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MGS Rebrands to Emphasize Healthcare Manufacturing Focus

It’s been a very busy year for injection molder and contract manufacturer MGS. It acquired Technolution, a Danish medtech product development firm, in June and followed that up with the purchase of moldmaker Winther Mould Technology, also based in Denmark, in October. Back home at its Germantown, WI, headquarters, MGS broke ground on a 120,000-square-foot Innovation Center in September. These acquisitions — supplementing the purchase of European toolmaker Formteknik in 2021 —…

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‘Robo-molded’ Fuel Tank Scores Product of the Year Award

A specialized fuel tank manufactured using Robomold rotomolding technology has earned the Association of Rotational Molders (ARM) 2023 Product of the Year award. Gemstar Manufacturing’s fuel tank features an anti-spill funnel in the filler spout in order to comply with EPA guidelines, which was displayed in the entry sample via a cutaway that revealed the internal features of the tank. Image courtesy of Gemstar In-house tool design and fabrication capability…

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Plastics Extrusion Professionals Deserve Thanks, Too

November is an easy month to write my column, as there is so much to be thankful for, including plastics, despite our myth-understanding detractors. They usually mean well, but often see plastics as toxic, corporations as greedy, and chemicals as evil and the opposite of natural. If I tell them that water is both, they can’t believe this as they see them as opposites. Worse yet, I remind them we…

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‘Plastic Has Changed Sea Turtles Forever,’ but Not in the Way You Think

The headline of this article is taken verbatim from a Nov. 15 online piece in The Atlantic. That article briefly discusses both plastic waste — nets, bags, fishing lines, and so forth — and microplastics in the ocean, and how they are affecting sea turtles. All the impacts discussed are negative: Plastics can cause death in many ways or serious injuries, and sea turtles (just like humans) are consuming microplastics daily with unknown…

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‘Plastic Has Changed Sea Turtles Forever’

The headline of this article is taken verbatim from a Nov. 15 online piece in The Atlantic. That article briefly discusses both plastic waste — nets, bags, fishing lines, and so forth — and microplastics in the ocean, and how they are affecting sea turtles. All the impacts discussed are negative: Plastics can cause death in many ways or serious injuries, and sea turtles (just like humans) are consuming microplastics daily with unknown…

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Plastics Treaty Contact Groups Tackle Myriad, Complex Issues

Progress toward the U.N.’s global plastics treaty was detailed today, Nov. 16, during a stock-taking plenary session at the third Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3) in Nairobi. Some members reiterated earlier calls to name 2040 as the date to end plastic pollution. The sheer array of topics discussed thus far — ranging from definitions of key plastics terms to global monitoring of progress toward achieving the objectives of the final instrument…

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Robotic Hand with Plastic Bones, Ligaments, and Tendons Printed in One Run

In what they claim is a world first, researchers at Switzerland’s ETH Zürich university have 3D printed a robotic hand with plastic bones, ligaments, and tendons in a single process. Slow-curing thiolene polymers are the secret sauce in this application. 3D-printing technology that uses a laser to scan each polymer layer and compensate for surface imperfections in subsequent layers rather than scraping them away is also instrumental in achieving this milestone.…

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Global Plastics Treaty: Opening Plenary Spills into Second Day

Working groups that will negotiate a global plastics treaty were established today, Nov. 14, and began their work at the U.N.’s third session toward forging the agreement, as the opening plenary session spilled over into a second day in Nairobi. The agenda for the third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3), which runs through Sunday, was revised to allow the opening-day plenary to continue today from 10 a.m. to…

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End Plastic Pollution or Plastic Production? That Is the Question at INC-3

The third negotiating session on a global treaty to curb plastics pollution began Monday in Nairobi with a stark message. “Nature is suffocating — gasping for breath,” declared Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, executive secretary of the INC Secretariat at the start of Monday’s opening plenary of the third Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3). “All ecosystems, terrestrial and marine, are under threat from plastic pollution. Not only vulnerable and endangered species are at risk,…

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Round Three of Global Plastics Treaty Talks Begins

The third weeklong round of negotiations to hammer out a global plastics treaty kicked off today in Nairobi, Kenya, after a preparatory meeting Saturday, as the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) seeks to develop a legally binding instrument regulating plastic pollution worldwide. Delegates are pursuing a “comprehensive approach that addresses the full cycle of plastic, including its production, design, and disposal,” according to the U.N.’s website. Working from a “zero…

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