On January 25th, many in our industry noted a celebratory milestone – the 50th anniversary of Bubble Wrap®. While this event was not met with fireworks, marching bands or a tickertape parade, Sealed Air, makers of Bubble Wrap,  did conduct a special limited run of gold Bubble Wrap cushioning on January 25th  (see photo, left). For that one day, the factory lines in the company’s Saddle River, N.J. facility changed from the popular clear to gold to commemorate the historic occasion. A Chicago TV station even did a news story on the anniversary.

Bubble Wrap (basically two sheets of polyethylene film sealed in a secret process that traps air between them) started with an attempt by inventors Marc Chavannes and Al Fielding to develop a plastic textured wallpaper—an idea that, unlike their product, fell flat. While their invention found some success as a greenhouse insulator, its potential wasn’t realized until Chavannes looked out the window of an airplane and noted the almost cushioning effect clouds appeared to have on the plane as it descended. A big-time idea came to fruition: Their product would be ideal as cushioning for fragile items.

Now, having lived a somewhat nomadic life for the last decade or so, I have come to appreciate the cushioning power of Bubble Wrap when packing up to move from here to there. I’m certain that this one product has saved a number of my “irreplaceable” items from ending up broken and in the trash.  Yet beyond salvaging my handcrafted beer steins and my collection of Elvis figurines, I am convinced that Bubble Wrap has also saved my sanity from time to time.   Who hasn’t found stress relief or derived pure entertainment from simply popping the bubbles. Stomping them is fun and twisting is an excellent technique as well.

Whether used for a variety of creative purposes — just check out the annual Bubble Wrap Contest for Young Inventors which we blogged about last year – or for its intended packaging purpose,  Bubble Wrap has found an important  place in American pop (pun intended) culture. So the next time you are moving or enthusiastically puncturing bubble after bubble, please stop for a moment to acknowledge the golden anniversary of Bubble Wrap and tip your hat to Chavannes and Fielding for creating this invaluable product.

Recently I was talking with a contact from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Marine Debris Program (MDP).  The MDP serves as a centralized marine debris capability within NOAA in order to coordinate, strengthen and increase the visibility of marine debris issues and efforts within the agency, its partners and the public.  This program is undertaking a national and international effort focusing on identifying, reducing and preventing debris in the marine environment. (Of course, SPI’s own marine debris initiative, Operation Clean Sweep, includes approximately 200 companies that have pledged to take necessary management steps to ensure that spilled resin pellets do not make their way to local waterways or the ocean.)  

Through the years, SPI has worked with MDP staff on an educational front including last year’s pre-NPE2009 event entitled “Polymers and the Environment: Emerging Technologies and Science” co-sponsored by SPI and the BioEnvironmental Polymer Society (BEPS).  Dr. Holly Bamford, Marine Debris Program Director and Division Chief, spoke at the conference regarding marine debris issues and the plastics industry.

In talking with my contact, I was interested to hear about a recent program the MDP has undertaken to turn derelict fishing nets (one of the larger contributors to marine debris) into energy.  The Nets-to-Energy Program has taken the fishing net situation and used it as an opportunity to turn the waste into something beneficial: usable electricity.

The whole concept of “waste-to-energy” is not new to the plastics industry.  As SPI President Bill Carteaux has blogged about, plastics are derived from petroleum or natural gas giving them a stored energy value higher than any other material commonly found in the waste stream.  According to one source:

“…plastics have a high calorific value, equivalent to or higher than that of coal, so can provide a very useful source of energy after serving their useful life as a plastics product. Plastics left in municipal waste incinerators (energy-from-waste plants) help generate useful power and heat, while using separated fractions such as paper/plastic mixtures as alternative fuels in power stations offer the prospect of replacing coal and reducing the emission of greenhouse gases.”

In Europe more than 380 waste-to-energy plants exist to deliver energy (heat and electricity) to citizens and industry.  According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), there are only about 90 waste-to-energy plants in the U.S.  However these plants generate enough electricity to supply almost 3 million households.  Imagine what more plants could do.  The idea of recovering energy from plastic is one that should continue to be explored.  As the nation seeks to increase its energy security and looks to sources of new and alternative energy, energy recovery through plastics should be part of the mix.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a big fan of the Indianapolis Colts. But it wasn’t the New Orleans Saints victory over my hometown team in the Super Bowl that upset me the most last Sunday evening. No, what got me miffed was that preachy “Green Police” Audi commercial that I saw during the fourth quarter. (See Barry Eisenberg’s blog post for the details on the ad and why our industry was not amused.) 

A splashy ad that paints plastics with a broad “environmentally unfriendly” brush gets me riled up because it places a premium on being funny rather than true. The “Green Police” ad reinforces the same tired and, frankly, ignorant biases against plastics that my SPI team and I have been trying to educate people about since I became president of the association.  In 2008 and 2009 combined I personally gave about 50 presentations seen by approximately 10,000 people that centered on how plastics contribute to a more sustainable world. But in one fell 60-second swoop, more than 100 million people saw an ad that preyed on preconceived notions of plastics. (According to the Nielsen Co., more than 106 million people watched the Super Bowl, making it the most-watched program in U.S. television.)

But unfair bias works both ways and I believe the ad also magnified the negative perceptions people have about environmentalists being crazy extremists. The New York Times called the Audi ad a “misguided spot that put the ‘mental’ in ‘environmental.’”  Scott Cooney, author of Build a Green Small Business:  Profitable Ways to Become an Ecopreneur, writes that the Audi ad:

…quickly turned into yet another perhaps well-intentioned ad that casts environmentalists, frankly, as wack-jobs… Perhaps the most offensive, to those of us in the sustainability movement was where an army of “Green Police,” prowling through people’s trash, finds a battery and storms the house of the offender. While I suppose the ad execs who came up with it thought they were brilliant, I would only imagine most in the sustainability movement, like me, groaned at the implication that people who care about the environment are psychotic enough to prosecute people who choose plastic at the grocery store or don’t compost their scraps.  Ugh, Middle America just took another unneeded step away from feeling that sustainability is cool, easy, and normal.

I’ve worked in the plastics industry for more than 20 years and I am so proud of the innovative contributions our industry has made to the automobile industry. That’s why Audi’s ad leaves many of us industry veterans feeling as if we’ve been slapped in the face by a loved one. ”Truth in Engineering” is the name of the advertising campaign Audi launched in 2007 and it is the tag line at the end of the “Green Police ” ad.  I wish Audi had given “Truth in Advertising” equal billing.

So, did you watch Audi’s “Green Police” commercial (see above) during the Super Bowl? Eventually, it gets around to touting the company’s A3 TDI clean diesel vehicle as a good environmental choice — the “Green Car of the Year” (according to Green Car Journal). It is clever and makes great use of a parody re-recording of “Dream Police” — the 1979 power pop hit by Cheap Trick.  And most of the ad is hilarious — I particularly like the poor guy in his kitchen who gets nabbed in the spotlight of a “green police” sting  as he throws melon rinds and orange peels into his trash can: “Put the rind down! Sir, that’s a compost infraction!” 

But to the plastics industry, some of the commercial’s bits were not at all funny — especially coming from the auto industry, which can thank plastics for many of its innovations.  Audi’s campaign (yes, there will be more ads) features several plastics products in an unfair and unflattering way — specifically regarding plastic grocery bags, bottles and foam cups. On the contrary, these items are lighter than alternatives, saving fuel during transportation and producing less greenhouse emissions. Ironically, recycled plastics products are increasingly being used to make parts in new cars — including new Audi cars.

With this TV ad, Audi essentially bites the plastic hand that feeds it – the plastics industry that make its precious A3 TDI so environmentally sound to begin with! In it’s press release extoling the “Green Car of the Year” recognition, Audi points out the A3 TDI’s fantastic fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions benefits. Unfortunately, it fails to mention that this fuel economy and many of the car’s features could not be achieved without plastics. Check out this video of the A3 TDI that highlights the innovative uses of plastics throughout the car.

On this blog we have pointed out time and time again the enormous benefits that the increasing use of plastics has brought to the auto and aerospace industries – from weight savings to support reduction of fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions to substantial design freedom allowing advanced creativity and innovation. Audi’s own marketing touts its use of lighter materials, including plastics, to cut fuel consumption. We have also tried here and there to point out the health and safety merits of plastics packaging, and, in many posts, the importance of plastics recycling and our industry’s efforts to do so. 

Audi’s “Green Police” ad uses over-the-top humor to make a point: We all can make choices every day to help the environment – in the cars we drive, the products we buy and the way we use them.  But the company is also speaking out of both sides of it’s mouth when it comes to plastics. Get the facts – about bags, polystyrene foam cups, bottles and more —  at http://www.greenpoliceconfused.com/

It has been six months since the premier of the International Plastics Design Competition (IPDC) at NPE2009. In the relative quiet since the awards were celebrated and the last exhibits found their way home, I was recently reminded again of the excitement and pride we all felt to learn of so many critical problems being solved through innovation with plastics materials. 

Last week, as  I continued to read through news of the earthquake recovery efforts in Haiti, I thought of one plastic product in particular: the WaterBrick, which won two IPDC Awards last June — in the Sustainability Part/Component and Industrial/Military categories. Two plastics industry companies — FPM Tooling & Automation (designer and moldmaker) and ACM Plastic Products(molder) — were key to producing this life-saving resource. 

The WaterBrick is an industrial container made of HDPE (high-density polyethylene) that is recyclable and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for water storage. It can be air-dropped into disaster zones to provide 3.4 gallons of clean water per container to people in need.  The use of HDPE renders the WaterBrick less costly than comparable steel containers, and careful design enables the containers to withstand the impact of a fall to the ground from a plane.  Once the water inside is used, the WaterBrick can be refilled with dirt or sand and utilized as a building block for construction of shelters in lieu of expensive concrete blocks (which is the case in Mkuze, South Africa.) 

It occurred to me that if these WaterBricks were not being sent to Haiti, then someone should find a way to get them there.  I was thrilled to discover that WaterBrick International had indeed formed a partnership with GlobalGiving to raise funds to get as many WaterBricks as possible into Haiti.  I encourage everyone  to donate – as little as $10 provides one person with a week’s supply of clean water!  (Currently, WaterBricks are not being used for shelter purposes in Haiti.)

It is gratifying to work directly with people and companies whose products transform lives and help overcome challenges of this magnitude — and we in the plastics industry get to do it a lot.  Let this example be a reminder for us to continue encouraging innovation and supporting one another’s efforts to make the world a safer, healthier place for all.