Technological watch

We try not to toot our own horn in public too much here at Plastics News, although we do celebrate good work amongst ourselves quite often. A couple of recent items, though, I thought were worth bringing up here.

First, let's talk bioplastics. When the White House announced a massive new target for the use of bio-based plastics to replace traditional plastics, we obviously had extensive coverage from the start. But in addition, Editor Don Loepp hatched a plan to create something special so we could go in depth even more than we would normally. After all, he reasoned, within the Global Polymer Group plan — with includes PN, Sustainable Plastics, Rubber News and other papers — we had expertise on materials supply, public policy and just what the term "bioplastics" even covers.

And not only do we have in-house knowledge, we have contacts with people who can bring their knowledge on the subject. So on May 17, Plastics News and Sustainable Plastics will host the Bioplastics Live special webinar, with free access to subscribers.

Speakers in addition to PN and SP staff are Rafael Auras, Amcor endowed chair in packaging sustainability at Michigan State University; Kelvin Okamoto, CEO of Gen3Bio LLC; and Conor Carlin, president-elect of the Society of Plastics Engineers, managing director of Illig North America and co-author of the second edition of Plastics and Sustainability. You can sign up now.