Around the holidays, I noticed TV ads for SodaStream International Ltd. -- the company that makes machines that allow consumers to make carbonated soft drinks at home.

The ads, in part, play up SodaStream's supposed environmental benefits, namely that they reduce the use of PET bottles.

But is that criticism fair -- or is this a case of greenwashing?

A former colleague sent me a note recently that prompted me to take a closer look at the issue.

He pointed out that the "environmental report" on SodaStream's website focuses only on a reduction in the number of PET bottles used -- it does not compare the total environmental impact of SodaStream vs. supermarket-purchased soft drinks.

The company assumes that reducing PET consumption -- and the cost of shipping the bottles full of soda -- outweighs the environmental impact of its machine, including the 90 gas canisters it will use over its lifetime.

However, the company hasn't done any research -- like a lifecycle analysis -- to prove the advantage.

In the United Kingdom, SodaStream has been banned from running the "Set the bubbles free" TV ads. (see "SodaStream turns to print ads to criticize plastic waste")

That's not the case in the United States, however. In fact, SodaStream is planning an ad on this year's Super Bowl broadcast slated to run in the fourth quarter, "when people are most likely to notice the growing piles of bottles and cans strewn about the room and filling up their trash."

Will this have any real impact on public attitudes about plastics? I'm tempted to say no -- America's love affair with carbonated soft drinks is pretty entrenched.

But remember that in 2012, we saw a town ban PET water bottles ("Concord bottle ban OK'd"). Environmentalists and politicians in places like San Francisco are already talking about taking similar action.

With companies like SodaStream urging on the critics, consumers may need to be reminded of PET's strong recycling record.

News doesn't take a break during the holidays.

PlasticsNews.com has had a ton of big stories in the past few weeks, including news of major mergers, consolidation and expansions (too many to link, which is a good sign).

But readers love off-beat and unusual stories too, so here are a few that I've been saving:

"A Christmas Miracle: Packaging Is Less Infuriating," from Slate.com's Farhad Manjoo, who notes that "bad packaging is now becoming the exception rather than the norm."

"Unsafe Holiday Rubber Ducks Seized by CBP in Los Angeles," courtesy of a press release from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Someone in the federal government has a sense of humor, it appears (surprise!), as you can see from the opening lines of the release:

They arrived from China dressed as Santa, Snowman, Gingerbread man, Reindeer and Penguin, all 35,712, but their cute holiday flair did not deflect the scrutiny of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and import specialists, at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport.

Working closely with U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) compliance investigators, CBP officials seized the holiday ducks on December 4, after determining that the toys, with a domestic value of $18,522, contained a regulated phthalate in excess of the limit which may be harmful to the health and safety of children.

"PVC Christmas Trees May Climb to Record Sales in 2012," from the Vinyl Institute. What's the most sustainable choice in Christmas decorations, a real tree or a PVC replica? The answer may surprise you -- or maybe not, since this came from the Vinyl Institute.

According to VI, sales of man-made PVC Christmas trees might have topped $1 billion in 2012, a gain of 6 percent over 2011.

Happy 2013, Plastics Blog readers!

Remember John Krenicki? Not that long ago he was the head of GE Plastics.

Krenicki was in the news last week when General Electric Co. disclosed that he was retiring, and getting a pretty attractive severance.

$89,000 a month -- yes, a month -- until he turns 60.

According to Kim Peterson of MSN Money Now, the severance will add up to more than $10 million, because Krenicki is about 50 years old now.

Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.

Krenicki was in charge of GE Plastics from 2003-2005. He replaced Yoshiaki Fujimori, almost immediately made some major staff changes, and he was replaced by Charlene Begley in June 2005.

(Just two years later, you'll recall, General Electric sold GE Plastics to Saudi Basic Industries Corp.)

Since he left plastics, Krenicki has been in charge of GE's energy unit. At one point the financial press had speculated that he was a candidate to take over as CEO of the parent company.

Krenicki put in 29 years at General Electric.

For more insight and historical perspective into his tenure at GE Plastics, check out this Q&A interview that Krenicki did with Plastics News' Frank Esposito.

One of the lessons you get in journalism school is that readers love lists. Here's one of my favorites, the annual ranking of the most-read stories on PlasticsNews.com.

Can you guess the No. 1 story? Scroll all the way to the bottom if you can't wait to see:

25. Firms to distribute solar shingles. Solar shingle stories have been pretty well read on our site for a few years now.

24. Dow Chemical picks Freeport, Texas, for new ethylene cracker

23. PVC prices continue to climb. The first of many resin pricing-related stories on this list.

22. Researcher develops plastic light bulb

21. Rising costs in China drive manufacturing back to the United States. A first-hand report on reshoring from Steve Toloken, Plastics News' Guangzhou, China-based Asia bureau chief.

20. New NPE venue brings new travel challenges

19. Dart buying Solo Cup for $1 billion. Big plastics M&A deals are very popular with PN readers -- hint hint.

18. Surprise! North American polyethylene prices up 5 cents per pound. I loved getting the word "Surprise" in this headline. I guess it worked.

17. Shale gas shakes up PE market. A very newsy headline from last year's Plastics News Executive Forum.

16. Nylon 12 shortage creates opportunities for material substitution. The nylon 12 shortage was one of the biggest plastics-related stories of 2012. This roundup story on alternative materials was very timely and extremely popular.

15. Milacron gets new private equity owner Big news in the machinery sector, and it broke just days before NPE2012.

14. Jon Huntsman is back in spotlight. How about that, one of my editorial columns! This one was teasing Huntsman's speaking role at the April 1 event marking the 75th anniversary of the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. and the 50th anniversary of the Plastics Hall of Fame.

13. Explosion at Evonik plant leaves one dead. This was the first of our nylon 12-related stories, and it was frequently linked to in the days following the incident.

12. North American prices fall for PE, PP, PVC and PET

11. iPhone case maker hits jackpot. A day after Apple introduced the iPhone 5, we had a terrific plastics angle.

10. North American prices fall for polyethylene, polypropylene and PVC

9. Polyethylene and polypropylene prices rise despite slow demand

8. Dow additive keeps PC from scratching

7. Berry Plastics planning IPO. Another big financial deal, but not the big one. Have you guessed it yet?

6. Beleaguered gas can manufacturer Blitz USA closing down. A popular story with blow molders and plaintiff's attorneys, I'm sure.

5. One dead in accident at Rexam plant. I've pointed this out before, PN has a core group of readers who are responsible for safety training in their plants. Whenever we write about an industrial accident, they want all the details they can get, and they use the opportunity to reinforce safety measures at their own employers.

4. Obamacare ruling means medical device tax starts in 2013. Here's my advice to editors: Put "Obamacare" and "tax" in a headline during an election year and watch the web clicks go crazy.

3. Jindal Poly buying ExxonMobil BOPP films business. Another huge M&A deal in plastics packaging, and it helped that we were the first to report this in North America.

2. Evonik warns customers about nylon 12 supply constraints. This was the first big story to warn of the pending nylon 12 shortage. David Vink from our sister newspaper European Plastics News wrote this, and it was a great example of the global reporting that we offer to PN readers.

1. PolyOne buying Spartech for $393 million. Did you guess it was this deal?

We were all over the PolyOne acquisition of Spartech. If you're just catching up and interested in more information, be sure to check out our exclusive interview with Vicki Holt, president and CEO of Spartech, and Julie McAlindon, vice president of corporate marketing for PolyOne: "PolyOne and Spartech executives discuss plans for combined company."

I hope you enjoyed the list as much as I did. Thanks to all of the loyal Plastics News readers -- in print and online -- and best wishes for 2013.

Is the United States manufacturing sector experiencing a renaissance thanks to re-shoring, as OEMs bring work back from China?

One manufacturing expert doesn't think so, and the data seems to be on his side.

Alan Tonelson of the US Business & Industry Council has responded to two recent articles from The Atlantic that touted the re-shoring trend, "The Insourcing Boom" by Charles Fishman and "Mr. China Comes to America" by James Fallows.

Before we get to Tonelson's criticism, let me say that both Atlantic stories are excellent, and should be required reading for U.S. manufacturing executives. They're not really new to Plastics News or Plastics Blog readers. We've been writing for years about re-shoring, modern supply chain problems, and how North American factories have managed to become more competitive.

But executives should be aware of how the national media is reporting on these trends, and the Atlantic stories even have some plastics-specific angles.

Now, the rain for the parade.

Tonelson has written responses to both Atlantic articles. He wrote today that "the main thrust of the articles contrasts sharply with the wide range of manufacturing-relevant data I follow.

"My rejoinder argued that, although no one has a perfect crystal ball, forecasting the future realistically requires at least summarizing the troubling picture drawn by the most comprehensive data of manufacturing's present. And it marshaled the evidence showing that not only is domestic manufacturing not gaining on its main competitors; in many respects, it is slipping further behind."

Tonelson's response to Fallows' story ("Alan Tonelson: 'The Insourcing Boom That Isn't'"), points to government data that indicate that U.S. manufacturing is losing market share and becoming less competitive. He argues that some of the major examples of U.S. re-shoring -- for example, GE Appliances' decision to move some work back from China to Louisville, Ky. -- was driven by U.S. government subsidies.

"Using taxpayer dollars to pay manufacturing companies to move or stay may make perfect sense in many cases," Tonelson wrote. "And certainly most of America's major trade competitors engage in such practices pervasively. But relying substantially on government inducements is likely a losing proposition for domestic manufacturing advocates. After all, industrial rivals like China, Germany, and Japan are financially strong. The United States remains saddled with enormous debts - many owed to these very countries, and is unlikely to win a worldwide subsidy competition."

And the data indicates that U.S. manufacturing isn't exactly in full-renaissance mode, according to Tonelson.

"As robustly as the overall U.S. manufacturing trade deficit has risen recently, the China deficit has recovered just as dramatically, and from a much shallower trough. In fact, so far this year, the manufacturing trade gap with China has increased more four times faster than America's global trade gap," he wrote.

Continuing the debate, Fishman yesterday posted a reply to Tonelson's points. Fishman argues that the Atlantic stories make a case that global manufacturing is shifting, outsourcing may have been overdone, and that the data that Tonelson cites doesn't yet take into account the changes taking place right now.

"Tonelson's data points aren't wrong. But what GE is doing with its appliance division isn't a mere anecdote. It's a strategic bet that might signal a shift in the U.S. economy; and it's a competitive re-positioning that may cause some manufacturing companies to do what GE itself has done: Ask hard questions about where it really should be making products," Fishman wrote.

Check out the links and let us know where you stand on this important debate on the state of global manufacturing.

Detroit's North American International Auto Show's preview days are a little more than a month away, with automakers and suppliers alike ready to show off new technology.

The two press days, Jan. 14 and 15, are packed with back-to-back news conferences and dozens of new car introductions. And of course, many of those new cars are packed with new plastics technology to reduce weight and improve performance.

But being Detroit, few of the suppliers involved with these new projects can officially talk about those projects. That doesn't mean they can't drop a hint to send Plastics News in the right direction, however.

Feel free to drop an email to Detroit-based reporter Rhoda Miel at rmiel@crain.com or on twitter @PNRhodaMiel to help her wade through the event and make sure to hit the big debuts that the auto industry will be talking about all year.