Commentary A survey by Jabil, a Florida-based manufacturing service company, found that 78 percent of supply chains were disrupted by the pandemic. Eighteen months in, supply chains remain disrupted due to continued lockdowns, container shortages, winter weather, hurricanes, wildfires, floods, factory fires, the blocking of the Suez Canal, and a host of other reasons. These disruptions have caused global shortages of semiconductors, and polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and monoethylene (MEG) that are used to make plastics. Plastics are contained in nearly every product we use and the lack of plastic has led to factory shutdowns, price increases, and production delays in countless industries. Shortages are impacting the manufacture of everything from PPE, food packaging, appliances, furniture, smartphones, and car parts, to sports equipment. A shortage of precursor materials (chemical inputs) has caused a shortage of vaccines coming from China. Neodymium, an input for the manufacture of the magnets used in …