You may have seen some viral posts about the “anti-sex” beds for athletes at the Tokyo Olympic games, set to officially kick off July 23, but with some events already started.The clever cardboard frame, however, isn’t about reducing coupling in athlete housing. The beds are actually designed to hold up to 440 pounds, so they can take a lot of punishment. The real reason for the material choice is that the frames can be recycled easily and have a smaller carbon footprint than wooden frames.The to separate and be easily recycled.”I would say the Tokyo Olympics has the best ever Olympic sustainability code for climate change,” said Masako Konishi, the climate and energy project leader at World Wildlife Fund Japan who is also a member of the Tokyo Olympics sustainability committee.Beyond standard recycling practices at Olympic sites for bottles and food, the Tokyo games will feature medals made using material from recycled electronics such as cellphones. The medal podiums are made of post-consumer plastics recycled from packaging. (.)Organizers say the they are taking can be carried through to future games. Automakers have started giving early warnings that the global microchip shortage that has slowed the industry’s production level this year won’t end soon.”The semiconductor crisis, from everything I see and I’m not sure I can see everything, easy because I don’t see enough signs that additional production from the Asian sourcing points is going to come to the West in the near future,” said Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Chrysler owner Stellantis, at an Automotive Press Association event in Detroit July 21.Executives from Daimler AG made similar warnings, but Chief Financial Officer Harald Wilhelm said the shortage would be less severe next year.Tough conditions in the auto industry are prompting one auto supplier to expand into the medical field.Cadillac Products typically makes sound deadening and protective systems for the auto industry, but when COVID-19 hit, it began producing medical gowns and personal protective equipment. It’s now turning that temporary business into a subsidiary: ProTEC-USA.PN’s Sarah Kominek and Kurt Nagl of our sister paper Crain’s Detroit Business visited the new business late last week. .”If I could get this to 25 to 30 percent [of overall revenue], that would be great,” said Mike Williams, vice president of operations and purchasing.The company has made 1.2 million pieces of PPE so far, but the bulk were donated to medical responders. However, the company believes it is well positioned to respond to efforts to make more medical equipment in the U.S. Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you’d like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge. Subscribe to Plastics News Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.Customer Service: