Tariffs hit a sour note | Marketing and 'plastic-free' | Singing the praises of sustainability | Plastics News

It's going to take some time to figure out the effects of new tariffs on individual companies. But conditions will likely be confusing and frustrating as we figure those out.

For instance, on the eve of President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" announcements on April 2, the operators of a very unique business in Ottawa, Ontario, still didn't know what tariffs will mean for them, even though there is no U.S. manufacturer they compete with.

The New York Times has a story on the 10-employee Kun Shoulder Rest Inc., which uses nylon, carbon fiber and wood to make — as the company name implies — shoulder rests for violins and violas. Joseph Kun, who immigrated to Canada from the former Czechoslovakia, patented the shoulder rest in the 1970s. The parts attach to the body of the violin to provide a stable, adjustable platform for the instrument when it's being played.

Initial production used wood and steel components, but swapping out plastics and foam created lighter, more adjustable parts. Kun began offering carbon fiber options in the early 2000s.

Its biggest competition comes from shoulder rests made in China and sold at a discount.

Juliana Farha, the company's director, told the Times that Kun has been scrambling to build up stock to ship to the U.S., which accounts for a third of its sales. It also must consider potential retaliatory imports of the specialty nylon resin it imports from a U.S. supplier.

Farha said Kun has found an alternative material supplier in Europe, but it will only ship container-size quantities. That would be a five-year supply for the firm.

"The issue for us is uncertainty," she told the Times.

Let me get on my metaphorical reusable soap box for a moment to note the following: Just because "plastic-free" packaging sounds good in marketing, that's no guarantee the company actually avoids all plastics.

The reason for this note at this time? An announcement from consumer products giant Unilever that it has purchased the niche deodorant, soap and lip balm company Wild that claims it is "powered by plant-based ingredients and packaged in unique plastic-free materials."

That plastic-free materials mention definitely requires an asterisk, though.

Wild, which went into business in 2020 in the United Kingdom, is big in the use of aluminum packaging for its refillable containers and combines those with refills packaged in Vivomer, a proprietary bamboo fiber and plant starch compostable material. (Shellworks, the maker of Vivomer, says it can be used in injection molding, blow molding and flexible applications.)

Some of the containers, such as a deodorant, are fully plastic-free. But its body wash and hand soap are topped with pumps with plastic components, although those pumps are reused with fresh refills.

Music festivals are getting greener starting this year as Nordic Wristbands begins offering attendance bands made using reclaimed ocean-bound plastics.

The polyester fabric bracelets join other environmentally friendly items in the Nordic catalog, including those made using recycled PET, hemp and bamboo.

"Reusing plastic collected from waterways and before it reaches them brings significant economic, ecological and social benefits," the Finland-based company said in a social media post.

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