Advocacy

SWANA & ISRI Hold Congressional Briefing on Lithium Battery Fires

SWANA co-hosted a virtual Congressional briefing with the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) on March 21 to educate federal lawmakers about the growing risks that lithium battery fires pose to communities, workers, firefighters, and consumers. The event began with remarks from Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) and Senator John Boozman (R-AR), co-chairs of the US Senate Recycling Caucus.

ISRI President Robin Wiener welcomed attendees to the event which featured a panel discussion led by ISRI Chief Lobbyist Billy Johnson. The panelists included representatives from both publicly and privately managed materials recovery facilities (MRF), a consumer electronics recycler, and a volunteer firefighter association.

Robert Pickens of American Waste Control in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Eduardo Rodriguez with the City of Phoenix, Arizona, shared their perspectives on the challenges involved in safely managing a MRF in the face of increased lithium battery fires. Craig Boswell of HOBI International explained that the demand for recycled lithium batteries exists, but that the public isn’t aware of how to do so or of the dangers of mismanagement. Ryan Woodward of the National Volunteer Fire Council spoke to the hazards that poorly managed lithium batteries can cause.

Many Congressional staff attended the briefing, learning about this ongoing challenge to American recycling and beginning to discuss policy solutions to help better handle, transport and recycle lithium batteries nationwide.

EPA Proposes PFAS Drinking Water Standards

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced it is proposing the first-ever national drinking water standard for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The proposal, if finalized, would regulate PFOA and PFOS as individual contaminants, and will regulate four other PFAS – PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and GenX Chemicals – as a mixture. These standards may dramatically impact how wastewater treatment plants manage leachate and could affect water management from organics operations.

• PFOA and PFOS: EPA is proposing to regulate PFOA and PFOS at a level that can be reliably measured at four parts per trillion.
• PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and GenX Chemicals: EPA is also proposing a regulation to limit any mixture containing one or more of PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and/or GenX Chemicals. For these PFAS, water systems would use an established approach called a hazard index calculation, defined in the proposed rule, to determine if the combined levels of these PFAS pose a potential risk.

If finalized, the proposed regulation will require public water systems to monitor for these chemicals. It will also require systems to notify the public and reduce PFAS contamination if levels exceed the proposed regulatory standards. After undergoing a public comment period, the final rule could be enacted by the end of the year.

US Plastics Pact Releases 2021 Annual Report

The US Plastics Pact released its Annual Report, publishing aggregated data from its member organizations in 2021. These represent 37 percent of plastic packaging in scope in the US by weight, placing 5.9M tons of plastic packaging on the market.

Since its launch in August 2020 the US Pact has doubled membership, interest, and impact with more than 120 businesses, not-for-profit organizations, government agencies, and research institutions addressing four targets to address plastic waste at its source by 2025. SWANA is an original Activator of the US Plastics Pact.

Progress since the baseline report includes:

• Creation of the Target 1 Problematic and Unnecessary Materials List with 86 percent of plastic packaging placed on the market by U.S. Pact Activators by weight not containing items on the list
• Improved design of recyclable, reusable, refillable, and compostable plastic packaging with recognition of top performers through the Sustainable Packaging Innovation Award
• Continued increases in the use of postconsumer recycled content (PCR) in plastic packaging with an eight percent average PCR or responsibly sourced biobased content used by US Pact Activators
• Improved technologies and increased use of technology to make the recycling process more efficient
• Support of innovative and reusable product delivery models including the launch of the U.S. Pact Reuse Catalyst with 20 Partners selected for the inaugural cohort

Activators will continue to assess their portfolios and report progress toward the four targets annually through World Wildlife Fund’s Resource Footprint Tracker. Progress toward elimination also will be documented in aggregate as part of future US Pact’s annual reports.