Archives

November 22, 2024

EPA Releases National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution

On November 21, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the release of the National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution: Part Three of a Series on Building a Circular Economy for All. According to EPA, together with EPA’s “National Recycling Strategy” and the “National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics,” the “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution” presents opportunities for voluntary and regulatory actions by...
May 16, 2024

Lynn L. Bergeson and Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., “Optimizing TSCA’s Potential to Reduce Plastic Waste,” ABA NR&E, Spring 2024.

A critical element of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution (Strategy) is to “improve post-use materials management.”  The Strategy identifies potential voluntary actions EPA believes can be implemented to prevent plastic waste. Plastics recycling, both mechanical and “advanced,” is core to achieving improved post-use plastics materials management. Post-use plastics management, in turn, is core to achieving...
December 18, 2023

Lynn L. Bergeson, “The EPA is undermining the TSCA’s potential to reduce plastic waste,” Financier Worldwide, January 2024.

No discussion of energy issues would be complete without some mention of the utility of used plastic as a feedstock in the production of fuels, energy and building block chemicals. In spring 2023, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution (Strategy) to identify voluntary actions to prevent plastic waste. Plastics recycling, including both mechanical and ‘advanced’, is core to achieving improved post-use plastics materials...
July 21, 2023

EPA Extends Comment Period on Proposed SNURs for 18 Chemicals Made from Plastic Waste-Based Feedstocks

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on July 19, 2023, that it is extending the public comment period for its proposed significant new use rules (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to ensure chemicals made from plastic waste-derived feedstocks are free from certain contaminants before they can be used to make transportation fuels. The SNURs would require companies to notify EPA before manufacturing or processing 18 chemicals made from plastic waste-derived...
June 16, 2023

EPA Will Propose SNURs for 18 Chemicals Made from Plastic Waste-Derived Feedstocks

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on June 15, 2023, that it will issue proposed significant new use rules (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for 18 chemicals made from plastic waste-derived feedstocks. According to EPA, the proposed SNURs would require notification to and review by EPA before these fuels could be made using plastic waste-derived feedstocks that contain impurities like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), heavy metals, dioxins,...
June 12, 2023

Senate Committee Will Hold Rescheduled Hearing on Impacts of Plastic Production and Disposal on Environmental Justice Communities

The Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight will hold a hearing on June 15, 2023, on “Impacts of Plastic Production and Disposal on Environmental Justice Communities.” Originally scheduled for April 27, 2023, witnesses will include: On May 2, 2023, EPA announced the release of a Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution. EPA identified three key objectives for the...
April 25, 2023

Senate Committee Will Hold Hearing on Impacts of Plastic Production and Disposal on Environmental Justice Communities

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a hearing on April 27, 2023, on “Impacts of Plastic Production and Disposal on Environmental Justice Communities.” Witnesses will include: Last week, Senators Tom Carper (D-DE), Chair of the Committee and Co-Chair of the Senate Recycling Caucus, Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Ranking Member of the Committee, and John Boozman (R-AR), also a member of the Committee, reintroduced two pieces of bipartisan legislation focused on...
January 25, 2023

NREL Develops Systematic Framework to Compare Plastics Recycling Methods

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   The U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced on January 23, 2023, that researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) examined the benefits and trade-offs of current and emerging technologies for recycling certain types of plastics to determine the optimal options. According to BETO, the researchers provided a comparison of various closed-loop recycling technologies, which allow for the reuse...
January 28, 2022

EC Committee Statement on Emerging Health and Environmental Issues Includes Nanotechnology Organics and Conversion of Micro to Nano Plastics in the Environment

On January 21, 2022, the European Commission’s (EC) Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) published a second statement on emerging health and environmental issues. SCHEER members have identified nine emerging issues in the non-food area as having a potential impact on human health and/or the environment in the future and have given them overall prioritization scores (*, 1, 2, or 3, where * is uncertain and three is high). The emerging issues...
October 12, 2021

GAO Asks Whether Chemical Recycling Can Reduce Plastic Pollution

By Lynn L. Bergeson  The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) posted a WatchBlog item entitled “Can Chemical Recycling Reduce Plastic Pollution?” on October 5, 2021. The item looks at GAO’s September 2021 Science & Tech Spotlight: Advanced Plastic Recycling. According to GAO, chemical recycling could reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills, potentially reducing the release of chemicals into the environment. Chemical recycling can produce...