Toys & sporting goods

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has been a major target of the environmental activist group Greenpeace for at least 20 years, dating to activism by chemist Michael Braungart. The focal point of Greenpeace was dioxins. The Vinyl Institute was formed in 1982 because of health-related attacks on PVC pipe by the steel industry.

Plastics have long played a role in fire arms, seeing use in everything from stocks to handgun frames but now they're looking to get inside the barrel with polymer-based cartridge casings.

Eastman Chemical Co. has acquired Brazilian plasticizer manufacturer Scandiflex do Brasil S.A. Indústrias Químicas in part of its ongoing bid to become a leader in non-phthalate plasticizer products. Located in the state of São Paulo at Mauá, Scandiflex's 2010 sales revenue was in excess of $54 million.

Chinese wages are rising at roughly 17% per year, the value of the yuan is continuing to increase, and the gap between U.S. and Chinese wages is narrowing rapidly. Add to that flexible work rules and a government incentives here in the states, and a new report predicts a "manufacturing renaissance" in the U.S. wherein America becomes a "low-cost country among developed nations."

The Asia Pacific region already accounts for 38% of global composites manufacturing and the outlook points to further growth whereby the region's contribution will be 43% of global production in 2015.

Specialty thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) supplier Merquinsa (Barcelona, Spain) has opened its first office in China to provide TPU product training, application development and technical sales & marketing support to local users. The Guangzhou operation is headed up by technical sales manager Stephen Xu.

The booming solar encapsulant film market has prompted one Taiwanese supplier to cease manufacturing foam grades for footwear altogether and instead focus 1500 tonnes/month of its capacity on this application alone. The supplier in question, USI Corp. (Taipei) has now outsourced footwear grade production to sister company Asia Polymer Corp. (Taipei).

The next major shift in golf ball design and technology is powered by a patented thermoplastic.

The Pack Away Garage packs a lot of fun into a small package—witness its top-selling status for toymaker Halsall Toys Europe. It crammed in so many fun features, though, that initial designs failed to pass a key drop test, threatening to keep the toy off store shelves in advance of the holiday selling season.

Thin plastic faux ice, in fact, and this article details how the material is picking up endorsements from NHL stars and others who say it is almost as good as real ice, and much less expensive to install and maintain.

With cities and towns in tough financial straits, these plastic rinks could become the best way to offer locals the chance to playhockey or ice skate year-round, without the cost associated with a natural ice rink.