SGIA Attends SBA Environmental Roundtable Meeting

On Friday August 4, 2017, SGIA attended an Environmental Roundtable Meeting hosted by the Small Business Administration. The roundtable was open to the public and allowed small business stakeholders to discuss relevant environmental issues and regulations. A major topic of discussion was EPA’s 2015 Definition of Solid Waste rule. This rule replaced the 2008 Definition of Solid Waste rule, and included provisions both to prevent the mismanagement of hazardous secondary materials intended for recycling and to promote recycling of these materials. The DC Circuit Court recently reviewed this rule as a result of petitions by industry stakeholders and made some key decisions regarding the rule. The court invalidated the requirement that the concentrations of the recycled secondary product be comparable to the concentrations in the product or intermediate being replaced. The court also eliminated the “verified recycler exclusion”, which required EPA or a state agency to approve third party recycling facilities, and reinstated the 2008 requirement to use best efforts to identify a recycler that would follow sound environmental practices. SGIA will continue to monitor these important policy issues. Sign up to receive the most up-to-date regulatory and legislative information about specialty imaging.