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☆ Column: Germany energy transition faces key chemical sector conundrum
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Gavin Maguire | Thomson Reuters | Gavin Maguire Is The Global Energy Transition Columnist. He Was Previously Asia Commodities | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

However, Germany is also home to Europe's largest chemicals sector which churns out plastics, paints, acids and other key inputs that are critical to manufacturers and heavy industries that form the backbone of the German economy. Sharply lower business activity also caused a drop in chemicals consumption last year, but as economic activity recovered in 2023 a lingering shortage of key chemical products has pushed German chemicals prices to near record premiums over those supplied by other producers. DAMAGE DONEThe sustained high prices of German chemical products over international rivals have two important damaging consequences. If the German chemicals sector is to ensure its own long-term future, it must somehow win back any business lost among commodity manufacturers by driving product prices steadily lower relative to rival offerings. On its own, the chemicals sector may struggle to both cut costs and clean up its own product lines and emissions footprints.

Persons: Gavin Maguire, Christopher Cushing Organizations: German Chemicals Association, Reuters, Thomson Locations: LITTLETON , Colorado, Germany, Europe, South East Asia, Polymerupdate, United States

☆ The Venice Architecture Biennale puts Africa center stage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Marianna Cerini | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Venice, Italy CNN —Until recently, the Venice Architecture Biennale — arguably the world’s largest architecture exhibition — has drawn crowds for its (mainly Western) star appeal. In a May 20 Facebook post titled “Venice Biennale Blues,” Zaha Hadid Architects’ principal, Patrik Schumacher, wrote that “the ‘Architecture’ Biennale is mislabeled and should stop laying claim to the title of architecture. The German pavilion, which is displaying construction waste produced by 2022’s Venice Art Biennale is a case in point. The German Pavilion at the 18th Architecture Biennale is displaying and repurposing constuction waste from the city's Art Biennale last year. The British Pavilion curators Meneesha Kellay, Joseph Henry, Jayden Ali and Sumitra Upham, with commissioner Sevra Davis, photographed in London.

Environment Programme (UNEP), which is hosting the talks, released a blueprint for reducing plastic waste by 80% by 2040. The report, issued earlier this month, outlined three key areas of action: reuse, recycling and reorientation of plastic packaging to alternative materials. This week, dozens of countries were listing public health as one of their priority concerns in limiting plastics production and waste. The UNEP report also identified 13,000 chemicals associated with plastic production, more than 3,000 of which were considered hazardous. Greenpeace, meanwhile, issued a report collecting findings from scientific research papers that suggest plastic recycling processes can release many of these chemicals including benzene into the environment.

Global supply chains grew overwhelmed as they struggled to deliver. But Prange said most of his supply chain had stabilized - meaning he was able to get most of what he needed - by the end of 2021. "One of the headwinds is inflation," said Kevin Austin, the supply chain chief for Toyota Motor North America. Meanwhile, the global supply chain snarls of the pandemic have diminished. The New York Fed's Global Supply Chain Pressure Index ticked down to a reading of -1.32 in April, compared to a revised -1.15 in March.

☆ Ron Johnson insists he won't pocket $8.4 million from donors. But thanks to Ted Cruz, he could legally do exactly that.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

That's due to a Supreme Court case won last year by Ted Cruz, who defended Johnson repaying himself. In October quarterly filings, Johnson's campaign declared that it was reinstating $8.4 million in loans, citing Ted Cruz vs. FEC. Furthermore, the door is now open for other self-funding candidates to demand payback of campaign loans that they had previously forgiven. And prior to Johnson telling Insider that he wouldn't seek a loan repayment, Cruz vociferously defended the hypothetical repayment. "It is perfectly reasonable that Ron Johnson, after 10 years of making an interest-free loan to the American people, can pay back his own money," Cruz added.

☆ The world can cut plastic pollution by 80% by 2040, the UN says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Countries could slash plastic pollution by 80% in less than two decades, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme. Plastic pollution is a scourge that affects every part of the world, from the Arctic, to the oceans and the air we breathe. UNEP’s report aims to offer a roadmap to governments and businesses to dramatically cut levels of plastic pollution. This would be the most “powerful market shift,” reducing plastic pollution by 30% by 2040, the report said. Scaling up recycling levels could reduce plastic pollution by a further 20%, according to the report.

☆ McDonald’s new battle over the way the Big Mac and fries are packaged
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Carolyn Chun | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Reusable packaging may be next. McDonald's biggest reusable packaging changes are outside US McDonald's has made several big packaging changes in recent years, mostly coming from outside the U.S. and following governmental action. And at the end of last year, McDonald's France launched a reusable plastic food container in its signature red color – though not without initiating a new controversy over the decision to not use all glass or metal. There are many challenges that come with reusable packaging, and McDonald's has looked to highlight that as it agrees to conduct more research on the reusables economy. The economics case for reusable packagingAdvocates for reusable packaging argue that the economics will work.

☆ Warren Buffett's businesses are battling historic inflation, hefty interest rates, and tighter lending. 5 Berkshire Hathaway CEOs break down why they're thriving despite a brutal economic backdrop.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway faces inflation, higher interest rates, and tighter credit. Its subsidiaries are also seeing signs that their customers, suppliers, and partners are being pinched by higher prices, steeper interest rates on their debts, and perhaps even reduced access to credit. "You just kind of have to take it," Egan said about some of the higher costs. Moreover, longstanding suppliers who refrained from passing on their higher costs to See's in 2021 have been forced to charge it more. The fast-food chain's franchisees face much higher costs for equipment, building materials, and construction work than they did a few years ago.

☆ Coca-Cola Trials Turning Hard-to-Recycle Plastic Into Bottles
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Dieter Holger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Coca-Cola is trialing technology in Europe that turns hard-to-recycle plastic into new bottles, as part of its effort to meet its sustainability goals. “We simply do not have the necessary levels [of recycled plastic],” said Joe Franses, vice president of sustainability at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. Packaging represents around 40% of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ carbon footprint, largely because of its use of oil-based virgin plastic. It aims to stop using oil to produce plastic bottles by 2030. He hopes recycled plastic supplied by CuRe’s method to be on par or not significantly more expensive than current recycled plastic, which can be 50% more costly than plastic made from oil.

☆ Companies are betting on a demand rebound in second half of year, DHL says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

That marks the second consecutive month that U.S. imports increased and are higher than 2019 levels, according to data provided to CNBC from Descartes Datamyne, a global trade data platform. The combination of a slow ramp up from "Zero Covid" in China and the reopening of manufacturing plants in the country delayed exports. The top Vietnamese imports in the latest data are wrought iron fencing and plant stands, imported for companies including Home Depot. Black jewelry bags for Zales and men's and boy's t-shirts for Nike rounded out the list of U.S. imports data from China, Vietnam, Thailand, and India reviewed by CNBC. In April, the trade data shows that vitamins and containers of pencils were bound from India to Walmart , and zip polos and t-shirts for Guess .

☆ Fire burns for third day at Shell Texas chemical plant
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Erwin Seba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HOUSTON, May 7 (Reuters) - A fire burned for a third day on Sunday at Shell Plc's (SHEL.L) chemical plant in the Houston suburb of Deer Park, Texas, a company spokesperson said. The fire initially ignited on Friday afternoon in an explosion in an olefins unit, used to make plastics and rubber. The fire was extinguished for a few hours on Saturday morning before it reignited around 3 p.m. CDT (2000 GMT), said Shell spokesperson Curtis Smith. Water runoff has exceeded the chemical plant's wastewater capacity and is being diverted into the Houston Ship Channel, Smith said. Olefins units are the central units in petrochemical complexes, producing ethylene, butadiene and propylene from hydrocarbon feedstocks.

☆ No harmful chemical levels in air after Shell Texas chemical plant fire, company says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] An olefins unit burns in fire at Shell Deer Park, Texas chemical plant in this screengrab obtained from social media on May 5, 2023, in Deer Park, Texas, U.S. Johnny Walea via TMX/via REUTERSMay 6 (Reuters) - Air monitoring around an extinguished fire at the Shell Plc's (SHEL.L) chemical plant in Deer Park, Texas, showed no harmful levels of chemicals in the air, the company said on Saturday, added that there was no threat to the surrounding community. The fire broke out shortly before 3 p.m. CDT (2000 GMT) on Friday after in an olefins unit at the plant in the Houston suburb. Five people were taken for evaluation of possible injuries due to exposure to burned chemicals, the county sheriff said on Friday. The company on Saturday said in a series of tweets that the fire was extinguished and air monitoring has detected no harmful levels of chemicals. Operations at the refinery continued despite the fire in the chemical plant, sources familiar with the refinery's operations said.

☆ Taiwan’s Trade Clash with China Could Benefit the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Yuka Hayashi | Joyu Wang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The U.S. and the Philippines have carried out the largest-ever annual military exercises amid an escalation of Chinese military activity around Taiwan. WSJ’s Shelby Holliday explains what makes this year’s drills different. Photo: Jes Aznar/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—Taiwan has begun preparing for a sharp rise in economic tension with China, stepping up efforts to encourage businesses to look for investments in the U.S. and other countries. Businesses from the island are facing a sprawling Chinese trade investigation involving nearly 2,500 goods, including agricultural products, metals, plastics, chemicals and minerals. The probe, which Beijing has said is in response to “trade barriers,” threatens to disrupt commerce to Taiwan’s top export destination.

☆ DuPont trims revenue forecast on slow electronics recovery, shares fall
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 2 (Reuters) - DuPont de Nemours Inc (DD.N) on Tuesday cut its full-year revenue forecast, citing slower-than-expected recovery in the electronics and industrial markets, sending its shares down nearly 5% in premarket trading. The materials and chemicals maker expects customer utilization in the electronics markets to bottom in the "near-term" and improve only in the third quarter. DuPont cut the top-end of its annual sales forecast to $12.50 billion from $12.90 billion, while retaining the lower end at $12.30 billion. "Within electronics markets, we continue to see weakness and channel inventory destocking in the near-term," Chief Financial Officer Lori Koch said in a statement. "We continue to expect ongoing strength throughout the year in areas such as water, automotive, aerospace and healthcare," Koch said.

☆ SpaceX Starship’s explosion is not the failure it appears to be, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Rocket launches are like opening a box of chocolates, only riskier — you never know what you’re going to get. When a rocket is set to leap off the launchpad, there’s a good chance of seeing a stunning liftoff or a spectacular failure. The lead-up to this week’s launch of SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, was a dramatic roller coaster. The rocket blasted off from the launchpad in South Texas and roared 24.2 miles (39 kilometers) over the Gulf of Mexico. Now, researchers have a new theory about why the Vikings abruptly departed in the mid-15th century: rising sea levels.

☆ Recycling plastic can be a little confusing. Here's what the numbers inside the recycling symbol mean
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Lindsey Jacobson | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Plastics labeled with a number 1 are about 20.9% likely to be reprocessed, according to the Greenpeace report. It is still important to know the difference between the types of plastics, since municipalities handle each type of plastic differently. This type of plastic film is often collected separately from plastics labeled 1 and 2. Polystyrene, or PS, is labeled number 6 and can be used to make takeaway containers, coffee cups, insulation and disposable coolers. Finally, plastics labeled number 7 are a mixture of various types of plastics.

☆ Companies are selling us more stuff by telling us it's 'sustainable'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The federal government is updating guides around how companies can prove their environmental claims. Companies are advertising what they plan to do, such as addressing the climate crisis or using more recycled materials in their products. She pointed to a case BBB National Programs' National Advertising Division brought against the American Beverage Association, which represents companies such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. The beverage industry appealed the finding, arguing that the ad was intended to increase awareness that plastic bottles could be recycled. The National Advertising Division's appellate body upheld the original decision.

☆ Opinion | There Is Plastic In Our Flesh
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Mark O Connell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

(Later in the same article, the environmental scientist who makes this recommendation also counsels against instilling fear in our children.) Joe Rogan, perhaps our culture’s foremost vector of meathead masculinity, has been talking about the topic for several years. Not only were the taints of infants shrinking at an alarming rate; so, too, were penises and testicles themselves. Maybe it’s microplastics that are stopping you and your partner from conceiving, or making you lazy and lethargic, or forgetful beyond your years. Maybe it’s microplastics that caused the cancer in your stomach, or your brain.

☆ How PepsiCo is trying to get Doritos and Cheetos bags into compost bins
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Ian Thomas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

But more chip bags and snack containers being sold also means more waste from plastic and other packaging materials, something PepsiCo is aiming to take on. "Two years ago, if you think about our multipack packages, there was one plastic [packaging] outside, and each multipack serving," he said. McDonald's recently agreed under pressure from activist shareholders to produce a report on reusable packaging in exchange for having a shareholder vote on the issue rescinded. As far back as 2019, both Coke and Pepsi had already cut ties with a plastics industry association, and issued previous goals related to recyclable, compostable and reusable packaging. Taking what it learned from creating the Off The Eaten Path's packaging, Frito-Lay has introduced other packaging made from 85% renewable plant materials that produce roughly 60% lower greenhouse gas emissions than traditional snack bags.

☆ Lululemon used tiny organisms instead of fossil fuels to make the nylon for its new shirt
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Conventionally, nylon is mostly made from ingredients sourced from fossil fuels like coal, natural gas or crude oil. "It's been estimated that 8 to 10 percent of all human-associated nitrous oxide emissions come from this single industrial process" to make adipic acid, Wallace told CNBC. To make the nylon precursor used in the Lululemon shirts, Geno uses biological organisms instead of chemicals from fossil fuels. "Because nylon, like it or not, has a lot of good value," Reddy told CNBC. "Look at those first-generation replacement straws — they didn't work, and everybody's annoyed," Reddy told CNBC.

☆ The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is now so huge and permanent that a coastal ecosystem is thriving on it
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Ivana Kottasová | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Haram and her colleagues examined 105 items of plastic fished out of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch between November 2018 and January 2019. Courtesy Linsey Haram/Smithsonian InstitutionCoastal aggregating anemones found on a black floating plastic fragment collected in the garbage patch. Oceans of plasticThe Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is twice the size of Texas, is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world. If you look up at night, you see all those white dots, that’s essentially what you see in the garbage patch. A bag of plastics and debris collected in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is unloaded in Sausalito, California in July 2022.

☆ How Tupperware went from American kitchen icon to the brink of collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

Tupperware was developed by Earl Tupper, who founded a plastics manufacturing company in Leominster, Massachusetts, during the Great Depression. TupperwareTupper was born in New Hampshire in 1907. While he wasn't a great student, he spent a lot of his early life sketching out inventions in a notebook, such as a comb with a belt clip and a fish-powered boat, according to PBS's "American Experience." His inventions didn't lead to financial success, so Tupper started a landscaping business to support himself and, later, his wife and children, per "American Experience." Then, during the Great Depression, he started working in the plastics industry and eventually founded his own company in Leominster, which was a manufacturing hub at the time.

☆ Fire at Georgia Plastics Plant Prompts Evacuation Order
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Eduardo Medina | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A fire at a plastic resin plant in Brunswick, Ga., on Saturday prompted officials to issue an evacuation order for people within half of a mile of the facility, the authorities said, as billows of dark smoke rose and spread through the city. The Brunswick Fire Department and Glynn County Fire Rescue responded to the Pinova plant around 7 a.m., the authorities said. Firefighters contained the fire within hours but around 3 p.m. it had reignited, the Glynn County Board of Commissioners said on Facebook. The board issued a shelter-in-place order for those living within half of a mile of the plant and an evacuation order was issued about an hour later. There were no injuries reported as of Saturday afternoon, the board said.

☆ Risks of Tupperware and other plastic containers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Figuring out the answer to that question for any type of reusable plastic food storage products — not just Tupperware — often comes down to understanding what they’re made of. Risks of container wear and tearPutting stress on plastic food containers by washing them in the dishwasher or with rough scrub brushes “increase the ability of that plastic to leach whatever it was made out of,” Vandenburg said. The “microwave safe” label on some plastic containers doesn’t mean the product is totally safe from a health standpoint, she added. “Some of the plasticizers and chemicals can transfer from the plastic containers into the food during heating,” Rogers said. “If you can’t afford to replace everything all at once, replace them one at a time.”Glass food storage containers are a safer option.

☆ How Electrifying Everything Became a Key Climate Solution
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Nadja Popovich | Brad Plumer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +19 min

Water heating Air conditioning Space heating Refrigeration Washing and dry. Refrigeration Air conditioning 16% electric Water heating 99% Refrigeration Air conditioning Residential Cooking Space heating Refrigeration Other 96% Lighting and electronics Lighting and elec. Cooking 2021 Current Electricity Use Electricity as percent of total energy consumed in 2021 36% Water heating Space heating Washing and dry. Cooking 2050 Net Zero Pathway Electricity as percent of total energy consumed in a high-electrification scenario Water heating Space heating 63% Washing and dry. Air conditioning Refrigeration Other Air conditioning Water heating 99% Refrigeration Space heating 96% Other Lighting and electronics Lighting and elec.

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