PVC under serious consideration for haz waste designation under RCRA

[Peter Anderson]

Depending upon whether EPA actually winds up doing anything and the contours of what it does eventually rule, this could have enormous implications! -- Peter

 

 

E&E NEWS

https://www.eenews.net/articles/epa-to-weigh-regulating-common-plastic-as-hazardous-waste/

 

EPA to weigh regulating common plastic as hazardous waste

By E.A. Crunden | 05/03/2022 04:33 PM EDT

An array of polyvinyl chloride pipes. lf979883/Flickr

EPA may finally classify a commonly used plastic as hazardous waste, following a long legal struggle with advocates.

The Center for Biological Diversity said this afternoon that it has reached a deal with EPA over polyvinyl chloride, more well known as PVC or vinyl, following a decade of back-and-forth. Under the agreement, EPA must assess within nine months whether PVC constitutes hazardous waste under federal law.

Emily Jeffers, an attorney at the center, sounded a hopeful note in a statement regarding the agreement.

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“We hope this is the federal government’s first step toward acknowledging the toxic legacy of PVC, and ultimately leads to the end of its production,” Jeffers said.

PVC is often used in building materials, children’s toys and other common items. But the plastic is also linked to an array of health issues, including reproductive risks, and advocates say it releases carcinogens at all stages of life, including when it breaks down as waste.

Last August, the center sued EPA over PVC, arguing the agency should regulate the plastic as hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (Greenwire, Aug. 23, 2021).

That move came after a long-running dispute between the group and the agency. In 2014, the center initially petitioned EPA to classify PVC as hazardous through RCRA in addition to taking other steps under the Toxic Substances Control Act, a request the agency quickly denied. The RCRA component of the petition has remained in limbo, however, ultimately prompting the lawsuit last summer.

With the announcement today, EPA will move forward with possibly classifying PVC as hazardous waste, an action the center said would prove greatly beneficial for public health.

“Scientists have been telling us for years that PVC is the most environmentally damaging type of plastic,” said Jeffers. “Yet we discard billions of pounds of PVC every year in the United States, in much the same way we throw away orange rinds and grass clippings. That doesn’t make sense, and it’s dangerous.”

 

 

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______________________________________

                Peter Anderson, Executive Director

  CENTER for a COMPETITIVE WASTE INDUSTRY

    5749 Bittersweet Place  ●  Madison, WI  53705

            Email: ande...@competitivewaste.org

       Off: (608) 231-1100 ● Cell: (608) 444-2817

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When I was born in 1947, the level of carbon dioxide

  in the atmosphere was 310 parts per million, barely

10% more than the 280 ppm in pre-industrial times.

     Today, CO2 levels are 415 ppm, 50% greater

          than when the Age of the Machine began.

      The last time CO2 levels were this high was

      2 million years ago, long before our species

    evolved and later left Africa, when the world's

seas were nearly 100 feet higher, and global surface

temperature was 11°F warmer, with beech trees at the

    South Pole, on a hot house planet incompatable

                       with human civilization.