Kickstart: Who runs the (plastics) world?

It's time to recognize the women who make the plastics industry run. Nominations for Women Breaking the Mold 2023 are now open.

Plastics News has produced a special report on women in the industry since 2015. The profiles feature women filling key positions throughout the plastics industry, from today's CEOs to the rising stars who are the future. We've heard from women who lead from the manufacturing floor to researchers developing future materials and products. We've talked to women in sales, mold making, human resources, finance and sustainability. In other words, the women who are present in every type of job in the industry.

You can nominate up to two people using the form on this link. This year, we're asking some extra multiple-choice questions dealing with work-life balance, stress and nominees' outlook on the future of the industry.

Nominations are open until June 23. PN's special report will be published July 31.

We also host the Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum, taking place Nov. 13-14 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Catch up with the 2022 honorees here and you can find more coverage at plasticsnews.com/topic/women-breaking-mold.

Amcor Rigid Packaging has gone solar at one of its plants in South America.

The packaging company's blow molding site in Cali, Colombia, is now tapping into solar energy from Celsia, an energy plant supplying nearly 9 million watts of electricity from more than 16,000 solar panels.

About 20 percent of its power is supplied from the solar project, with the rest from hydroelectric energy. Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Amcor Rigid says the combination of solar and hydroelectric energy will reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide by more than 7,000 tons per year.

Both industry and environment groups are coming together to praise Sen. Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat, after he announced his plans to retire next year.

Carper chairs the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where he has been involved in developing policy to improve sustainability, including a push for more funding for recycling infrastructure. He established the Senate Recycling Caucus along with former Sen. Olympia Snow in 2004 to promote the benefits of recycling, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. noted. The Nature Conservancy praised his work in providing a voice for environmental concerns in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.

He is also, President Joe Biden noted in a news release noting Carper's retirement, the last Vietnam War veteran serving in the Senate.

But Carper's interest in recycling didn't stop at legislation. In a 2020 hearing on recycling infrastructure, he noted that the pandemic had halted most roadside volunteer cleanups. So he headed out himself.

"I found an old [Delaware Department of Transportation] Adopt-a-Highway yellow fluorescent vest in our garage, put it on, grabbed a couple of large 45 gallon trash bags, climbed into my like-new 2001 Chrysler Town and Country minivan, headed for a place to park not far from the onramp and went to work. Two hours later, the right-hand side of the onramp had been cleaned up. I loaded the bulging bags into the back of my minivan and vowed to return next weekend to finish the job," Carper said in an opening statement during a hearing in June 2020.