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...
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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,...
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...
September 4, 2022
EPA Selects Recipients of Nearly $12 Million in P2 Grants Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on September 8, 2022, that it selected 39 recipients that will receive nearly $12 million in pollution prevention (P2) grants made possible by President Joseph Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s $100 million program investment. According to EPA, the grants will allow states and Tribes to provide businesses with technical assistance to help them develop and adopt P2 practices to prevent or reduce pollution before it is even...
On March 22, 2016, EPA announced the availability of $7.94 million in federal grants to support pollution prevention (P2) projects during Fiscal Years 2016 and 2017. Projects should reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous materials, water, and energy and will support the P2 Program National Emphasis Areas of: Climate Change Mitigation/Prevention of Greenhouse Gas Emissions; More Sustainable Food Manufacturing and Processing; or State or Community Approaches to Hazardous Materials...
In a May 25, 2010, letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), the Silver Nanotechnology Working Group (SNWG) expressed its concern regarding the pending Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) interpretation concerning the regulation of nanoscale pesticide products. In its letter, SNWG states that the new interpretation, which “includes an unsupported and arbitrary definition of ‘nanomaterial’ and ignores...
May 5, 2010
PPDC Discusses Nanotechnology and Pesticides
On April 29, 2010, during the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC) meeting, William Jordan, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), presented slides regarding nanotechnology and pesticides. Jordan briefly described how OPP is defining nanoscale materials and how the technology is being applied to the field of pesticides. His presentation described OPP’s recent consultation with EPA’s Scientific...
January 13, 2010
EPA Extends Comment Period for Proposed CNT SNURs
On January 8, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) extended until February 8, 2010, the comment period for its November 6, 2009, proposed significant new use rules (SNUR) for multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) and single-walled CNTs. According to the January 8, 2010, notice, EPA received a request to extend the comment period. On December 1, 2009, the U.S. World Trade Organization (WTO) Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Inquiry Point at the National Institute of Standards...
On June 25, 2009, the Norwegian Board of Technology announced that the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT) has established “a scheme for Norwegian businesses to report their use of nanomaterials in chemical products.” According to a spokesperson for the Board, until now the Norwegian market has “lacked oversight of nanomaterials.” Under the scheme, information about nanomaterials in chemical products will be incorporated as a separate topic in declarations to the...