Could you give us a sense of HDPE's profit margins? Eg how to translate a oil per barrel cost to a PE per pound cost (is it just converting to a price per carbon?), and also what is HDPE's production cost? Can maybe give some appreciation of how hard that 0.19/lb target for this black box biodegradable polymer is!
Having come from a job where I worked on developing carbohydrate films as water-soluble packaging material, I feel this down to the ground. No matter how good your science is, Marketing is somehow never prepared for the focus group participant who asks, "But is it safe for me to give my kids plastic to drink?"
One question I’ve been stewing on is the current regulatory environment stance where “all forever chemicals” = bad. I’m not sure that’s the right approach but I’ve got no clue how to answer the question of which/how but it feels like the current stance is “ban all chemicals” first then worry about the consequences later.
Not sure what my question is but I would love engagement on this to help widen my perspective.
Wonderful post as usual!
Could you give us a sense of HDPE's profit margins? Eg how to translate a oil per barrel cost to a PE per pound cost (is it just converting to a price per carbon?), and also what is HDPE's production cost? Can maybe give some appreciation of how hard that 0.19/lb target for this black box biodegradable polymer is!
Tony -- Excellent post! Thank you for such a clear explanation!
Having come from a job where I worked on developing carbohydrate films as water-soluble packaging material, I feel this down to the ground. No matter how good your science is, Marketing is somehow never prepared for the focus group participant who asks, "But is it safe for me to give my kids plastic to drink?"
One question I’ve been stewing on is the current regulatory environment stance where “all forever chemicals” = bad. I’m not sure that’s the right approach but I’ve got no clue how to answer the question of which/how but it feels like the current stance is “ban all chemicals” first then worry about the consequences later.
Not sure what my question is but I would love engagement on this to help widen my perspective.