Kickstart: Got milk?

Big news from dairy this week as Dean Foods Co. announced it is filing for bankruptcy protection, while seeking the sale of its operations. It's also in advanced discussions with Dairy Farmers of America, a milk marketing cooperative, on the sale.

Dean Foods is the biggest dairy company in the U.S. — with $7.8 billion in net sales in 2018 and 15,000 employees — and as such its move will ripple out to its packaging suppliers. Just shy of 100 years old, Dean has defined much of the dairy market for years. Consider when it decided to begin offering single size servings of its milk in high density polyethylene containers. The "milk chugs" added 40 percent to its sales when they debuted in 1998.

But time is tough for dairy. As PN economist Bill Wood noted in this week's Numbers That Matter column, dairy sales have been on the decline for nine years, and that number accelerated in 2019 as consumers reach for milk alternatives. And it didn't help that a major Dean customer, Walmart, dropped them after opening its own dairy plant last year.

You could be forgiven for thinking all the news out of the capitol was about Ukraine, but plastic marine pollution came up in some brief but well informed debate in a Senate committee meeting Nov. 13, as Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., outlined concerns to the bipartisan — and plastics industry backed — Save Our Seas 2.0 legislation.
He argued that legislation doesn't go far enough and said signaled his opposition.
And that prompted a defense from one of SOS 2.0's sponsors, Alaska Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, who pointed to Asian countries and rivers as the largest sources of plastics in the ocean. You can catch Udall's critiques in the replay of the Commerce, Science and Transportation committee's legislative markup and voting session, beginning at about the 42 minutes into the hearing.
About 94 minutes into the session, Sullivan responds and spends a few minutes defending his legislation, which at this point, does seem to enjoy more bipartisan support. PN's Steve Toloken has more on SOS 2.0.

Remember the Google smart glasses? Or rather the trademarked "Google Glass?" This wearable technology was first rolled out in limited numbers in 2013, but at $1,500 and looking like something out of a bad sci fi movie, they didn't exactly fly off the shelves.

Now Covestro AG is helping a Canadian startup, North, roll out a new version of smart glasses that look like normal glasses. They use Covestro's Bayfol HX high-strength photopolymer films to display information on the lens.

The Focals retail at about $600, and because they look like normal eyewear, you may be able to use them without drawing extra attention to your technology. Of course, if you're spending $600 on smart glasses, maybe you really, really want people to notice them.