All Knowledge & Insights By Date

In February 2022, France and the United States announced their commitment to protect our shared environment for future generations against the harm resulting plastic pollution.Both nations stated their united recognition of the transboundary impacts of plastic pollution and the importance of mitigating plastic waste at its source. On March 2, 2022, as reported by the 5th UN Environment Assembly (UNAE-5.2) in Nairobi, both France and the United States, along with 173 other...

On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Public Law 117-58, 135 Stat. 429. Section 80201 of the IIJA reinstates the Superfund excise tax on certain chemical substances under Sections 4661 and 4671 of the Internal Revenue Code (Tax Code), effective July 1, 2022. Section 80201(c)(1) of the IIJA modified the method for determining whether a substance is a taxable substance by lowering the required...

The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) has posted “important information” for the 2022 reporting period under R-Nano, France’s national reporting scheme for substances in nanoparticle form. ANSES states that it is asking providers to give an updated declaration number to their customers upon request, “even if they have no declaration to perform.” To do so, providers “must ‘duplicate’ the substance identity information...

A circular economy requires new thinking about what products we make, from which materials we make them, and where products go at the end of their useful life. An important but often overlooked aspect of new product development is an understanding of the consequences of the product’s chemical composition and the end-of-life implications of the decisions made at the front end of the process. Working within this framework plays a critical role in building a resilient, dependable, and sustainable...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. On April 18, 2022, EPA announced the opportunity for public comment on its proposed analysis of the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with biofuels produced from canola/rapeseed oil. EPA’s assessment considers diesel, jet fuel, heating oil, naphtha, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) produced from canola/rapeseed oil through a hydrotreating process. EPA is proposing to find that these pathways would meet the...

On May 6, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed reporting and recordkeeping requirements for asbestos under Section 8(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Unsurprisingly, the proposed requirements are extensive and tough.  This article provides a summary.

On May 12, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the publication of information collected during the 2020 Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) cycle to increase public awareness of chemicals being manufactured in communities and to enable citizen and stakeholder access and use of the reported information. The CDR rule requires manufacturers (including importers) of certain chemicals listed on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory to...

Download transcript This week I had the pleasure of sitting down again with one of my favorite people on planet Earth, Kate Sellers, Technical Fellow at ERM, where Kate leads a multidisciplinary team of professionals dedicated to helping companies recognize the business value of product stewardship. Kate is also an adjunct professor at Harvard Extension School and Indiana University’s School of Public Health, where she is an instructor in the Master of Science in Product Stewardship...

On May 12, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule relating to the assertion and maintenance of confidential business information (CBI) claims under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). 87 Fed. Reg. 29078. EPA states in its May 12, 2022, press release that the proposed rule includes new and amended requirements that, if made final, would increase transparency, modernize reporting and review procedures, and ensure consistency with the 2016...

By Lynn L. Bergeson The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Safer Choice Program announced on March 28, 2022, that it is accepting submissions for its 2022 Safer Choice Partner of the Year Awards. 87 Fed. Reg. 17287. EPA states that it developed the Partner of the Year Awards “to recognize the leadership contributions of Safer Choice partners and stakeholders who, over the past year, have shown achievement in the design, manufacture, selection and use of products with safer...

The European Commission (EC) recently opened a survey focused only on potential reforms to the authorisation and restriction provisions of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation (No. 1907/2006), as well as the extension of the Generic Risk management Approach (GRA). The EC is revising REACH to reflect the goals in its ambitious Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS). The survey supports the EC’s impact assessment for the...

On May 12, 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Strategy Team on Sustainable Chemistry will host the second webinar in a series regarding the team’s tasks of defining, assessing, and preparing a strategic plan in the area of sustainable chemistry in response to direction in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2020. The presenters in the webinar will discuss the science, technology, and innovation...

On May 5, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a series of actions intended to secure environmental justice for all Americans. In addition to launching a new Office of Environmental Justice within DOJ, Attorney General Garland also announced a new comprehensive environmental justice enforcement strategy to guide DOJ’s work and an interim final rule that will restore the use of supplemental environmental projects (SEP)...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 25, 2022, the proposed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) New Chemicals Collaborative Research Program. 87 Fed. Reg. 10784. On March 10, 2022, EPA posted the draft document entitled “Modernizing the Process and Bringing Innovative Science to Evaluate New Chemicals Under TSCA.” The Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) proposes to develop and implement a multi-year collaborative research...

WEBINAR - Register Now For “Domestic Chemical Regulation And Achieving Circularity,” May 18 2022, 12:00 p.m. EDT: A circular economy requires new thinking about what products we make, from which materials we make them, and where products go at the end of their useful lives. An important but often overlooked aspect of new product development is an understanding of the consequences of the product’s chemical composition and the end-of-life implications of the decisions made at the front...

Download transcript. This week, I sat down with Dr. Steven Bennett, Executive Vice President, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs, Household & Commercial Products Association, here in Washington, D.C. Steve’s membership represents an amazing diversity of products used to clean and disinfect homes and commercial environments. As Executive Vice President of scientific and regulatory affairs, Steve routinely addresses an equally diverse and challenging range of scientific, regulatory,...

Wednesday, May 18, 202212:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. (EDT)Register Today A circular economy requires new thinking about what products we make, from which materials we make them, and where products go at the end of their useful life. An important but often overlooked aspect of new product development is an understanding of the consequences of the product’s chemical composition and the end-of-life implications of the decisions made at the front end of the process. Working within this framework plays a...