Single-use plastics have been in the news a lot lately, and the news isn't good. Once vaunted for their convenience, disposable plastic products have come under fire in recent years as evidence of the environmental damage they can cause piles up – sometimes literally.

Scan through the latest headlines from Marketresearch.com's publishing brands, where this week's topics included retail-ready packaging, the roofing industry, the weight loss market, tips on leveraging market research, and more.

Kent Furst has written 50 industry studies on a wide variety of topics during the last 14 years at The Freedonia Group. He currently manages a group of analysts who focus on the chemicals industry. He holds a B.S. in Polymer Science and Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

Kent has been quoted in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, in addition to a number of trade journals. He has been a regular speaker at the International Silicones Conference over the last seven years, and he’s also spoken at the Plastic Caps & Closures conference.

One of the many challenges of running a successful business is that markets change. It’s natural: Tastes shift, technology advances, and the consumers you target today may look and behave differently from those in the market tomorrow.

The total U.S. weight loss industry hit a new peak in 2018, growing 4% to $72 billion. The largest diet companies are shifting direction and changing ownership as Weight Watchers rebrands itself to its new name WW and focuses more on wellness, Jenny Craig is up for sale, NutriSystem gets acquired by Tivity Health, and Slim-Fast is acquired by Glanbia, a multilevel marketing firm.

The ongoing recovery of the U.S. building market has had a notable impact on a few of the key construction sectors covered in-depth by The Freedonia Group, including the roofing industry.

It's been a busy week for the analysts from Simba Information, Packaged Facts, The Freedonia Group, and Freedonia Focus Reports! 

Catch up on our recent headlines, including the latest on research funding policy, the food market, trends in flooring, data privacy, additive manufacturing, STM publishing, and more.

Carolyn Zulandt is a Content Development Specialist at The Freedonia Group, where she has worked since 2012. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology and History from Wake Forest University and an M.A. in History from Cleveland State University.

Scientific, technical, and medical (STM) publishing exceeds $25 billion annually, and its leading competitors consistently post adjusted profit margins that exceed 30%, according to our research at Simba Information. 

However, these same STM publishers are facing disruption in the face of a movement to create open access to the scholarly research they publish. 

Catch up with the latest articles from Marketresearch.com's publishing brands, including analysis from The Freedonia Group and Simba Information. 

This week's insights span across the latest innovations in the lawn and garden industry, e-commerce and its effects on the box market, new headwinds against big tech companies, and much more. Read on to find out!