The European Commission (EC) is preparing a legislative proposal for a Directive on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment. This follows other waste management measures taken in the European Union. These include a 50% recycling target for plastic packaging waste by 2025 and 55% by 2030, and the goal to ensure that all plastic packaging is either reusable or recyclable by 2030. (See the PackagingLaw.com article, Europe Adopts Strategy for Plastics, for more information.)
The European Union (EU) has adopted a strategy on plastics that is part of its transition towards a more circular economy. The strategy calls for all plastic packaging on the EU market to be either reusable or recyclable in a cost-effective manner by 2030. It also aims to reduce the consumption of single-use plastics and restrict the intentional use of microplastics.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf vetoed a bill that would have prohibited bans, fees, surcharges, or taxes on recyclable plastic bags. HB 1071 was passed by both the state House and Senate on June 19, 2017.
A recently introduced bill in the California assembly would prohibit retailers from selling single-use, plastic beverage containers with caps that are not tethered to or contiguously affixed to the container, effective January 1, 2020. The new requirement would be added to Part 3 of Division 30 of California’s Public Resources Code, which relates to recycling.
Michigan is the most recent state to pass a bill that prevents local jurisdictions from banning or taxing plastic bags and other containers.
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released a Final Guidance on Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change in August 2016, which recommends, among other things, that federal agencies quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in documents required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), such as Environmental Assessments (EAs) for Food-Contact Substances (FCSs). The new information that the U.S.
Several states have either enacted or proposed laws that ban local governments from taxing or restricting the use of disposable plastic bags and other containers. Three of the most recent states to enact these types of laws are Indiana, Wisconsin, and Idaho. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed H.B. 1053 into law on March 23, 2016.
The Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, which amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ban the manufacturing and distribution of rinse-off cosmetics (including toothpastes) that contain intentionally added plastic microbeads, became law on December 28, 2015. The new law imposes a ban on the manufacture of these products effective July 1, 2017, and a ban on distribution beginning on July 1, 2018. The effective dates are delayed by an additional year for microbeads in rinse-off cosmetics that are also n