VERMONT PASSES FIRST-IN-THE-NATION HHW EPR

Many household products – including cleaning fluids, varnish, paint removers, fuel additives, and gas cylinders – contain toxic and/or flammable ingredients. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets stringent requirements for hazardous waste generated by businesses, it does not regulate household products that contain the same hazardous materials. Known as Household Hazardous Waste (or “HHW”), these products should require special handling once consumers are finished using them. This is the problem that Vermont set out to solve with first-in-the-nation HHW Extended Producer Responsibility – known as “EPR” – legislation, which is now on Governor Phil Scott’s desk. Read more on the blog.

OREGON ENACTS AMENDMENT TO DRUG TAKEBACK

When dumped in the trash or flushed down the drain, pharmaceuticals can contaminate our environment – and, when stored in medicine cabinets, drugs can cause accidental overdoses. But Oregon just enacted an amendment to its 2019 EPR law, which expands the type of facilities at which covered drugs under drug takeback programs may be disposed. Learn more.

EPR CENTER STAGED AT GLOBAL PLASTICS TREATY

This week, world leaders are gathering for the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution. Although PSI was invited to attend and contributed to discussions leading up to the event, we were unable to make the trip. INC-2 will take place from May 29 to June 2 at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris, and will be followed by INC-3 in Kenya in November and INC-4 in Canada in April 2024. At each meeting, EPR will be front and center. Read more.

For the first time in its 22-year history, the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) has developed a program-level partnership. PSI is pleased to collaborate with The Pack Green Coalition (PGC), a nonprofit 501(c)6 organization that educates and advocates for meaningful policies and laws to advance the replacement of unnecessary plastic in packaging supply chains with sustainable alternatives. Many organizations are focused on solving the plastic problem. But PGC stands alone in its efforts to promote sustainable packaging alternatives and advocate for laws and policies to level the playing field for innovative companies that make better choices. Learn more.

PaintCare, the nonprofit organization that plans and operates paint stewardship programs in states that pass the paint stewardship law, is proud to celebrate one year in New York. The New York PaintCare program launched on May 1, 2022, and has been providing more convenient paint recycling in the state over the past year. To date, PaintCare has collected 727,000 gallons of paint for recycling in the state.

PaintCare operates programs in 10 additional states and jurisdictions including CA, CO, CT, DC, ME, MN, OR, RI, VT, and WA. In these states, paint recycling is made more convenient for households, businesses, contractors, and others with unwanted, leftover paint. In New York, there are 285 drop-off sites open year-round for paint recycling, and 2,450 drop-off sites across all program states. This resource benefits all community members and is available across the state, including in New York City. For more information about paint recycling and to contact your local representative, visit PaintCare online at www.paintcare.org or call (855) PAINT-09.

Grist's story on battery EPR at the state and federal level includes this perspective from PSI’s CEO and Founder, Scott Cassel: “[EPR] is a paradigm shift for how waste is managed in the United States…The states…are ready to act right now.”

WasteToday communicated news shared by PSI about Vermont’s first-in-the-nation Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) bill, which was spearheaded by PSI Board member Jen Holliday and supported by PSI’s work and especially the efforts of Suna Bayrakal, our Director of Policy & Programs. WasteAdvantage also shared PSI’s news about Vermont's HHW bill.

WasteAdvantage reported on PSI’s partnership with the Pack Green Coalition.

June 26 Washington, DC – Hanz Atia, PSI’s Associate Policy & Programs, will present on “Regulatory Landscape of In-Home Drug Disposal” at Defining and Evaluating In-Home Drug Disposal Systems for Opioid Analgesics workshop, hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The event will be both in person and virtual, and is free to attend. Register here.

June 30 Washington, DC – Scott Cassel, PSI’s CEO and Founder, will present on U.S. Packaging EPR at the Chemical Watch Food Contact Regulations conference. Learn more about Chemical Watch here.

September 26 Boston, MA – Scott Cassel, PSI’s CEO and Founder, will present on packaging EPR at the Sustainable Packaging Coalition ADVANCE conference. Register here.

October 17 Boston, MA – Scott Cassel, PSI’s CEO and Founder, will present on Packaging EPR Global Trends at PSX 2023. Register here.

Great interview with Dr. Thomas Lindhquist, credited with creating EPR, for Ecoveritas. “Lindhquist believes potential Europe-wide EPR legislation could be in the pipeline and that it will prove an essential tool for policymakers. His intervention comes as the European Union works to improve policy harmonisation across Europe as part of the EU Green Deal. The ultimate goal of this approach is that all packaging is made reusable or recyclable by 2030.”

A new study showed that difficult-to-recycle mattress textiles can be recycled into the conductive carbon materials used to make lithium-sulfur rechargeable batteries — which have as much as three times more energy storage capacity than conventional lithium-ion batteries. The project was funded by the Mattress Recycling Council; COO Mike O’Donnell was a speaker on our recent Mattress EPR webinar.

New reporting on U.S. paper and plastics exports found 8% less recovered fiber and 10% less scrap plastic were exported during the first quarter of 2023 than in the previous year, and a shift to Thailand as the primary fiber and Canada as the primary recovered plastic recipient countries.

A study of the mechanical recycling process finds that chopping, shredding, and washing plastic generates microplastics — even when wastewater was filtered.

The UN’s plan to cut plastic pollution by 80% by 2040 includes reuse, recycling, and alternative materials — as well as discontinuing subsidies of fossil fuels, which are used to make most plastics.

EPA urges FTC to drop the recycling symbol from plastics that aren’t actually recyclable — a suggestion that PSI and other environmentalist groups shared last month as part of our comments on the FTC’s Green Guides.

Durability in wind turbines is a prerequisite — and challenging for end-of-life management. But a new strategy for recovery could hold the key to recyclability for these renewable energy workhorses.

China, the world’s largest producer of lithium-ion batteries and the world’s largest market for electric vehicles, targets lithium self-sufficiency through EV battery recycling.

Analysis shows that the market for recycled solar panels is increasing exponentially: In 2022, it was worth $170 million; by 2030, it will be worth more than $2.7 billion.

Eastman, a PSI partner, has secured the feedstock needed for its planned molecular recycling facility in France; set to become “the world’s largest material-to-material molecular recycling plant” with a processing capacity of 100,000 tons of materials by 2026, including polyester and difficult-to-recycle PET that is typically incinerated or landfilled.

Glencore, a Swiss mining and commodities company, has joined forces with Canada’s Li-Cycle Holdings to build the largest battery recycling planet in Europe, with the goal of reusing raw materials including cobalt, lithium, and nickel.

As California and New York consider EPR for textiles, Circ, a textile recycling startup based in Virginia, announced a unique hydrothermal processing technology capable of recycling blended textiles such as cotton-polyester.

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WEBINAR ARCHIVES: PAINT EPR

This webinar was open for the entire PSI community to attend; however, the recording is accessible only to PSI’s Members and Partners.