"Equipping our stores with Caroline's Carts provides some relief to parents and caregivers who need this tool and know it's available at their Walmart," Cedric Clark, executive vice president of store operations at Walmart, said in a news release. "Whether they're caring for someone with a disability or a temporary injury, the carts support our customers when and how they need it every time they come through our doors."

Wanzl North America is the U.S. branch of Wanzl GmbH & Co. KGaA of Leipheim, Germany, a specialist in retail equipment, including carts. It has its own plastics processing operations along with metal production.

Caroline's Carts were designed by Drew Ann Long and named for her daughter. She brought the idea to Wanzl's Technibilt operations in North Carolina.

Walmart's project adds up to 8,000 carts nationwide by early 2025, more than Wanzl has built since it began manufacturing in 2012.

Little things like turning off the lights can add up to lower energy use. Lots of little things spread across a global company really add up.

Berry Global Group Inc. says its employee-led 100 million kilowatt hour (kWh) challenge launched in 2021 with a goal of reducing energy usage across its 300 plants worldwide. The goal, as the name suggests, was reducing 100 million kWh. The total savings across 1,100 projects in two years has cut 200 million kWh, the equivalent of the carbon emissions from 16,000 homes in one year.

While the company contributed $30 million to various projects, they didn't require extensive overhauls of production infrastructure, Berry said in a news release. Its plant in Terno d'Isola, Italy, implemented programming to automatically shut off equipment when not needed, cutting 70 minutes of energy use per day.

Berry received the Association of Energy Engineers' 2022 International Energy Project of the Year for its challenge program.

We're not going to tell you who to vote for, but the editorial team at Plastics News is asking: Which presidential candidate do you think is best for the plastics industry?

That's a complicated answer, of course, depending on which segment of the industry you represent. Just consider the point of view about tariffs on tooling made in China from the perspective of U.S. mold makers — who have called for tariff rates to increase — vs. those of molders who see them as adding costs they cannot afford.

Over on LinkedIn, PN has a posted a poll asking for your preference. More than 700 people have responded so far. (Keep in mind that internet-based polls are not scientific.) The poll will remain open through Sept. 27.