Let’s Break This Down
Bring In The Hydrolase Enzyme
What if I told you that PET plastic could one day be broken down to food-grade material in just a few hours? Drum roll please… well it potentially can exist! PET plastic, which is the most commonly used polyester plastic on Earth, has long been utilized because of its temperature endurance, ability to keep products fresh, and its affordability. The downside to PET plastic? Only about 12-14% of it is recycled, and currently degradation takes several weeks to break down just 1% of the plastic. But in some exciting news, scientists working for Carbios have found an enzyme that breaks down 90% of PET plastics in 10 hours. Industrial scale tests are slated for 2021 and PepsiCo, Nestle, and Suntory are already on the partnership list to help scale this potential solution. Break it down!
Let’s Spread Some
JIF or GIF?
Tuh-MAY-toe or tuh-MAH-toe? Ohh pronunciations. Jif, a J.M. Smucker-owned brand, collaborated with Giphy to create specially labeled jars that replaced the ‘Jif’ branding with ‘Gif.’ Basically they were playing up the question on whether Jif is pronounced with a soft “g” or a hard “g.” The brand said the correct way to pronounce Jif is with a soft “g,” and that GIF, the abbreviation for the Graphic Interchange Format of shareable video clips, is pronounced with a hard “g.“ Jif customers were also invited to participate in the conversation by tweeting Jif-related GIF files with the #JifvsGif hashtag. The brand clearly connected with consumers on that issue since, within hours, the limited-edition “Gif x Jif” jars were sold out. Per a survey done by the GIF platform Tenor and Harris Poll, 71% of Americans use emoji, GIFs, and digital stickers because they believe they can express their emotions better through images. I say 🙂 to that!
Yours Truly,
Tracie T.