By Roger Renstrom
CORRESPONDENT
Published: June 5, 2014 10:43 am ET
Updated: June 5, 2014 2:06 pm ET
More than 16 speakers will address polymer-related issues during the Western Plastics Association’s conference June 18-20 at the Hyatt Regency resort in Newport Beach, Calif.
John Picciuto, WPA president and Western market manager in Tustin, Calif., for compounder H. Muehlstein & Co. Inc., noted that the industry’s strength is based on well-informed processor and supplier communities.
Opening speakers include CalRecycle director Caroll Mortensen, industry advisor and matchmaker Tom Blaige of Chicago and sustainability practices consultant Tony Kingsbury of San Ramon, Calif. The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery in Sacramento, Calif., operates as CalRecycle.
Other programs address issues in plastics recycling, marine debris and Operation Clean Sweep resin pellet containment, plastics packaging trends and changes in end-of-life product management.
Marty Pollio, self-described as a clean corporate comedian with multiple high-profile credits, is the conference’s dinner speaker. Pollio produced a 4-minute 51-second WPA plastic bag video that was posted on the video-sharing website YouTube in September 2012 with the title “Recycling Plastics.” In the video, Pollio portrays “an ordinary guy giving his opinion on how to improve our ecology.”
The Sacramento, Calif.-based WPA trade group represents the interests of the plastics industry in the western states and provinces of, respectively, the U.S. and Canada. Until a 2011 restructuring, WPA operated as the California Film Extruders and Converters Association. | 
