Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 14/11/18
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Report: Restaurant Chains Lag on Toxic Chemicals, while 21 Retailers Make Progress to Protect Consumers
Nov 14, 2018 | Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families
By Jamie Nolan
A report released today reveals that major retail companies are making slow but meaningful progress at improving the chemical safety of the products, food, and packaging they sell, but nearly half of those scored — including every restaurant chain evaluated — have failed to take any public measures to help eliminate toxic chemicals from the products they carry. -
Apple, Walmart, Target Top US Retailer Chemical Rankings
Nov 14, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
Technology giant Apple has come top in a ‘report card’ ranking 40 North American retailers on their chemicals policies and actions. -
The Assault Against Science Continues at the E.P.A.
Nov 14, 2018 | The New York Times - Opinion
By Christopher H. Zarba
Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency effectively disbanded a scientific panel of experts on microscopic airborne pollutants that helped the agency figure out what level of pollutants are safe to breathe. -
Wheeler Asks Staff to Help with FOIA Backlog
Nov 14, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus
Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is touting his agency's efforts to make documents available under the Freedom of Information Act. -
Realignment Moving at 'Warp Speed'
Nov 14, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus
EPA's reworking of its 10 regional offices is moving quickly. -
U.S. EPA Sets Rule for Disposal of Recalled Takata Airbag Inflators
Nov 14, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Doina Chiacu
The Environmental Protection Agency announced a new rule on Wednesday that it said will help the urgent removal of defective Takata airbags and ensure old ones from scrap vehicles don't get reused. -
Reject Proposed POPs Recast Changes, NGOs Tell MEPs
Nov 14, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
A group of NGOs is calling on MEPs to reject proposed amendments under a recast of the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) Regulation. -
Chinese Crackdown Threatens BIT Shortages, HCPA Warns
Nov 14, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The US trade body Household & Commercial Products Association (HCPA) is warning that a shortage of a precursor to benzisothiazolinone (BIT) is threatening supplies of the preservative. -
Senate Should Reject Trump’s Radical Nominee to Key Energy Panel
Nov 14, 2018 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Kim Smaczniak
Another day, another maneuver by the Trump administration to grab power for greedy corporate interests and line its supporters’ pockets. -
IHS: U.S. to Be Net Exporter of Petroleum by 2020s
Nov 14, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Rye Druzin
A new report says the U.S. will become a net exporter of petroleum by the early 2020s, the first time since the country would achieve such a feat since at least 1949. -
Natural Gas Soars 20% in U.S. on Concerns About Winter Supplies
Nov 14, 2018 | Bloomberg
By Christine Buurma and Rachel Adams-Heard
Natural gas soared the most in nine years as forecasts for lingering U.S. cold spurred concern that supplies may not be adequate to meet demand over the winter. -
Cheniere Starts LNG Production at Texas Export Terminal: Spokesman
Nov 14, 2018 | Platts
By Harry Weber
LNG production began Wednesday at Cheniere Energy's export terminal near Corpus Christi, Texas, as the facility prepares to ship its first cargo, a spokesman said. -
LyondellBasell Advances $3 Billion in Gulf Coast Projects
Nov 14, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Marissa Luck
Houston chemical manufacturer LyondellBasell is making steady progress on more than $3 billion in projects on the Gulf Coast. -
Ewire: Democrats Split Over Pelosi Plan for New Climate Panel
Nov 14, 2018 | Inside EPA
Plans by likely House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to recreate a special climate change panel is the latest flash-point in the divided Democratic caucus, with a key committee chairman indicating he sees no need for the panel while an incoming freshman is calling for the panel's jurisdiction to be expanded to allow it to write legislation. -
3 Committees to Hold Climate Hearings Early Next Year
Nov 14, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Anthony Andragna
The presumptive chairmen of three House committees announced today they would hold two days worth of hearings on climate change and potential solutions next year. -
Trump Administration Holds Hearing on Rollback of Air Rules
Nov 14, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding its only public hearing on the Trump administration’s plans to roll back Obama-era rules for methane pollution from the oil and gas industry. -
EPA Plans to Scrap Texas SO2 Nonattainment Findings
Nov 14, 2018 | Inside EPA
EPA says it will within “weeks” propose to scrap the Obama-era designations of five Texas counties as out of attainment with the agency's 2010 sulfur dioxide (SO2) national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS), a move which could end litigation filed by the Lone Star state contesting the designations. -
To Cut Back on Single-Use Plastics, ‘Refuse, Rethink, Reuse’
Nov 14, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)
By Katherine Roth
Plastic is versatile, lightweight, cheap — and seemingly everywhere.
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Nov 14, 2018 | Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families
By Jamie Nolan
A report released today reveals that major retail companies are making slow but meaningful progress at improving the chemical safety of the products, food, and packaging they sell, but nearly half of those scored — including every restaurant chain evaluated — have failed to take any public measures to help eliminate toxic chemicals from the products they carry. The third annual Who’s Minding the Store? A Report Card on Retailer Actions to Eliminate Toxic Chemicals evaluated and graded the chemical policies and practices of 40 of the largest North American retailers, including grocery and fast food chains, as part of Safer Chemicals Healthy Families’ Mind the Store campaign.
Four retailers received the highest grades for their work to protect customers from toxic products and packaging, setting the pace for the industry: Apple (A+), Target (A), Walmart (A-) and IKEA (A-). In 2018, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Amazon were ranked “most improved” with all three companies announcing sweeping chemical safety policies over the past two months.
Mike Schade, Mind the Store Campaign Director for Safer Chemicals Healthy Families and report co-author said, “Companies can prevent harm and protect public health by taking common-sense steps to phase out toxic chemicals in everyday products. Retailers have an important role to play – they have both the power and the moral responsibility to eliminate and safely replace toxic chemicals to ‘mind the store.’ They should stop letting chemical corporations put public health at risk.”
Nearly half of retailers evaluated for Who’s Minding the Store? received a grade of F for failing to announce policies or publicly report progress to assess, reduce or eliminate toxic chemicals in the products or packaging they sell. However, year-over-year results reveal that retail chains have improved their chemical safety efforts after receiving poor grades on the Retailer Report Card. 72 percent of the 29 retailers evaluated in both 2017 and 2018 improved their scores by taking measures such as establishing new chemical safety policies, banning chemicals of concern from private-label brands, and expanding their chemical bans to new products.
Chain restaurants were analyzed for the first time this year and significantly lagged behind other retailers in reducing chemical hazards. These companies have been slow to announce chemicals policies and to publicly address toxic chemicals, such as phthalates and PFAS, in packaging and other food contact materials. Six fast food chains were evaluated representing 10 brands, with all companies earning Fs: Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s, Panera, Pizza Hut, Popeyes, Taco Bell, Tim Hortons, Starbucks, and Subway.
Other retail sectors with poor performance include dollar stores (average grade of F), department stores (F), beauty shops (D-) and office supply stores (D-).
For a full list of the evaluated companies and their grades, and to contact companies to demand chemical safety improvements, visit RetailerReportCard.com.
“Learning and developmental disabilities now affect 1 in 6 children. Over a quarter of these disabilities are linked to toxic chemical exposures,” said Tracy Gregoire, Learning Disabilities Association of America’s Healthy Children Project Coordinator. “Prenatal and early childhood exposure to harmful chemicals in consumer products and food packaging can lead to life-long impacts and chronic health conditions. Major retailers have both the opportunity and the responsibility to become industry leaders by keeping toxic chemicals out of products and packaging to protect children’s minds and bodies.”
Jose Bravo, Coordinator of the Campaign for Healthier Solutions, said “Once again, dollar stores fall among the worst national retailers when it comes to protecting customers and our families from toxic chemicals–and none of them have done much to ease product safety concerns in over a year. People of color and the poor depend on these discount retail chains, and our families deserve safe and nontoxic products just as much as any other family. While dollar stores continue to lag behind other retailers on toxic chemical safety, we continue to worry that our children and vulnerable populations are getting more than our share of toxic chemical exposures.”
“The food we buy should nourish us, not expose us to toxic chemicals from packaging and processing,” warned Mike Belliveau, Executive Director of Environmental Health Strategy Center and co-author of the report. “Restaurant chains are serving up a recipe for poor health by failing to slash the use of toxic chemicals in food packaging and other food contact materials. Toxic industrial chemicals like phthalates and PFAS don’t belong in the food we eat. Consumers expect a lot more leadership from food retailers in getting toxic chemicals out of the food supply chain.”
To evaluate retailers’ policies, Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, the Environmental Health Strategy Center, Campaign for Healthier Solutions, Getting Ready for Baby campaign, Environmental Defence (Canada), and Safer States collected and reviewed publicly available information about corporate safer chemicals programs, and shared draft findings with retailers to provide them an opportunity to review the conclusions, disclose additional information, and make new public commitments toward safer chemicals as of November 9, 2018. Companies selected for evaluation were among the top forty North American retailers by sales or commanded the largest market share in one of twelve major retail sectors. Full methodology details are available at RetailerReportCard.com.
https://saferchemicals.org/newsroom/report-restaurant-chains-lag-on-toxic-chemicals-while-21-retailers-make-progress-to-protect-consumers/
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Apple, Walmart, Target Top US Retailer Chemical Rankings
Nov 14, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
Technology giant Apple has come top in a ‘report card’ ranking 40 North American retailers on their chemicals policies and actions.
It is the second year in a row that the company has topped the Mind the Store rankings.
Walmart and Target were in second and third place respectively, followed by Swedish furniture company Ikea.
The Mind the Store coalition of NGOs has produced a 'retailer report card' for the past three years, rating companies on criteria such as chemical policy, transparency and continuous improvement.
The four top-ranked companies "continually work with suppliers to disclose and replace dangerous chemicals with safer alternatives".‘Steady improvement’
The report says that the overall rankings have shown steady improvement. Eleven retailers have increased their average grade since the first report card was published in 2016. And 21 out of the 23 retailers evaluated in 2017 and 2018 improved their score over the last year.
This year, Walgreens and Rite Aid pledged to eliminate certain chemicals of concern in beauty, personal care and household cleaning products. The announcements put them in the ‘most improved’ companies section of the report card, alongside Amazon.
Amazon recently announced its own chemicals policy, which encourages suppliers of some private-brand products to restrict certain chemicals of concern, the "first safer chemical policy of a dedicated e-commerce retailer", according to Mind the Store. Amazon ranked at the bottom of the first Mind the Store report in 2016.
Mind the Store says a trend is also emerging, with some retailers now working to replace entire classes of hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives, rather than "chasing one at a time". For example, several are phasing out phthalates, parabens, formaldehyde-donors, and nonylphenol ethoxylates as chemical classes.‘Worst performers’
Nearly half the retailers scored the lowest possible ranking, including discount retailer 99 Cents Only, supermarket chain Publix, and 17 other companies which scored an 'F' grade. This, the report says, is because they have failed to adopt "even the most basic policies and practices to ensure the chemical safety of their products and packaging".
In September, Mind the Store announced that it had added 12 companies to its rankings. There were a number of food chains among them, including Starbucks and McDonalds. This is "by far the worst performing sector", the latest report card says.
Other retail sectors with poor performance include dollar stores (F), department stores (F), beauty shops (D-) and office supplies (D-).
The NGO coalition urges all retailers to adopt comprehensive safer chemicals policies, fully disclose the ingredients in their products and packaging, and substitute hazardous chemicals with safer options.
It is also calling on consumers to join its Mind the Store campaign and "press retailers where they shop to clean up their act".
"It’s time for all retailers to put our families’ health above the special interests of chemical corporations," it says.
https://chemicalwatch.com/71856/apple-walmart-target-top-us-retailer-chemical-rankings
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The Assault Against Science Continues at the E.P.A.
Nov 14, 2018 | The New York Times - Opinion
By Christopher H. Zarba
Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency effectively disbanded a scientific panel of experts on microscopic airborne pollutants that helped the agency figure out what level of pollutants are safe to breathe. The agency also dropped plans for a similar panel of experts to help assess another dangerous pollutant, ground-level ozone.
These decisions were the latest assaults on science at an agency that depends on science to protect Americans’ health, safety and quality of life.
The disbanded panel on particulate pollution reported to the E.P.A.’s seven-member Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, which is responsible for advising the agency on overall air quality standards. Now, without the work of that panel, it is entirely likely that the advisory committee will lack the time and expertise to provide authoritative guidance on the regulation of this pollutant. The same can be said of ground-level ozone.
And that is no small matter. The E.P.A. itself says that numerous studies show that particulate pollution can lead to premature death in people with heart or lung disease, nonfatal heart attacks, irregular heartbeats, aggravated asthma and decreased lung function. Ground-level ozone can affect the breathing of people with asthma, children, older adults, and people who are active outdoors.
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Flawed processes, like eliminating the expertise critical for making informed regulatory decisions, rarely lead to good outcomes. I know, because for the last five years of my 38 years as a scientist at the E.P.A., I was the staff director of the Science Advisory Board, which independently reviews the science behind some of the E.P.A.’s most consequential decisions and policies.
The approach of those committees — transparent and balanced, with meetings that are open to the public to provide opportunities for public input — helped give the public confidence that it is being protected from harm, and industry the assurance that corrective actions are justified and reasonable.
All of that is now in jeopardy as the agency purges scientists from its review panels and purposely disregards scientific research. I chose to retire from the E.P.A. in February, dismayed by the increasingly compromised science review process and the Trump administration’s swing away from the agency’s core commitments to public health and the environment.
As I said, these are only the latest efforts at the E.P.A. to undermine science. The agency has barred scientists who received E.P.A. research grants from serving on its nearly two dozen scientific advisory committees because of some misplaced concern over conflicts. But it has had no problem appointing scientists to those panels who hold industry-supported research grants.
The agency has also had plans to forbid the use of scientific research to inform rule making if the underlying raw data — like the individual medical records of patients who were guaranteed confidentiality — isn’t available for public review. The American Lung Association, Psychological Association, Heart Association and Medical Association and many other independent science groups have denounced this plan.Editors’ PicksChina’s Women-Only Subway Cars, Where Men Rush InSolange, the Polymathic Cultural ForceHe Defended Accused Terrorists for 35 Years. Now He’s Back.
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Sorting out the logic behind these new policies defies reason. The fact is that the agency’s Scientific Advisory Board, which was created in 1978 at the direction of Congress to provide scientific advice to the administrator, has had extremely rigorous, issue-specific reviews free of conflicts of interest.
From what I saw, that approach was replaced by a closed-door process in which the agency’s political appointees chose advocates for particular positions instead of seeking out impartial scientific expertise to help determine policies. By doing this, the administration has subverted the role of science in the agency’s approach on issues.
This has fundamentally hobbled many years of legislative effort, by Republicans and Democrats alike, to protect human health and the environment. The cost will be borne by the American public.
This attack on science and its connection to E.P.A. decision-making reminds me of the desperation of the tobacco industry when it began to be clear that tobacco was dangerous. The industry tried to discredit and marginalize the science by maintaining that the health-effects data was inconclusive. Truth won out, but it was a hard-fought battle. Will we look back at actions the E.P.A. is making today with the same regret and disbelief as we do with tobacco regulation?
Independent, honest science is the backbone of environmental regulation. It also threatens people who want to hide the truth.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/opinion/environment-trump-epa-science.html
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Wheeler Asks Staff to Help with FOIA Backlog
Nov 14, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus
Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is touting his agency's efforts to make documents available under the Freedom of Information Act.
EPA has long been swamped with public records requests, which have surged under the Trump administration. Wheeler said in an internal email obtained by E&E News that the agency is committed to transparency. He also asked his staff for help.
"I encourage all Agency employees to join me to help improve the Agency's FOIA response efforts. The success of our efforts at the EPA directly depends on the trust of the public we serve," Wheeler said in the email sent yesterday to EPA employees.
Wheeler took note of the agency's moves to improve its FOIA program. Some of those steps included increasing transparency as a goal in its fiscal 2018-2022 strategic plan, as well as creating a national FOIA office within the general counsel's office.
Wheeler also described EPA's efforts to tackle the FOIA requests piling up at the administrator's office. The AO4 project centralized the FOIA process for four suboffices, brought in EPA's FOIA Expert Assistance Team to help, stood up a "tiger team" of 12 employees to review and process FOIA requests, and hired more FOIA staff.
Wheeler's predecessor, Scott Pruitt, was known for his secrecy and came under intense scrutiny before he resigned in July while battling ethics allegations. Requesters would often file FOIA lawsuits for Pruitt's records, including for his personal schedules, that EPA would stall in releasing.
Democratic lawmakers have blasted the Trump EPA's handling of FOIA.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called on the committee to subpoena records on its processing of requests for politically sensitive records (Greenwire, July 13). Starting next year, Cummings will be the committee's chairman, armed with subpoena power, after Democrats won the House in the 2018 midterm elections.
In his email, Wheeler also highlighted a multiday conference EPA held for its FOIA staff last year — the first of its kind in more than a decade, he said — and a "lean" management event held this February to streamline the FOIA process. The acting EPA chief said the agency should keep working on FOIA by centralizing the process and continuing training for staff.
Wheeler said EPA is facing "an unprecedented volume of FOIA requests."
"Despite this enormous challenge, the EPA is committed to conducting its business in an open and transparent manner and will continue to take steps to improve the efficacy and efficiency of its FOIA process," he said.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/11/14/stories/1060106211
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Realignment Moving at 'Warp Speed'
Nov 14, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus
EPA's reworking of its 10 regional offices is moving quickly.
Union leaders told E&E News that they were given official notice last week of EPA's regional realignment, which they were briefed on further yesterday. The timeline gives them only days to suggest changes to the proposal that several suspect agency managers will not include in the final plan.
"It doesn't sound like to me that they're not going to negotiate any of this," said Jeanne Schulze, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1003. "This is going at warp speed."
Other union officials agreed with that assessment.
"The realignment is moving extremely fast. Whoever mandated this doesn't really understand what that entails," Zakiya Davis, president of the National Association of Government Employees local union that represents nonprofessional EPA Region 4 employees.
No employee is expected to lose their job at EPA under the realignment plan, but they might end up with a new boss. As part of the process, new divisions are being stood up in regional offices with staff being shifted over to fill them.
"Generally speaking, they're trying to keep people doing the same work they've been doing, but they may have a new supervisor," said Schulze, whose union represents EPA Region 6 employees.
Davis said staff are worried about where they may end up after EPA's reworking of regional staff. She said she asked at yesterday's briefing what kind of analysis had to be done to ensure that employees' skill sets will fit with their jobs if they're reassigned.
"The response was the division directors could identify the employees' skill sets because they worked with them for a long time. I disagree with that," Davis said. "Employees are asking, 'Am I being set up to fail? Am I being trained? How are you going to make use of our resources?'"
Davis said she would ask EPA for a 45-day extension for the collective bargaining process on its regional realignment because of the holidays as well as the volume of the documents union officials have to review to see what impact the plan has on employees.
"I'm planning to do that this morning," she said.
Documents obtained by E&E News provide more details on EPA's regional realignment.
EPA does not plan to eliminate the overall total number of positions within the agency. The agency doesn't plan to use a reduction in force, change how positions are graded or offer buyouts as part of the realignment, according to a reorganization briefing document. Changes in how the regional offices are structured, however, may create "additional supervisory positions."
EPA's physical space may not change at all. Another document says the agency will not need to physically move staff, set up new office space, or have closures, consolidations and relocations of offices as part of its realignment.
In addition, EPA will keep its large geographic programs as separate offices that report to their respective regional administrators, according to one memo. The Trump White House's proposed budget cuts in the past for those programs, like the Great Lakes cleanup effort, sparked pushback from both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill and led lawmakers to restore funding.
Under the realignment plan, each regional office will have eight divisions under the regional administrator's office. That is meant to create a standard structure in each of EPA's 10 branches that align it with headquarters.
Consequently, each regional office will have to fit into that mold. One slide deck shows how EPA Region 5 will contract in certain areas while expanding in others under the realignment proposal.
New divisions will have to be formed too, which will need to be filled with staff and led by managers.
Mike Mikulka, president of AFGE Local 704, said the enforcement and laboratory and applied sciences divisions will be created in Region 5. His union represents employees in the Chicago office.
"Yesterday, what we were told is what positions people are being put into are set in stone," Mikulka said. "It's not a good way to do business. It's going to create a lot of animosity in the region and not just our region but all the regions."
Schulze said Region 6 was forming two new divisions, as well — the land, chemical and redevelopment division, as well as a lab division. She said not many in the Dallas office have expressed worries about the realignment.
"Things have been relatively quiet. I have only heard from a few employees who are concerned about where they are going to end up," Schulze said. "I wonder if people are resigned that this is what is going to happen."
All these changes may be in place by around the end of the year. As of last month, EPA's timeline for realignment had its "projected implementation date" for the week of Dec. 10 as detailed on the agency's internal employee website (Greenwire, Oct. 4).
EPA has shared its realignment plan with Congress. Acting Deputy Administrator Henry Darwin briefed Senate Environment and Public Works Committee staff on EPA's reorganization plans at the end of last month (E&E News PM, Oct. 25).
Other union officials questioned why EPA was realigning its regional branches.
"It's not clear to me that this reorganization really accomplishes anything," said Mark Sims, president of the EPA Unit Engineers and Scientists of California Local 20, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. His union represents EPA Region 9 employees.
"There was a lot of time and effort spent on this reorganization," he said. "That was less time and effort spent on protecting human health and the environment."
Sims added, "All this was done in the dark with no input from the employees or the unions."
Mikulka said EPA's realignment could lead to more employees leaving the agency.
"A lot of people are going to be unhappy. They are going to be put in new jobs, which they might not like and not know how to do," he said. "I think they are trying to get additional people to leave the agency."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/11/14/stories/1060106233
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U.S. EPA Sets Rule for Disposal of Recalled Takata Airbag Inflators
Nov 14, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Doina Chiacu
The Environmental Protection Agency announced a new rule on Wednesday that it said will help the urgent removal of defective Takata airbags and ensure old ones from scrap vehicles don't get reused.
"Today's action will help auto dealers and scrap recyclers across the country protect public health and properly dispose of these defective airbags inflators," said EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler.
Takata and its U.S. unit, TK Holdings Inc, filed for bankruptcy last year after the largest automotive recall in history. The company's air bags can inflate with too much force and spray metal fragments, and have been linked to hundreds of injuries and at least 22 deaths.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/11/14/business/14reuters-epa-takata.html
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Reject Proposed POPs Recast Changes, NGOs Tell MEPs
Nov 14, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
A group of NGOs is calling on MEPs to reject proposed amendments under a recast of the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) Regulation.
MEPs will vote on 15 November after the Parliament's environment committee (Envi) last month overwhelmingly endorsed the changes, including 12 additional amendments to the Commission's original proposal.
The recast is set to align regulatory procedures of the Regulation with requirements of the Lisbon Treaty and give Echa new tasks. It also incorporates recent decisions taken within the framework of the Stockholm Convention and the POPs Protocol.
NGOs have campaigned heavily against the amendments. In a recent letter, 22 NGOs – including CHEM Trust, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) – warned lawmakers about the "danger of using limits established for hazardous waste under the Stockholm and Basel Conventions as the cut-off for acceptable limits in articles".
Not only is this "inappropriate," they said, but it also "violates the standard practice of adding safety factors to protect citizens and the environment in the EU".
The letter calls MEPs to reject three of the amendments in the recast with the following reasons:amendment 4 which assigns "inappropriate" responsibilities to Echa outside its mandate and which would "severely restrict" member states' ability to engage in the process to nominate POPs, by requiring the use of a centralised nomination proposal dossier prepared by Echa;amendment 26.1, which would allow short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) in high concentrations in the environment; andamendment 30, which would allow decaBDE, when mixed with similar POPs, a limit 100 times higher than the one adopted by Envi for decaBDE alone. This would cause "uncontrolled, widespread" contamination of articles made from recycled plastic.Lower limits
NGOs have argued for "significantly lower" limits on decaBDE and SCCPs – a class of industrial chemicals primarily used in metalworking, but also as flame retardants and softeners in plastics, including children’s products.
Amendment 30 sets a 1,000ppm limit on decaBDE in mixtures or articles, but NGOs have suggested a more protective standard of 10ppm in articles made of recycled materials. This followed a major study that found flame retardants in plastic toys and other articles made from recycled electronic waste.
Recyclers have said that a low limit would put an end to the recycling of electrical and electronic waste and end-of-life vehicles in Europe.
On SCCPs, NGOs have called for a 100ppm limit, whereas the current EU proposal is 10,000ppm for POPs content level.
In their latest letter, NGOs urged MEPs to "uphold the EU's global leadership" by opposing the changes that would "weaken the Regulation".
Prior to the Envi vote, NGOs had asserted the recast would "authorise" the recycling of waste containing POPs into children's products – a claim rapporteur Julie Girling later dismissed.
The POPs recast is the latest update of the Regulation first adopted in 2004.
The 12 additional amendments were included in the draft in May to align the text with REACH. MEPs then tabled further amendments, with 43 of them now going before the plenary.
https://chemicalwatch.com/71978/reject-proposed-pops-recast-changes-ngos-tell-meps
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Chinese Crackdown Threatens BIT Shortages, HCPA Warns
Nov 14, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The US trade body Household & Commercial Products Association (HCPA) is warning that a shortage of a precursor to benzisothiazolinone (BIT) is threatening supplies of the preservative. Manufacturers in both the US and Europe could be affected.
BIT is a key preservative used in paints, cleaning products, adhesives and other consumer products, and it is tricky to replace.
An environmental crackdown in China has led to chemical plant closures across the country. Authorities have shuttered thousands of raw material and chemical ingredient plants, including those producing the BIT precursor, o-chloronitrilobenzene.
US manufacturers source o-chloronitrilobenzene almost exclusively from China. As a result, HCPA says, BIT suppliers are warning that they won’t be able to meet demand.
HCPA has been working with the US EPA and says it is "hopeful" that it will find solutions to the regulatory challenges associated with replacing the substance. The EPA recently announced an update to the Safer Chemical Ingredient List (SCIL) with a possible BIT alternative, (3(2H)-isothiazolone, 2-octyl-) (OIT).
The active substance is one of the few left for use in paints in Europe, so there is concern among European manufacturers, Didier Leroy, technical director at the European Council of the Paint, Printing Ink and Artists' Colours Industry (Cepe), said.As part of the isothiazolinone family, BIT is already under regulatory pressure due to skin sensitisation concerns, which is "of high concern" to the paint industry.
More details of this story are available to Biocides Hub subscribers.https://chemicalwatch.com/71979/chinese-crackdown-threatens-bit-shortages-hcpa-warns
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Senate Should Reject Trump’s Radical Nominee to Key Energy Panel
Nov 14, 2018 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Kim Smaczniak
Another day, another maneuver by the Trump administration to grab power for greedy corporate interests and line its supporters’ pockets. If President Trump has his way, Bernard McNamee - his nominee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) - could serve to carve out another safe haven for right-wing partisan warriors to deepen the pockets of fossil fuel companies at the expense of our health.
FERC is supposed to be a non-partisan agency that levels the playing field for all energy technologies across states. It is supposed to protect consumers, not do the bidding of the oil, gas and coal industries. Yet recent events – like FERC’s chief of staff venting his frustrations in far-right Breitbart or taking taxpayer-funded trips to express support for right-wing radicals in Europe – mark a dangerous trend in the direction of a Commission serving partisan political interests, not people.ADVERTISEMENT
If McNamee is confirmed, the trend toward right-wing partisanship will only accelerate. What “experience” does McNamee bring to FERC? He was the chief of staff to a Texas attorney general who tried to roll back the life-saving Clean Power Plan; he was an attorney who helped big utility companies get more money; and he worked at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a Koch-funded right-wing think tank, where he pushed industry-friendly policy and opposed environmental and health protections. He’s said, incorrectly, that renewables can’t provide more than “maybe seven percent” of energy needs and that they “screw up” the grid. And he celebrated last Earth Day by writing a love letter to the fossil fuel industry. Simply put, this isn’t someone who will be an impartial voice for consumers.
Here’s why this nomination matters: FERC is currently divided evenly between two Democrats and two Republicans. With the unfortunate illness of Commissioner Kevin McIntyre, if appointed, McNamee may well rise to the crucial position of chair. (Commissioner Neil Chatterjeestepped in the role for now, but Trump may change that designation at will.)
And with major issues coming before FERC in the coming months, placing a partisan advocate for the Trump administration agenda at the helm could prove disastrous. One example: the Department of Energy’s recent attempt to pick winners and losers for the benefit of the coal industry – an attempt FERC has blocked to date. McNamee spearheaded this pro-coal effort in his job as Deputy General Counsel of Energy Policy in the Department of Energy, and it’s likely he’d support the latest version of it at FERC. While purportedly on ice, recent remarks from Energy Secretary Rick Perry suggest the billion-dollar industry handout is not going away.
McNamee could influence other more insidious and localized threats to clean energy as a FERC commissioner as well. Take the example of a gas-fired plant, La Paloma in Kern County, Calif., where a major Trump campaign financier is seeking FERC’s assistance to shove renewable energy sources out of the market. If McNamee is confirmed, it’s more likely than ever that the commission will favor Trump’s ally over the will of California residents, who’ve embraced the state’s historic decision to achieve 100 percent clean energy electricity by 2045.
This nomination is just another example of the Trump administration allowing a fox to guard the henhouse. Former EPA administrator and polluter-friendly Scott Pruitt, coal-happy Secretary of Energy Perry, or any of the countless compromised industry allies installed in senior administration positions since President Trump’s inauguration have made things bad enough for public health and the climate. We don’t need one more dangerous and biased voice making decisions that will affect generations.
The bottom line is that McNamee lacks the impartiality to faithfully execute the duties of the office he seeks. Senators should not be fooled by McNamee’s claims of non-partisanship and impartiality, as we’ll certainly hear from him this week. Don’t buy it. And for the rest of us, it’s extremely important to call our senators and urge them to protect our clean energy future by opposing Bernard McNamee’s appointment to FERC.
Smaczniak is a Clean Energy Staff Attorney at Earth Justice.
https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/416670-senate-should-reject-trumps-radical-nominee-to-key
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IHS: U.S. to Be Net Exporter of Petroleum by 2020s
Nov 14, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Rye Druzin
A new report says the U.S. will become a net exporter of petroleum by the early 2020s, the first time since the country would achieve such a feat since at least 1949.
Research firm IHS Markit says continued growth in U.S. production of crude oil and natural gas liquids will push the country toward becoming a net exporter of petroleum, which the firm says included refined products like gasoline.
The report examines how growing U.S. shale oil and gas resources have lowered the trade deficit by an estimated $250 billion in 2017 compared to if U.S. petroleum production had stayed at 2007 figures. The U.S. shale oil and gas industry began growing in earnest soon after 2007.
RELATED: Crude oil top petroleum export from U.S. in first half of 2018
In 2007 U.S. crude oil production was nearly 5.1 million barrels a day. Ten years later, production had grown to 9.4 million barrels a day. The Energy Department recently estimated that U.S. output has reached 11.6 million barrels a day.
Exports have increased exponentially from just 27,000 barrels a day in 2007 to nearly 1.2 million barrels a day in 2017, according to data from the Department of Energy.
In 2017 the U.S. was a net exporter of natural gas, natural gas liquids such as propane and butane, and refined products. IHS data show crude oil imports declining from more than 10 million barrels a day in 2007 to 7 million barrels a day.
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/IHS-U-S-to-be-net-exporter-of-petroleum-by-2020s-13391329.php
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Natural Gas Soars 20% in U.S. on Concerns About Winter Supplies
Nov 14, 2018 | Bloomberg
By Christine Buurma and Rachel Adams-Heard
Natural gas soared the most in nine years as forecasts for lingering U.S. cold spurred concern that supplies may not be adequate to meet demand over the winter.
Gas for December delivery rose as much as 20 percent to $4.929 per million British thermal units, the highest since February 2014, when a “polar vortex” brought an arctic chill to the Midwest and East. The volume of trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange was more than three times the 100-day average.
Prices have been driven by “a sharp cold revision in the winter weather outlook,” said Devin McDermott, a commodities strategist at Morgan Stanley. “We see modest downside from here assuming current weather forecasts, but a very wide range of potential short-term prices.”
It was only on Tuesday that that gas exceeded the $4 mark for the first time in four years. It has surged this month amid concern that stockpiles, at a 15-year seasonal low, won’t be enough to meet winter heating needs, even as production hovers near a record.
Domestic demand from power plants and industrial users has climbed to an all-time high while the U.S. is exporting unprecedented volumes of the fuel to Mexico and overseas. Cheniere Energy Inc. said Wednesday it started producing liquefied natural gas at its new $15 billion Corpus Christi export terminal in Texas, the third such plant to begin operating in the continental U.S.
Gas is also climbing amid turmoil in international crude markets, with U.S. benchmark prices gaining Wednesday after falling 7.1 percent a day earlier.
Despite the autumn chill, the magnitude of the latest rally suggests traders aren’t just reacting to weather forecasts and supply estimates, according to Mizuho Securities USA LLC. While money managers are net-long in gas contracts, short positions rose as recently as last week, government data show.
Wednesday’s jump “has no basis in market fundamentals,” said Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho. “It is getting cold, it might snow” and storage is lower than normal, “but that is not why we are 12 percent to 15 percent higher on the day.”Futures were up 11 percent at $4.544 at 10:34 a.m.The gas price jump triggered an expansion in the daily trading limit to 60 cents from 30 cents.Spot gas prices rose Tuesday. In Portland, gas climbed 78 percent to $10.78, the highest since late January.The ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Natural Gas ETFfell as much as 24 percent Wednesday, the most since 2012, while VelocityShares Daily 3x Long Natural Gas ETN soared as much as 37 percent, also the most in six years.Cold conditions in parts of the U.S. are stoking concern that production may be interrupted due to the freezing of well heads. “We may be seeing the first freeze-offs of the winter,” market data and analysis company Genscape Inc. said in a report Wednesday.Forecasts for Nov. 24-28 have turned colder for parts of the southern and eastern U.S, according to the Weather Company.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-14/natural-gas-jumps-20-in-u-s-to-highest-since-2014-polar-vortex?srnd=premium
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Cheniere Starts LNG Production at Texas Export Terminal: Spokesman
Nov 14, 2018 | Platts
By Harry Weber
LNG production began Wednesday at Cheniere Energy's export terminal near Corpus Christi, Texas, as the facility prepares to ship its first cargo, a spokesman said.
The terminal is the third major export facility in the US to enter service that produces LNG from shale gas, boosting US efforts to be a bigger player in the global LNG market.
An unladen LNG tanker, Golar Tundra, has been moored to a jetty at the terminal since Sunday. The spokesman, Eben Burnham-Snyder, said the tanker was expected to carry the first cargo sometime soon, though the exact timing was unclear. The destination once it departs was not disclosed.
An event to mark the opening of the Texas facility is scheduled for Thursday. The CEO of the Port of Corpus Christi Authority, Sean Strawbridge, has said he expects the first cargo to ship soon after that.LATEST NEWSGas Storage Outlook Conference | January 10-11, 2019 | Houston, Texas
Stay on top of the changing dynamics of the gas storage industry: natural gas trends, Mexico’s gas storage outlook, FERC/PHMSA rulemakings and regulations, Aliso Canyon status updates, and much more.LEARN MORE
Feedgas flows to the facility have been steady since ramping up in earnest in September, S&P Global Platts Analytics data shows.
Cheniere became the first US exporter of LNG produced from shale gas in February 2016 when its Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana shipped its initial cargo. Dominion Energy began exporting LNG in March from its Cove Point terminal in Maryland.
Currently, Cheniere has five liquefaction trains in operation at its Sabine Pass terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. A final investment decision is expected by early 2019 on whether to build a sixth train at Sabine Pass. At Corpus Christi, three trains are under construction. Train 1 is producing the first commissioning cargo.
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/111418-cheniere-starts-lng-production-at-texas-export-terminal-spokesman
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LyondellBasell Advances $3 Billion in Gulf Coast Projects
Nov 14, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Marissa Luck
Houston chemical manufacturer LyondellBasell is making steady progress on more than $3 billion in projects on the Gulf Coast.
A $725 million polyethylene plant at the La Porte complex is expected to come online by mid-2019, said CEO Bob Patel this week at 38th Latin American Petrochemical Association's annual meeting in Cancun, as first reported by S&P Global Platts.Recommended Video
Polyethlene is one of the world's most common plastics, found in products such as pipes, bottles, toys and industrial packaging. The 500,000 metric-ton La Porte plant will be the first to use LyondellBasell's propriety Hyperzone PE technology, which the company says will make plastics lighter weight and more durable.
RELATED: Cheniere LNG expansions continue with new Poland contract
In Channelview, Patel said LyondellBasell expects to have the world's largest propylene oxide/tertiary butyl alcohol plant come online by 2021. The $2.4 billion project, its most expensive capital investment to date, broke ground in August.
The plant will produce chemicals used in high-octane gasoline as well as in bedding, furniture, carpeting, coatings, building materials and adhesives.
Both projects take advantage the company's expansive network of pipelines along the U.S. Gulf Coast. The network enables easy exchange of feedstocks and chemicals between different producers, decreasing costs and boosting operational reliability throughout the region.The plastics, chemicals and refining company has invested $5 billion into expanding its U.S. facilities over the past six years in the wake of the shale gas revolution, a company spokesman said.
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/LyondellBasell-advances-3-billion-in-Gulf-Coast-13390841.php
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Ewire: Democrats Split Over Pelosi Plan for New Climate Panel
Nov 14, 2018 | Inside EPA
Plans by likely House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to recreate a special climate change panel is the latest flash-point in the divided Democratic caucus, with a key committee chairman indicating he sees no need for the panel while an incoming freshman is calling for the panel's jurisdiction to be expanded to allow it to write legislation.
Days before the election, Pelosi indicated she would revive a select committee on climate change that she created the last time her party controlled the chamber more than a decade ago, a move that would seek to build the public case for efforts to curb greenhouse gases and address climate risks.
But since then, she has faced pressure from some environmentalists and incoming Democratic freshman, such as Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), to move more aggressively on climate change than many more-senior Democrats had suggested.
The environmental group, 350.org, recently floated a petition detailing a role for a “real climate leader” whose “top priority” includes close scrutiny of ExxonMobil and other fossil fuel giants, while also backing a “Green New Deal” and a 100 percent renewable mandate.
The petition was seen as a response to suggestions that Pelosi might not aggressively pursue climate legislation for fear of dividing the ideologically diverse Democratic caucus.
But now that division is creeping into debate over the select committee.
Axios flagged that Ocasio-Cortez's office is floating a resolution that would give the select committee legislative jurisdiction to write “sweeping” clean energy and climate legislation, including a 100 percent renewable mandate and federal funding options.
However, Politico reports that the presumptive incoming chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee -- Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) -- is throwing cold water on the notion of a select climate committee in the first place, must less one that would take some of his committee's jurisdiction.“We have great people who want to take action on climate change who will be chairing the committees of jurisdiction and we got of people on the committees that are real champions,” he said.
The fight over the panel's jurisdiction was not the only flash-point. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also joined a Nov. 13 sit-in at Pelosi's office organized by the Sunrise Movement, which is calling for a New Deal-style program to tackle climate change.
“I don't want to see my own district under water and I know that Leader Pelosi doesn't either and I know that what we need to show her is we're here to back her up in pushing for 100% renewable energy,” Ocasio-Cortez told CNN. “This is to show that we are here to back up bold action and that, you know she will be supported in that.”
The incoming freshman lawmaker said she was not there to “rebuke” Pelosi or start a “confrontation.” She also praised Pelosi's background in “activism and organizing,” and embraced the incoming speaker's call to reinstate the House select committee on climate change -- which Democrats established the last time they controlled the House in 2007, though Republicans scrapped the panel four years later.
For her part, Pelosi said she was “deeply inspired” by the sit-in, and reiterated her call to re-start the select climate panel.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-democrats-split-over-pelosi-plan-new-climate-panel
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3 Committees to Hold Climate Hearings Early Next Year
Nov 14, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Anthony Andragna
The presumptive chairmen of three House committees announced today they would hold two days worth of hearings on climate change and potential solutions next year.
"We plan to hit the ground immediately with a series of hearings early in the next Congress on how best to combat this growing global crisis," Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Science Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and Natural Resources Ranking Member Raúl Grijalva(D-Ariz.) said in a statement. "Our committees plan to work closely together to aggressively assess the public health, economic and environmental impacts of climate change and to explore the best solutions to combat this challenge.”
Specific dates for the hearings were not immediately announced, though they will occur "early next year." The chairmen-in-waiting said they would examine state and local actions to address climate change, as well as several recent landmark reports warning of the dwindling amount of time to act.
The hearings come as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced plans to revive a select committee on climate change and as Pallone called the panel's revival unnecessary.
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Trump Administration Holds Hearing on Rollback of Air Rules
Nov 14, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding its only public hearing on the Trump administration’s plans to roll back Obama-era rules for methane pollution from the oil and gas industry.
Nearly 125 people have asked to speak at the daylong session in Denver on Wednesday.
The EPA wants to replace a 2016 rule by the Obama administration that required energy companies to step up the detection and elimination of methane leaks at well sites and other oil and gas facilities.
Methane is the primary component of natural gas. It is also a greenhouse gas.
The EPA says relaxing the 2016 rules will save $75 million annually in regulatory costs. But the agency concedes it would allow additional methane into the atmosphere, which could degrade air quality and worsen public health.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/trump-administration-holds-hearing-on-rollback-of-air-rules/2018/11/14/fefc8af6-e7d8-11e8-8449-1ff263609a31_story.html?utm_term=.507f98f74521
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EPA Plans to Scrap Texas SO2 Nonattainment Findings
Nov 14, 2018 | Inside EPA
EPA says it will within “weeks” propose to scrap the Obama-era designations of five Texas counties as out of attainment with the agency's 2010 sulfur dioxide (SO2) national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS), a move which could end litigation filed by the Lone Star state contesting the designations.
In a Nov. 8 statement, EPA says it will “in the coming weeks” propose an action to reverse its 2016 SO2 NAAQS nonattainment designations for the counties of Freestone, Anderson, Rusk, Panola and Titus. EPA says the designations “focused on emissions from several power plants which have recently shut down, ignored Texas’ preference for monitoring and instead relied upon modeling from the Sierra Club.”
States and industry generally seek to avoid nonattainment designations, which can result in expensive new pollution control mandates as opposed to attainment designations with no such mandates.
The move follows a lawsuit and administrative petition for reconsideration filed by the Texas Commission On Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the state's air regulator, aiming the scrap the Obama designations. TCEQ says that EPA improperly relied on flawed computer modeling supplied by Sierra Club, and should have instead based its designations on actual air monitoring data that would find the areas in attainment.
The litigation over the issue is currently in abeyance in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in State of Texas, et al. v. EPA, et al., pending EPA's proposal. Power generator Luminant is also seeking vacatur of the nonattainment designations, while Sierra Club has defended the designations.
Implementation of EPA's 2010 SO2 NAAQS, set at 75 parts per billion (ppb) over one hour, has been delayed by years to allow states to establish new monitoring networks if they wish, rather than rely on computer modeling to determine attainment as the Obama EPA initially favored. Under a consent decree deadline agreed after litigation by environmentalists, EPA will complete the fourth and final round of designations by Dec. 30, 2020, for some 50 areas being designated based on monitoring.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/epa-plans-scrap-texas-so2-nonattainment-findings
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To Cut Back on Single-Use Plastics, ‘Refuse, Rethink, Reuse’
Nov 14, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)
By Katherine Roth
Plastic is versatile, lightweight, cheap — and seemingly everywhere. It’s also a scourge on the environment.
While plastics have important uses, the bulk of plastic waste — much of which ends up clogging landfills and polluting oceans — comes as things designed to be used exactly once, and often for only a few minutes.
“We produce around 407 million tons of plastics a year globally,” says Kera Abraham Panni, conservation and science outreach manager at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is trying to spread the word about plastics that pollute oceans. “Of that, only 9 percent is recycled.”
And sanitation experts say “downcycling” may be a more accurate term than “recycling” where plastics are concerned. While glass and metal can be recycled and made into something of the same quality, plastics degrade as they go along.
“With plastics, you’re just delaying their eventual journey to the landfill,” says Amy Korst, author of “The Zero-Waste Lifestyle: Live Well by Throwing Away Less” (Ten Speed Press).
Twenty-two aquariums across the country have launched a coordinated campaign to reduce sources of plastic pollution, starting with straws.
“Cutting back on plastic straws doesn’t solve the problem, but it’s an important first step,” says Monterey Bay Aquarium Executive Director Julie Packard, in California. “It gets people thinking and talking about ways they can reduce their reliance on single-use plastic items, and encourages the innovation of ocean-friendly alternatives.”
The campaign kicked off during #NoStrawNovember, a nationwide movement asking people who don’t need them to refuse plastic straws for 30 days.
“We simply can’t recycle our way out of this problem, and single-use plastics are an easy place to start changing things,” Panni says. “They’re used so fleetingly, and then spend hundreds of years in the environment. And they’re really not necessary.”
Others are finding ways to cut down on plastic bags, bottles and containers.
“It can seem intimidating, but more and more people are showing that it can be done. You see it everywhere now. Kids bringing metal lunch containers to school, people and businesses saying no to plastic straws and shopping bags,” says Elizabeth Graves, editor in chief of Martha Stewart Living magazine.
Says Panni: “We encourage people to approach this by saying: Refuse, rethink and reuse. Recycle is a last resort, and when you do buy plastic products, try to make sure they’re recycled plastics.”
She recommends that customers in stores and restaurants refuse single-use plastics like cups, straws, utensils and bags, and explain why to the managers.
On a household level, plan ahead so that you bring from home any items you might need later in the day, like a shopping bag or utensils — just as you’d grab an umbrella before heading out on a rainy day, Panni says.
Switching to reusable glass or metal containers, metal utensils, compostable produce bags, and compostable or washable straws are all relatively easy ways to opt out of single-use plastics.
On the community level, environmentalists recommend reaching out to local leaders, restaurants and businesses.
“You can use your power as a consumer to thank businesses that you see doing the right thing,” Panni says. “Restaurant and store managers don’t often hear people say ‘thank you,’ and your words and actions can make a difference.”
Korst suggests keeping a stash of reusable containers in your car. She says there’s an art to approaching store managers to request an alternative to single-use plastic containers.
“Use a friendly approach when you ask a cashier . to accommodate your request. Measuring the tare weight of a container does take a little time, so be sure to explain why you’re bringing your containers to the store, and say thank you to a helpful cashier,” she writes in her book.
“A little thinking ahead can make a really big difference,” Panni says. “Are a few minutes of convenience really worth causing plastics to spend all those years in landfills or oceans?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/to-cut-back-on-single-use-plastics-refuse-rethink-reuse/2018/11/14/e2549388-e816-11e8-8449-1ff263609a31_story.html?utm_term=.785fb00e693d
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