On July 9, 2025, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrew significant new use rules (SNURs) proposed under Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for 18 chemicals derived from waste plastic...more
The transition to sustainable energy in the United States is reshaping how we create, store, and use energy – especially electricity – and the landscape is changing rapidly. This shift introduces new waste management...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued a report titled: An Assessment of the U.S. Recycling System: Financial Estimates to Modernize Material Recovery Infrastructure (“Report”)....more
In November 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") released its National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution, a comprehensive plan with the goal of eliminating the release of plastic waste into the...more
The National Waste & Recycling Association (“NWRA”) filed a Petition for Review (“Petition”) before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging a Final Action undertaken by the United...more
As lithium-based batteries become more prevalent in everything from electric vehicles (EVs) to industrial-scale batteries, as well as e-scooters and personal electronics, more questions arise regarding how to properly manage...more
The Solid Waste Association of North America (“SWANA”) and three other organizations filed joint comments addressing questions posed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) in the following document: ...more
Authored by Jace Motley and co-authored by Walter Wright. The United States Senate passed S.3743 by unanimous consent which is titled: Recycling and Composting Accountability Act (RCAA)...more
I undertook an Arkansas Environmental Federation webinar held by the organization’s Land and Sustainability Committee on May 20th titled: Solid and Hazardous Waste/Recycling Administrative/Judicial Developments: 2020-2021...more
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (“IRSI”) submitted October 2nd comments to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) on the agency’s draft National Recycling Strategy (“Strategy”). EPA released...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Last week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a “streamlined system” for managing hazardous waste aerosol cans as Universal Waste. The Agency believes that the new system will be...more
On July 2, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided the case of California Communities Against Toxics, et al. v. EPA. In this decision, the court rejected the latest petition to strike or...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has upheld the Transfer-Based Exclusion in EPA’s final rule Revisions to the Definition of Solid Waste, 73 Fed. Reg. 64,668, 64,669 (Oct. 30, 2008). The...more
Pierce Atwood’s Environmental and Land Use Practice Groups are pleased to provide a summary of key environmental legislation from the 129th Maine Legislature’s First Regular Session, which adjourned sine die, on June 20,...more
I undertook a presentation on April 17th at the Arkansas Environmental Federation Regulated Waste Seminar titled: Solid and Hazardous Waste Judicial/Regulatory Developments: 2018 – 2019 - The discussion addressed...more
Technological innovations are creating ways to re-use, and in some cases profit from, materials recycled and materials discarded in waterways. ...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has issued a report titled: Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2015 Fact Sheet (“Report”)... ...more
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made several recent changes that will affect compliance obligations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). First, EPA finalized revisions to the definition of...more
Responding to July 2017 and March 2018 orders issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on May 30, 2018, issued a final rule revising the...more
On March 6, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) issued a ruling that revises its 2017 decision on the definition of solid waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery...more
The United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (“Court”), addressed in a March 6th Opinion petitions for Panel Rehearing of a July 7, 2017 decision addressing the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act...more
EPA promulgated a final rule in 2015 redefining “solid waste” under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”) to curb sham recycling (the “Rule”). In the August 2017 issue of Environmental Notes, we reported that...more
In American Petroleum Institute (“API”) v. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), the D.C. Circuit upheld, severed, and vacated portions of a 2015 EPA final rule, Definition of SolidWaste (the “Final Rule”). As explained...more
The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals recently granted, in part, industry parties’ challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s final rule defining “solid waste” under the Resource Conservation and...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently rejected portions of an EPA rule designed to distinguish true recycling from “sham recycling” under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act...more