Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 11/24/2016
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(ACC Mentioned) Printpack’s New Pouch Helps Brands Live Up to Sustainability Promises
Nov 24, 2016 | Packaging Europe
The recyclability attribute of the pouch stems from its single-material structure. Films with multiple materials can contain a combination of recyclable and non-recyclable layers. -
Member States ‘Not Ready’ to Vote on Revised EDC Criteria
Nov 24, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Member states have said they are not ready to vote on the European Commission’s revised draft proposed criteria to identify endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). -
Unep Invites Input Into Global Chemicals Outlook Update
Nov 24, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The UN Environment Programme (Unep) is inviting research institutions working in the field of chemicals and hazardous waste management to outline any experiences that could feed into the update of its Global Chemicals Outlook report. -
Echa Round-Up
Nov 24, 2016 | Chemical Watch
Echa is consulting on the following harmonised classification and labelling (CLH) proposals: -
Power Imbalance at the Pipeline Protest
Nov 23, 2016 | The New York Times
By Editorial Board
When injustice aligns with cruelty, and heavy weaponry is involved, the results can be shameful and bloody. Witness what happened on Sunday in North Dakota, when law enforcement officers escalated their tactics against unarmed American Indians and allies who have waged months of protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline. -
1 Worker Hurt in Explosion at Kansas Chemical Plant
Nov 22, 2016 | The New York Times
By Associated Press
Federal safety inspectors are investigating an explosion and fire at a southeast Kansas chemical plant that injured one employee. -
Cautious Reactions to Donald Trump’s ‘Open Mind’ Climate Comments
Nov 23, 2016 | Wall Street Journal
By Amy Harder
President-elect Donald Trump’s comment this week that he will have “an open mind” about a global climate-change deal, after saying unequivocally on the campaign trail he would cancel it, is prompting cautious reactions among backers and detractors of the global accord. -
4 Pieces of Climate Progress President Trump's Policies Can't Undo
Nov 24, 2016 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Keith Gaby
No one should underestimate the danger of a Trump presidency to our environment. For starters, the president-elect says he wants to dismantle the agency that keeps our air and water clean.
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(ACC Mentioned) Printpack’s New Pouch Helps Brands Live Up to Sustainability Promises
Nov 24, 2016 | Packaging Europe
The recyclability attribute of the pouch stems from its single-material structure. Films with multiple materials can contain a combination of recyclable and non-recyclable layers. It can be difficult—in today’s recycling stream—for the different components to be separated and efficiently moved through the proper channels. A single-material structure maximizes recycling efficiency for polyethylene packaging, which is further supported by How2Recycle.
How2Recycle has partnered with the American Chemistry Council's Flexible Film Recycling Group, which leads the Wrap Recycling Action Program (WRAP). WRAP helps to propel the recycling of polyethylene film in the United States by expanding public awareness of plastic film recycling and boosting the number and proficiency of store drop-off locations throughout the U.S.
“Consumers are increasingly concerned about the impact of packaging waste on the environment, but they do not want to compromise on convenience and product quality,” says Mark Brogan, Director of Technology and Innovation at Printpack. “By providing them with packaging that is easily recyclable and free of significant learning curves or sacrifices to convenience and product protection, brand owners can live up to their sustainability promises and build greater brand loyalty.”
In addition to the recyclability attribute, Printpack’s new pouch also helps brand owners take a proactive approach to combatting food waste. Combinations of coatings, barriers and closures work together to preserve food product flavor, color and aroma to maximize shelf life and contribute to a more positive consumer experience from the first serving to the last. Additionally, the reverse-printed laminated structure of the pouch protects graphics to ensure pristine presentation for the lifespan of the product.
The new pouch can be used in applications for multi- or single-serve snacks—such as nuts, cookies, crackers and chips—as well as beans, pet foods, pet treats and more. For customers seeking to maximize both the sustainability of their packaging and the longevity of their product lifespans – especially amid the rise in demand for organic and natural foods that to not utilize chemical preservatives – Printpack offers a special consultative process that considers their market needs, necessary barrier properties to prevent food adulteration, and the latest reclosable features to enhance the consumer experience. Solutions include stand-up, shaped, spouted and fitmented pouches, wicketed bags, flat-bottom bags, re-sealable closures, advanced coating technologies, laser scoring and clear barrier solutions that protect against oxygen, moisture and UV light.http://www.packagingeurope.com/Packaging-Europe-News/70061/Printpacks-New-Pouch-Helps-Brands-Live-Up-to-Sustainability-Promises.html
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Member States ‘Not Ready’ to Vote on Revised EDC Criteria
Nov 24, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Member states have said they are not ready to vote on the European Commission’s revised draft proposed criteria to identify endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).
At meetings of the standing committee on plants, animals, food and feed (PAFF) and the expert group of competent authorities (CA) for biocides, on 18 November, a “significant number” of delegations still had no formal position because of ongoing discussions at national level.
And “very few” had submitted comments at the time of the meetings. Member states have been asked to do so by 30 November.
“The Commission had the opportunity to explain the changes to the texts and member states acknowledged its efforts to address [their] concerns,” a Commission spokesperson said. The dates for the next meetings are yet to be set.
Envi/Sante meeting
The next step in the negotiations will be on 29 November. The health directorate (DG Sante) deputy director-general for food safety, Ladislav Miko, will meet the European Parliament’s Environment Committee (Envi) to discuss the revised criteria with it, for the first time.
The meeting follows a letter Envi chair, Giovanni La Via, wrote to DG Sante’s commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis. He said, it was “appropriate to draw attention” to Envi’s concerns, while the draft is still under consideration in the Commission’s standing committee on food chain and animal health.
Mr La Via said that, based on an analysis by Parliament’s legal service, the draft Regulation “exceeds the Commission’s implementing powers” in amending Annex II of the plant protection products (PPP) Regulation.
The issue, he said, is with the proposed amendments where the expression “unless the exposure of humans ... [and] ... exposure of non-target organisms” will be changed to “unless the risk from exposure of humans ... [and] ... non-target organisms”. And that a shift from hazard- to risk-based derogations could “only be undertaken through legislative procedure”.
In his response, Mr Andriukaitis said the draft had been subject to an inter-service consultation, which involved the Commission’s legal service. He added that the amendment is based on an article of the PPP Regulation, which allows the Commission to amend its “non-essential” elements, taking into account current scientific and technical knowledge.
The draft criteria have also been criticised by an international group of scientists, who wrote to Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, on 16 November, to set out what they see as the key weaknesses of the proposals.
Environmental law group, ClientEarth, sent a letter of observations on Mr Andriukaitis’ response to Mr La Via, saying it contains “several inaccuracies and misrepresentations” and agreed the Commission would “exceed its delegated powers” by making amendments.
Commissioner Andriukaitis gave his explanations to Envi because Parliament will have the opportunity to scrutinise the revised draft Regulation, once the biocides competent authorities committee and PAFF accept the proposals.
After Parliament’s three-month scrutiny period, if Envi objects to the final draft proposals they go to plenary where Parliament will vote. If more than half its members vote against them, they cannot enter into force.
Guidance
Meanwhile, DG Sante director-general, Xavier Prats Monné, has written to Echa head Geert Dancet and European Food Safety Authority director Bernhard Uri asking for “scientific and technical assistance” to develop a common guidance document for the implementation of criteria to identify EDCs.
“We have been waiting for the criteria for a long time and look forward to having those in place,” the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs said. “But it is important that all 28 member states can implement what is laid down in a harmonised way - so the guidance is crucial.”
https://chemicalwatch.com/51232/member-states-not-ready-to-vote-on-revised-edc-criteria
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Unep Invites Input Into Global Chemicals Outlook Update
Nov 24, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The UN Environment Programme (Unep) is inviting research institutions working in the field of chemicals and hazardous waste management to outline any experiences that could feed into the update of its Global Chemicals Outlook report.
And to gather input, Unep has launched a survey. The responses will help establish an institutional resource base and a community of organisations engaged in relevant research, and to explore potential partnerships.
The updated Global Chemicals Outlook, known as GCO-II, will be prepared during the course of 2017 and 2018. It is expected to provide a science-based global overview of issues and challenges related to the sound management of chemicals, including linkages to waste issues.Deadline for responses is 30 November. Results will be presented at the first meeting of the Steering Committee, expected to take place on the 15 and 16 December. Unep will take into account responses when developing and reviewing thematic background papers for GCO-II.
The first Global Chemicals Outlook report was issued in 2012.
https://chemicalwatch.com/51249/unep-invites-input-into-global-chemicals-outlook-update
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Nov 24, 2016 | Chemical Watch
CLH consultations
Echa is consulting on the following harmonised classification and labelling (CLH) proposals:
disodium 4-amino-6-((4-((4-(2,4-diaminophenyl)azo)phenylsulfamoyl)phenyl)azo)-5-hydroxy-3-((4-nitrophenyl)azo)naphthalene-2,7-disulfonate with hazard class open for comment of serious eye damage/eye irritation and hazardous to the aquatic environment;
ethanol, 2,2'-iminobis-, N-(C13-15-branched and linear alkyl) derivatives with hazard class open for comment of reproductive toxicity; and
nickel bis(sulfamidate)|nickel sulfamate with hazard class open for comment of acute toxicity.
The deadline for comments is 16 January.
Joint submissions
The agency has issued a reminder that the list of substances for which there is a joint submission in REACH-IT is now available. It says if companies want their name included they should sign up by the end of the year.
Echa says publishing a company name can increase its "visibility among potential registrants and reassure downstream users that the substances they are using are being registered further up the supply chain".
This list, which is regularly updated, includes more than 2,000 lead registrants.
Non-animal method requirement for skin sensitisation endpoint
Echa has issued a reminder that information for the skin sensitisation endpoint should be obtained by non-animal methods as a first step. Information must be given according to the new legal requirements for their dossier to pass its completeness check, the agency stresses.
In vivo methods can only be used if other methods are inadequate for the substance, or cannot be used for classification and risk assessment.
When updating a registration that used in vivo studies, additional in vitro studies don't have to be carried out, but a justification for not doing so will need to be included, due to availability of the existing in vivodata, it says.
The agency also strongly advises checking the dossier using the latest version of Iuclid 6 Validation Assistant.
Chesar 3.1
After suspending downloads of Chesar 3.1 last week, Echa says the tool can now be used again. The agency has found a bug in its bulk editing function, but on investigation it has concluded it is still possible to use the tool following the instructions in the release notes.
Guidance
Echa has updated its Guidance on registration (V3.0). The document is in two parts:
registration tasks and obligations; and
preparing a registration dossier.
The update sees a revision of the document addressing both its content and structure.
Supply chain information case study
Echa has published a case study that helps downstream users to use the information from safety data sheets in the safe use of chemicals. It illustrates where supply chain information from REACH/CLP applies and can be used to support a company in meeting its obligations under the main occupational, health and environmental legislations, the agency says.
It is available in 23 languages.
Consumer priorities on chemicals: online survey
The agency is developing a consumer website about chemicals to help people make more informed choices. And it is encouraging people to participate in an online survey to establish priorities.
The survey closes on 30 November.
https://chemicalwatch.com/51123/echa-round-up
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Power Imbalance at the Pipeline Protest
Nov 23, 2016 | The New York Times
By Editorial Board
When injustice aligns with cruelty, and heavy weaponry is involved, the results can be shameful and bloody. Witness what happened on Sunday in North Dakota, when law enforcement officers escalated their tactics against unarmed American Indians and allies who have waged months of protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
They drenched protesters with water cannons on a frigid night, with temperatures in the 20s. According to protesters and news accounts, the officers also fired rubber bullets, pepper spray, percussion grenades and tear gas. More than 160 people were reportedly injured, with one protester’s arm damaged so badly she might lose it.
The confrontation happened at Backwater Bridge, on a highway linking the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and Bismarck, N.D. Burned-out trucks and a police barricade have made the bridge impassable. Protesters say this is a needless threat to public safety — forcing emergency vehicles to detour about 20 miles — as well as a spiteful attempt to keep them away from the pipeline construction site. The violence erupted after some of the protesters tried to remove the truck carcasses on Sunday.
“We’re just not going to let people or protesters in large groups come in and threaten officers, that’s not happening,” said the Morton County sheriff, Kyle Kirchmeier. The Sheriff’s Department’s Facebook page linked to a video of the armed and armored officers, the water cannon drenching the crowd, and a rock flying overhead.
The pipeline, all but built, is meant to ship crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois. Built almost entirely on private property, the pipeline crosses ancestral lands of the Standing Rock Sioux, passing less than a mile from the tribal reservation. Tribe members fear contamination of their drinking water and damage to sacred sites. They are trying to persuade the federal government to deny permits allowing the pipeline to cross the Missouri River near their reservation.
The department’s video was meant to portray the protesters as dangerous troublemakers, but the photos and videos in news reports suggest a more familiar story — an imbalance of power, where law enforcement fiercely defends property rights against protesters’ claims of environmental protection and the rights of indigenous people. American Indians have seen this sort of drama unfold for centuries — native demands meeting brute force against a backdrop of folly — in this case, the pursuit of fossil fuels at a time of sagging oil demand and global climatic peril.
The Army Corps of Engineers has called for more study and input from the tribe before it decides on whether to grant a permit. The pipeline company has asked a federal judge to give it the right to proceed with its plan to lay pipe under the river. There is no firm timeline for either decision.
In the meantime, President Obama could step in to protect everyone’s safety and pressure the sheriff’s officers to stand down. Barring that, resolute protesters, a heavily militarized police force unwilling to budge, a company that refuses to consider an alternate route and an onrushing Great Plains winter — how can this possibly end well?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/opinion/power-imbalance-at-the-pipeline-protest.html
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1 Worker Hurt in Explosion at Kansas Chemical Plant
Nov 22, 2016 | The New York Times
By Associated Press
Federal safety inspectors are investigating an explosion and fire at a southeast Kansas chemical plant that injured one employee.
The explosion occurred about 7 a.m. Tuesday at the Airosol, Inc., plant in Neodesha, a town of about 2,500 residents. It was still not contained early Tuesday afternoon.
A 57-year-old male employee was taken to a hospital with burns. Cassandra Edson, spokeswoman for Wilson County Emergency Management, says his injuries were not considered life-threatening.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says it has begun an investigation.
Several blocks around the plant were evacuated and the town's schools closed for the day. Residents also were asked not to drink city water.
The plant, about 100 miles southeast of Wichita, manufactures and packages aerosol, liquid and other specialty chemicals.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/11/23/cautious-reactions-to-donald-trumps-open-mind-climate-comments/
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Cautious Reactions to Donald Trump’s ‘Open Mind’ Climate Comments
Nov 23, 2016 | Wall Street Journal
By Amy Harder
President-elect Donald Trump’s comment this week that he will have “an open mind” about a global climate-change deal, after saying unequivocally on the campaign trail he would cancel it, is prompting cautious reactions among backers and detractors of the global accord.
Mr. Trump’s comment, in a New York Times interview Tuesday, is the latest example of the president-elect appearing to soften his positions after taking a hard line during the campaign, joining issues such as immigration and President Barack Obama’s health-care law. It’s leaving everyone scrambling to parse what exactly his words mean, and how they fit in with other remarks and appointments by the Trump transition.
“With Trump more than most, we have judge him by who he appoints and what policies his administration actually carries out–not what he says,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate change adviser who is critical of Mr. Trump’s climate policies.
Mr. Trump has tapped individuals for his transition team who oppose the climate deal and doubt the scientific consensus that human activity is helping to increase the Earth’s temperature. But he has not yet announced his appointments to the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies that will be pivotal in actually shaping the next president’s climate policies.
In the Times interview, when asked about the climate deal championed by Mr. Obama and signed by nearly 200 nations last year in Paris, Mr. Trump said he would “have an open mind to it” and is “looking at it very closely.”
That’s a departure from his unconditional promise on the campaign trail to “cancel” the deal. Mr. Trump once described the accord in a speech in North Dakota as giving “foreign bureaucrats control over how much energy we use right here in America.” A spokesman for his transition team, Jason Miller, also reiterated plans to withdraw from the deal in a statement to The Wall Street Journal last week.
“The Paris agreement always was and continues to be bad policy,” said Levi Russell, a spokesman for Americans For Prosperity, a group co-founded by the billionaire conservatives Charles and David Koch. “Our newly elected president and Congress have several avenues to relieve hard-working Americans of the burden it would cause, and we continue to be hopeful they will do so.”
For their part, environmentalists say they will believe Mr. Trump genuinely has an open mind only if his actions follow his words. They say they hope for such a shift despite Mr. Trump naming figures to his transition team like Myron Ebell, a leading spokesman for those who deny any human impact on climate.
“Talk is cheap, and no one should believe Donald Trump means this until he acts upon it,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. “Prove it, president-elect. The world is watching.”
Some supporters of Mr. Trump say the president-elect’s change in tune may be influenced by conversations he’s had with world leaders since Election Day.
“There’s no question that he’s receiving new input and advice on a number of different issues, including the international climate agenda,” said George David Banks, who was part of the U.S. climate delegation during the George W. Bush administration and now supports Mr. Trump’s presidency.
“Judging by my experience in the Bush administration, I would imagine that the Paris agreement, and the international climate agenda, is at the top of the talking points for a number of foreign officials,” Mr. Banks said.
One piece of evidence suggesting Mr. Trump won’t prioritize backing out of the Paris deal: He didn’t include it in a video message released earlier this week highlighting the top policies he will tackle in his first 100 days, despite previously saying it would be included in that time period.
Much of Mr. Trump’s discussion of climate with the Times didn’t deal with the Paris accord itself, but rather with the science of climate change. Scientists widely agree that humans’ burning of fossil fuels is causing the Earth’s temperature to rise, but many Republican officials dispute the connection. Mr. Trump has said in the past he thinks climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese to make U.S. manufacturing less competitive.
In the Times interview, Mr. Trump revised this by saying he thinks “there is some connectivity” between human activity and climate change, but added, “I’m not sure anybody is ever going to really know” what is causing the Earth’s temperature to rise.
He also reiterated a theme he articulated on the campaign trail, saying he is worried about how much the Paris deal could cost U.S. companies. “You have to understand, our companies are noncompetitive right now,” Mr. Trump said.
Even if Mr. Trump does not act to withdraw the U.S. from the deal, many of his supporters believe he will not follow through on an Obama promise to funnel at least $3 billion to a global fund to help poorer nations address climate change.
A request for further comment from the Trump transition team was not immediately returned.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/11/23/cautious-reactions-to-donald-trumps-open-mind-climate-comments/
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4 Pieces of Climate Progress President Trump's Policies Can't Undo
Nov 24, 2016 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Keith Gaby
No one should underestimate the danger of a Trump presidency to our environment. For starters, the president-elect says he wants to dismantle the agency that keeps our air and water clean.
We’re going to have to fight to protect the progress we’ve made. But we aren’t powerless.
The forces that are moving us towards a cleaner, safer world are strong – and Trump’s election hasn’t changed that.
1. Americans support climate, clean energy action.
No one wants dirty water, polluted air, or more asthma for their kids.Trump doesn’t have a mandate to gut our environmental protections.
More than two-thirds of voters favor the federal government “taking steps to reduce emissions of gases like carbon dioxide that cause global climate change.” That means when his allies in Congress try to dismantle basic environmental protections, they’ll have a big fight on their hands.
2. The rest of the world is still moving forward.
Case in point: China’s planned carbon market.
Carbon markets – one of the most effective ways to reduce climate pollution – are thriving around the world, and China’s could be the largest. The country of 1.3 billion is responsible for 20 percent of the world’s carbon pollution.
China’s sub-national carbon market pilots now cover 250 million people, with the Beijing pilot alone already reporting a reduction of more than 10 million metric tons of climate pollution.
If the United States turns it back on the challenge of climate change, we’ll be isolating ourselves from the world. That will hurt our businesses, give away clean energy jobs to Europe and China, and could even give other countries an excuse to tax our exports.
Unsurprisingly, American businesses are already standing upagainst withdrawing from our commitments.
3. Washington isn’t the only game. States are acting.
California is the leader on smart climate policy, Texas is the leader on wind and has its own approach to clean air. In the northeast, nine states are cutting pollution and easing burdens on taxpayers with a market-based system to cut pollution.
Ohio, meanwhile, is engaging in cutting-edge efforts to modernize our electric grid.
As one article noted, “states are ‘not going to be stopped’” by President-Elect Trump’s policies
4. Market forces favor clean energy
Clean energy is growing fast.
The solar industry is adding workers 12 times faster than the overall economy. Wind energy is cheaper than coal in many places, and getting cheaper.
Companies such as Walmart are getting more ambitious about renewable energy and corporate America is “jumping on the clean energy bandwagon.”
The world, in other words, is still moving forward. Elections matter and fighting against Trump’s policies won’t be easy. But momentum, common sense, and the people are on the side of a better world. Now it’s time to fight back.
https://www.edf.org/blog/2016/11/23/4-pieces-climate-progress-president-trumps-policies-cant-undo
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