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.

On  the January 8th episode of CNBC’s investement show Mad Money, hyperactive host Jim Cramer devoted a significant amount of time discussing the plastics industry and, in particular, SPI member company PolyOne. Watch the video above.

Once you get passed his antics with the two Barbie dolls — which, in explaining plastics’ processes and societal contributions he names as his two girlfriends “Polly” and “Ethel” (get it?) – Cramer describes the strategic and managerial changes PolyOne has made to transform the company.  Cramer calls PolyOne a “fabulous bet on America’s economic recovery”  and a ”true plastic turnaround story.”  He concludes by saying, “I know that everyone is looking for recovery plays that have not happened… I want you to look no further than PolyOne.”

Headquartered in Avon Lake, Ohio, PolyOne Corporation, with 2008 annual revenues of $2.7 billion, is a premier provider of specialized polymer materials and services.  According to Plastics News, PolyOne posted profits of nearly $44 million in the first nine months of 2009, despite sales falling 32 percent to $1.5 billion compared to the same period in 2008. The profit during this nine-month time period was four times as large as profit from the year-ago period.

Have you heard the news?  After being held in Chicago since 1971, NPE is moving to Orlando in 2012. Of course, as a regular reader of this blog you already knew that.  Are you someone who doesn’t adjust well to change or who just wishes you knew more about the Orange County Convention Center prior to NPE2012? Well, three concurrent SPI events taking place the third week of March will provide you with an opportunity to get a sneak peek at the new NPE venue: the Spring 2010 National Board Meeting, the Thermoforming Committee Conference and the Equipment Council Annual Business Conference. All are being held at Rosen Shingle Creek – mere minutes from the Convention Center.  (Members attending the Equipment or Thermoformers meetings may attend any portion of the National Board Meeting for no additional charge.)

Attendees of these meetings will have multiple opportunities to learn more about the Orange County Convention Center, the vendors who will be assisting you during NPE2012, and the hotels and restaurants of the surrounding area. 

Looking in detail at the Equipment Council Annual Business Conference, being held March 16-18, there will be an impressive lineup of guest speakers; an SPI Advocacy Update from President Bill Carteaux and Senior Vice President, Government Affairs and Public Policy Jon Kurrle; and plenty of scheduled tours/events at the Orange County Convention Center.  Register for it today!

And if you are not yet excited enough, one creative SPI staffer (wisely remaining anonymous) has penned “Orlando,” sung to the tune of Swedish pop group ABBA’s biggest selling single “Fernando.”  So, cue up this video of “Fernando,” and sing along with our NPE-inspired lyrics below:

Can you hear the hum, Orlando?
We remember mere months ago the anticipation of this
In humid August, Orlando
You were wooing us with promises of cheap Pepsi
We could hear the distant rumble
Of the arrival of tons and tons of plastics machinery

The anticipation is growing, Orlando
Every day we get closer to 2012
We are so excited, Orlando
Our show will continue to grow and thrive
And we’re not ashamed to say
The thought of so many exhibitors makes us want to buy!

There will be something on the floor that day
Another molded part give-away, Orlando
Rows and rows of machines
Some extruding, Orlando
Though we never thought the show would move,
There’s no regret
If we had to do the same again,
We would, my friend, Orlando

Now the deal is sealed, Orlando
Get ready for Expo Gene.
Can you hear the hum Orlando?
Are you ready to help us continue to go green?
We can see it in your support
How proud you are to have us through 2015.

There will be something on the floor that day
Another molded part give-away, Orlando
Rows and rows of machines
Some extruding, Orlando
Though we never thought the show would move,
There’s no regret
If we had to do the same again,
We would, my friend, Orlando

Life-cycle assessments (LCAs) have become a hot topic in the plastics industry.  According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a LCA…

 “…is a ‘cradle-to-grave’ approach for assessing industrial systems. “Cradle-to-grave” begins with the gathering of raw materials from the earth to create the product and ends at the point when all materials are returned to the earth… a LCA provides a comprehensive view of the environmental aspects of the product or process and a more accurate picture of the true environmental trade-offs in product and process selection.”

Several years ago, EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) program worked with representatives of the wire and cable industry to evaluate the environmental impacts of the current standard material formulations and alternative formulations used in insulation and jacketing for selected wire and cable products. The final LCA report was issued in 2008.

Members of SPI’s Wire and Cable Section of the Fluoropolymers Committee, many of whom were part of the EPA project, decided to build off of the DfE report.  The recently released peer-reviewed SPI report compares the life-cycle environmental impacts of fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP)-insulated plenum-rated communication wire (CMP) cable to a polyethylene (PE)-insulated rise-rated communication cable (CMR) encased in a metal conduit in plenum space. 

Ok, so what does that actually mean? From a basic building standpoint, “plenum space” typically refers to the space between the structural ceiling and dropped ceiling and is used to house communication cables for a building’s computer and telephone network.  Because plenum spaces are typically rich in oxygen, they pose a potential risk to a building in the event of a fire.  As a result, fluoropolymer resins, which have excellent durability in fire situations to meet and exceed safety codes and outstanding chemical and thermal resistance, are often used in the plenum space.  However building codes in Chicago and Las Vegas make the use of CMR in metal conduit more prevalent.  In addition, the use of CMR cable in conduit in Europe is common given the lack of built in plenum space.

This project scientifically evaluated the complete life-cycle impacts of functionally equivalent cable installation alternatives (i.e., FEP cable versus a PE-insulated cable in metal conduit) to quantify the differences between these alternatives so that so that electrical engineers, architects and building owners can make environmentally informed decisions.  The findings of the report were fascinating and provided detailed information about both options.  In order to make an educated decision when evaluating which option to use, you need to check this free report out.