Brazil has recently seen significant updates to solid waste management regulations at the national level. These include new regulations which address: the qualification criteria of managing entities; the qualification...more
Key Takeaways - What Happened? On May 21, 2024, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed the Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act (the Act). Minnesota is the fifth state to enact laws implementing packaging EPR rules,...more
On July 11, 2024, the Brazilian federal government published Federal Decree No. 12,106/2024, regulating the tax incentive for the recycling productive chain established by Federal Law No. 14,260/2021, which aims to promote...more
Brazil’s federal government has published Federal Decree No. 12,082/2024, establishing the National Strategy on Circular Economy (NSCE), which aims to facilitate the transition from a linear production model to a circular...more
What is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)? Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is an environmental policy enacted by several states, which extends a manufacturer’s responsibility for its product packaging...more
The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is about to come into force and will significantly change packaging laws across the EU. The aim of the legislation is to eliminate packaging waste by ensuring that all...more
What You Need To Know In A Minute Or Less - For both consumers and producers, the recent seismic shifts in packaging—from materials to circularity advertising—have been hard to miss. The past few years have introduced several...more
Recently, the Parliament and the Council, under the leadership of the Belgian Council Presidency, have been able to reach a provisional agreement on a final text for a new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation within a...more
Countries are preparing for a new round of negotiations on an ambitious legally binding international treaty to address plastics pollution across the entire life cycle of plastics per the UNEA 5.2 mandate in resolution 5/14....more
Producers who may qualify for an exemption under California’s extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) packaging law (“SB 54” or the “Act”) should consider reviewing CalRecycle’s recently released Proposed Draft Regulation...more
Massachusetts residents and businesses dispose of enough trash yearly to fill up about 31 Fenway Parks. Despite decades of government policies to reduce waste, we continue throwing away about six million tons of waste each...more
Tomorrow, February 1, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) will host a hybrid question and answer session to discuss the draft rulemaking on their extended producer responsibility (EPR)...more
Within the last month, California has made significant strides toward its bid to create a circular economy for certain packaging and food service ware materials. On January 8, 2024, California's Department of Resources...more
At the end of 2023, the EU Parliament and the EU Council each adopted their positions on the EU Commission's proposal for a new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. The Commission's proposal had already given rise to a...more
On 28 December 2023, CalRecycle published the results of the preliminary Material Characterization Study required under SB 343, codified as Cal. Pub. Res. Code § 42355.51. The preliminary findings identify the types of...more
The Supreme Court of Oregon (“S.Ct.”) addressed in a December 7th Opinion an issue involving the “Auto Dismantler Exemption” (“Exemption”) to the State of Oregon’s solid waste permitting program. See PNW Metal Recycling, Inc....more
The Cement Kiln Recycling Coalition (“CKRC”) submitted November 21st comments to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA”) addressing the following Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANPR”) titled: ...more
The Court of Appeals of Arkansas (“Appellate Court”) addressed in a November 29th Opinion the Arkansas Regional Solid Waste Management Districts’ (“ARSWMD”) ability to assess certain fees. See Benton County Regional Solid...more
In The Graduate, Mr. McGuire pulls aside Benjamin Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman, and utters “one word” of career advice – “plastics.” Benjamin’s diffident reaction reflects his wealthy suburban character’s utter lack of...more
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 54 on June 30, 2022, creating an extended producer responsibility (EPR) program and imposing some related prohibitions for certain single-use packaging and plastic single-use food service ware...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: USEPA has published a new Memo on RCRA Applicability to End-of-Life Lithium Batteries. ...more
It is probably fair to say that SB 54 – California’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) law imposing source reduction and recycling requirements on single use packaging and plastic food service ware – is not only the...more
The Battery Council International (“BCI”) released a report addressing the recycling rate of United States lead batteries. The document is titled: National Recycling Rate Study Publication Date: July 2023 (study years...more
North Little Rock, Arkansas, will be the site of a new glass recycling plant beginning in early 2024. The companies involved in this endeavor are EPIC Glass Recycling (“EPIC”) and ACE Glass and Plastics Recycling...more
At the end of June, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, nukleare Sicherheit und Verbraucherschutz – “BMUV”)...more