Liberty Intercept Blog

In 1986 Californians voted into law Proposition 65, also known as The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, the purpose of which was to protect the people of California from exposure, via drinking water and consumer products, to toxic substances which have been linked to cancer or birth defects. The act gives authority to California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to maintain a list of chemicals shown by the FDA or similar national organizations to be carcinogenic or cause birth defects. Any company found to be dumping any of these substances into drinking water sources can be fined and required to discontinue the dumping. The act also states that any company which exposes consumers to significant amounts of these chemicals via their products must provide a warning on the product or in the store. Failure to comply with the necessary warning means the company can be sued by state or city government attorneys or private attorneys given proper notice to the company and the Attorney General.

There was a sharp explosive popping sound, then all the food and dishes caved through the outdoor table crashing onto the deck proceeded by the shattered glass. After a loud collective gasp, it took a moment for everyone to digest what had just happened. We all checked each other to verify that no one was hurt, and then preceded to the messy cleanup.

From guest poster, Chris Iannucci: When I first began collecting coins and other collectibles about 10 years ago, I never gave much thought to proper storage and preservation. I just bought what I liked, and kept most items in a display case so I could view them from time to time or share them with friends or family. This gave me much enjoyment over the years.  

Sometimes it just takes a trained eye. Ted Dangelmayer has that in the field of electro-static discharge prevention (ESD or static charges):  a trained eye.  Ted and his team of scientists hunt factory floors, shipping rooms, or wherever there is potential for ESD strikes that ruin circuits, create defects, and/or endanger workers. Like the CSI TV shows, they follow a formulated procedure, based on their many years of experience, to find the systems’ weaknesses.  Ted and his team then recommend corrective action to their clients, typically a small expenditure when compared to the return the company receives in better product quality and reputation. Many times such a change requires retraining personnel, which Ted and his team will expertly do.

Todays post is from the files of frequent guest blogger Albert Greenhut of EMI.

I recently had a challenge most museums never face. I had the opportunity to expand my wall space to display my ever-increasing collection. The fact is that museums can have up to 95% of their collection in storage at any given time, and given the other fact that museums typically do not get rid of any pieces of their collection (rather, slowly adding to their collections over time) they are in a constant crunch due to continually diluting their amount of wall space.

Today's post is by guest writer Albert Greenhut of Engineered Materials, Inc..

There is field testing and then there are tests in the field.

At the Intercept Technology Group, we have run all our products through the gamut of industry-recognized tests. Our materials have performed well in these tests, but as a consumer I always keep a wary eye on the fine print, as all wise consumers should. Being familiar with these tests I can say that they are tough, but nothing compares to the real life tests.

We got a call from a guitar player in Thailand, telling us about a set of circumstances that wound up being an extreme field test for Intercept Technology packaging. 

Sustainability concerns with the use and disposal of plastic sandwich bags have apparently not hindered their sales too greatly, for a variety of reasons, particularly in schools. A story entitled "Despite Sustainability Concerns, Sandwich Bags are Sticking Around" in Plastics News this week indicates that even in school districts where children qualify for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program, the use of plastic sandwich bags continues. Elementary school teachers often request one or two packages of sandwich or zipper bags from their students' use in the classroom, along with the other typical supplies children would use.

We can talk about better packaging, shipping and storage, and decreased carbon footprint any day. It’s summer, and I’d like to share something different, a more personal story:

My wife and I were on one of my favorite beaches recently, Nantasket Beach in Hull, MA.  My fondness is based not only on memories of lifeguarding Nantasket in the mid to late 70s, but also because it’s a public beach where on any given hot day, thousands of sunbathers will visit, so it has a bit of a honky tonk edge.  You can people-watch all day long at Nantasket, observing all sorts of characters and the interplay between fellow sun worshipers.

There's much experimentation going on in the packaging world. Focus on the environment and sustainability requires reworks, better materials, and enhanced features in retail and industrial packaging to ensure the highest freshness and viability of products during shipping, storage, and in use.

According to a recent L.A. Times article, Wasteful Packaging: Do consumers care?, fewer American consumers now believe they should be responsible for recycling packaging materials than they did in 2009. This seems counter-intuitive to me considering all the public discourse about packaging waste available on a daily basis. On Twitter and StumbleUpon, in blog posts and news articles, there is much ado about packaging and packaging waste. Driving through my neighborhood on trash pickup day I see evidence that, at least locally, people are recycling more and throwing away less.