Kickstart: Vitamins B, C and PCR

Feeling a bit run-down? Why not try some multivitamins, shipped directly to your home in a 100 percent post-consumer recycled PET bottle?

Amcor Ltd. announced Feb. 11 that it is supplying the first 100 percent PCR multivitamin packaging for Ritual, a startup with a range of multivitamins shipped to customers’ homes. It is supplying two different sizes, 100 cubic centimeters and 500 cc.

Karen Laird from our sister publication Sustainable Plastics has more.

What with all the legislation and bans and negative news about pollution, it’s good to know that some people are still investing in new plastics production.

This week has brought news of a range of expansions. From Texas — Plastic Molding Technology expanding in El Paso — to California — Comar LLC investing in Rancho Cucamonga — and then Wednesday when Malaysia’s Scientex announced it would build a $43 million stretch film plant in South Carolina, its second in the U.S.

At the same time, economic development leaders in Ohio are continuing their work to entice PTT Global Chemical and Daelim Industrial Co. to build a petrochemicals facility in Dilles Bottom, Ohio, providing $20 million toward feasability studies.

This item isn’t prompted by any particular ongoing story. I was just looking up something, which then led me to this release talking about the Otterbox Venture Cooler (molded by Warren, Mich.-based Proper Tool & Mold) and it mentioned it was certified as being able to resist a bear.

Huh. I thought. Where does one find a bear to do product testing? Montana, it turns out, where the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (made up of representatives from agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management) looks after bears that have to be relocated.

One of the group’s services is product testing to make sure bears can’t get into consumer products such as trash bins, coolers and food containers that are used for camping or by people living in areas with a big bear population.

How do they do the testing? Put some food in the items, then place the items in with the bears for 60 minutes. If they survive, the items are officially certified as bear-resistant.

For the record, the most recent list covers 20 pages of qualified products and includes several brands of plastic coolers, wheeled trash carts and storage boxes.

This post appeared first on Plastics News.