Daily Business Report: Friday, June 11, 2021
Mapping the Flow of the World’s Plastic Waste
What happens to the world’s plastic waste?
Since 1950, humans have created approximately 6,300,000,000 metric tons of plastic waste. To date, only 9 percent of this amount has been recycled.
The majority of the waste ends up in landfills or the natural environment instead. What consumers think has been recycled locally is often shipped to other parts of the world.
The United States exported the equivalent of 68,000 shipping containers of plastic waste in 2018.
The first plastic material, Bakelite, was invented in 1907. It made its way into everything you can imagine: telephones, chess pieces, Chanel jewelry, and electric guitars.
But it was in 1950 that our thirst for plastic truly began. In just 65 years, plastic production soared almost 200 times, resulting in about 6,300 million metric tons of waste today.
How does the world deal with this much debris? The truth is, a lot of plastic waste—both trash and recycled materials—is often shipped overseas to become someone else’s problem.
Sony Electronics introduces first-ever
Airspeak S1 professional drone
San Diego-based Sony Electronics Inc. has introduced its first-ever professional drone, the “Airpeak S1”. An introductory model in the new Airpeak line, the S1 is the world’s smallest drone that can be equipped with a full-size mirrorless interchangeable-lens Alpha camera, opening up a new world of creative possibilities.
The new drone utilizes a proprietary motor, propeller, control system and sensing technology, allowing it to fly at extremely high speeds with very stable wind resistance. The Airpeak S1 also features an advanced remote controller that can support the production of high-quality aerial images and freely control the aircraft. It also includes obstacle detection, automatic flight control via sensing and increased safety via cloud management of the aircraft and flight information.
The new professional drone includes “Airpeak Flight,” an iOS and iPadOS compatible application that integrates the aircraft, transmitter, camera, and gimbal, allowing the operator to monitor status information such as flight distance and remaining battery power, and change various operations and settings on the screen.
Pacific Beach Girl Scouts educate
restaurants about takeout sustainability
By Dave Schwab | sdnews.com
Girl Scout Troop 4288 in Pacific Beach is working toward earning their Silver Award through educating restaurants in the community about sustainability in their take-out packaging.
When Girl Scouts focus on an issue they care about, learn the facts, and take action to make a difference, that all adds up to the Girl Scout Silver Award, the highest honor a cadette can achieve.
That is what Lila Salatka, Rennie Anderson, and Kailyn Emerson of Troop 4288 did, led by troop leader Lindsey Salatka. The trio said they chose restaurant sustainability for their Silver Award project as takeout has spiked during the pandemic, reflected in takeout containers disposed of along the beachfront.
“We see the impact that single-use utensils and containers have on our community and on our beautiful beaches. For our project, we contacted 25 restaurants in PB to collect data about their takeout packaging and spoke to them about the importance of sustainability. By educating restaurants in PB, we hope to spread awareness and help our environment.”
The cadettes reported 77 percent of the restaurants they spoke to were making strides toward sustainability, defined as the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.
Workplace battles loom in California
CalMatters
The workplace will likely be the site of California’s next major post-pandemic clash. Although many offices have begun to embrace more relaxed work-from-home policies, other companies — including Apple — are announcing stricter in-person rules that have already been met with strong pushback. On the other hand, working from home hasn’t been positive for everyone: A Wednesday survey from staffing giant Robert Half found that 39 percent of San Diego workers are burned out — up from 25 percent who said the same in October. One key reason? An inability to disconnect from work.
Meanwhile, many Californians who work in restaurants, grocery stores and other essential businesses are anxious that loosened restrictions could put them at risk.
Millenia and city officials celebrate
opening of Millenia Park in Chula Vista
Millenia celebrated the grand opening of the 3.6-acre Millenia Park with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 5 that included Chula Vista Mayor Mary Salas, a host of city officials, and the development team.
Millenia Park is a versatile community hub that features a regulation multi-purpose soccer field and tennis/pickleball court surrounded by a winding jogging path. Other amenities include a half basketball court, two play areas for children, picnic areas, a large flexible plaza space for community gatherings and events, and restrooms.
The city park, located along Millenia Avenue north of Strata Street, was designed and engineered by Kimley-Horn, working in concert with numerous departments within the City of Chula Vista and Meridian Development, which is overseeing development of the 210-acre Millenia community. Meridian Building Services was the general contractor.
Mindy Kaling to deliver closing keynote
address at ASU+GSV Summit in August
ASU+GSV Summit, a global education innovation conference, announced its closing keynote speaker for the 2021 ASU+GSV Summit, best-selling author, producer, actress and director Mindy Kaling. ASU+GSV Summit 2021 will take place in person in San Diego on Aug. 9-11.
Kaling will serve as the closing keynote speaker at this year’s event on Wednesday, Aug. 11.
In addition to delivering the keynote address, Kaling will be presenting $1 million in prizes to the winners of the GSV Cup competition, the world’s largest pitch competition for pre-seed and seed-stage EdTech startups. The GSV Cup Elite 200are semifinalists in the competition and are participating in ASU+GSV Summit.
Registration for the ASU+GSV Summit is now open, with capacity limited to 5,000. It is ASU+GSV’s priority to ensure all those attending the 2021 summit in-person this August feel safe and comfortable.
Medtronic announces FDA approval of its
next generation spinal cord platform
Medtronic plc, a leader in medical technology, announced it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for Vanta, a high performance recharge-free implantable neurostimulator (INS) with a device life that can be optimized up to 11 years. At comparable settings, the Vanta neurostimulator offers nearly twice the device life than competitive primary cell devices. It also utilizes Medtronic’s proprietary AdaptiveStim technology for personalized pain relief that adapts to the patient’s movement or body position using a built-in accelerometer. AdaptiveStim technology goes beyond in-office programming by automatically adjusting stimulation to maintain each patient’s optimal dose. The Vanta neurostimulator also provides unmatched full-body MRI access with Medtronic SureScan technology. Approximately 82 percent of SCS-implanted patients will need at least one MRI within five years of implant.4
Progenity Inc. announces $40 million private placement
Progenity Inc., a San Diego biotechnology company, announced that it has entered into a definitive securities purchase agreement with two leading health care-focused investment funds for the sale of units consisting of shares of common stock and warrants to purchase common stock, in a private placement expected to result in gross proceeds to Progenity of approximately $40 million, before deducting placement agent commissions and other offering expenses.
The private placement is expected to close on June 14, 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
Shuttered Venue Operators Grant contains
over $16 billion to assist closed venues
The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program includes over $16 billion in grants to shuttered venues, to be administered by SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance. Eligible applicants may qualify for grants equal to 45 percent of their gross earned revenue, with the maximum amount available for a single grant award of $10 million. $2 billion is reserved for eligible applications with up to 50 full-time employees.
Eligible entities include:
• Live venue operators or promoters
• Theatrical producers
• Live performing arts organization operators
• Museum operators
• Motion picture theater operators (including owners)
• Talent representatives
New generator coming online for
Gray Eagle Extended Range UAS
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) completed initial flight tests of a new brushless generator system on a company-owned Gray Eagle Extended Range Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) at Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz. The initial flight test of the system marks an important milestone towards upgrading the GE-ER fleet with generators that will significantly improve reliability and dramatically reduce platform sustainment costs, the company said. The new generator also provides electrical power to support expanding mission scenarios for the UAS.
The new generator performed aircraft ground and flight tests for over 44 hours testing up to maximum electrical power output across the full GE-ER flight envelope and at engine power levels from idle up to maximum rated thrust.
