Happy Independence Day!
The Plastics News team will be out until Wednesday, but the latest issue is out now. This week’s issue is our Midyear Mergers & Acquisitions report, which found that plastics had a decline in the first half of 2023 amid higher interest rates and economic uncertainty. We have an M&A newsletter that is sent every other week, sign up here. There will also be a PN Live for M&A on July 20 at 2 p.m. EDT.
In light of the long holiday, we sent out this week’s Material Insights on Friday, which covers the latest resin price changes.
Assistant Managing Editor Steve Toloken was on site at the American Chemistry Council’s Innovation and Circularity summit where the a Wendy’s executive said the fast-food giant hasn’t been able to source plastics containing recycled content.
Senior Reporter Frank Esposito has an exclusive report on the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment. Officials with materials maker Oxy Vinyls LP and Norfolk Southern were questioned at a two-day government hearing on the February derailment and burnoff of plastics feedstock vinyl chloride monomer.
Elsewhere in this issue:
- From our sister publication Rubber News: Several big reports on the topic of PFAS news has come through. 1) The European Chemical Agency is halfway through a six-month consultation/comment period on its restriction proposal that calls for the eventual banning of roughly 10,000 PFAS substances. 2) Companies 3M, Chemours, DuPont and Corteva have agreed to pay more than $11 billion to assist with PFAS mitigation efforts. 3) Solvay Specialty Polymers USA will also pay more than $392 million to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to help resolve PFAS issues.
- Michelin Group, in moving beyond tires, is looking “to become a global leader in high-tech engineered fabrics and films” with the pending purchase of Paris-based Flex Composite Group for more than $764 million.
- Fenner Precision Polymers, which exists within Michelin Group’s High-Tech Materials division, is consolidating its Pennsylvania operations under one very large roof.
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