On Thursday, February 27, at the ReMA Winter Board Meeting, ReMA’s Board of Directors approved a position on end-of-life battery management for non-embedded small and medium format batteries. Batteries are commonplace in everyday life, and utilized in phones, laptops, watches, headphones, appliances around the house, e-bikes, scooters, and other personal electronics. The improper disposal of…
2024 State Outlook In 2024, several trends emerged addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination. PFAS are a large, complex group of synthetic chemicals that have been used in consumer products around the world since about the 1950s. States proposed stricter public water and stormwater requirements focused on monitoring and mitigating PFAS, including bills prioritizing…
Last year, eight states introduced or actively carried over bills supporting “advanced” chemical recycling, while 11 states considered bills restricting chemical recycling. Bills of particular importance to the recycled materials industry that carried over were Nebraska’s LB599 and Alaska’s HB 143. It was anticipated that Nebraska’s LB 599 would be revisited with revised language but ultimately the…
Late on Thursday, Aug. 22, the Canadian Labour Minister announced the government had intervened in the labor dispute between the two major freight railroads and a Teamsters union, which effectively ends the lockout after less than one day. The government has asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to impose binding arbitration in the labor…
On Thursday, Aug. 22, the two major Canadian freight railways simultaneously shut down operations and locked out 9,000 workers. This action followed the notification on Monday by the Teamsters union representing CPKC rail workers of its intention to strike beginning on Thursday. Last minute negotiations were unable to reach an agreement between the parties and…
The Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) is excited to join the annual National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Legislative Summit in Louisville, KY from Aug. 5-7. The annual convention brings together legislative representatives from all 50 states and U.S. territories, including legislative staff, state and federal executive branch officials, industry representatives, and others interested in public…
It’s been an active early summer for Ohio recyclers. The Ohio chapters of the Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) have been actively engaged with House Criminal Justice Committee Chair, Representative Cindy Abrams on HB 328, focusing on business-friendly amendments related to catalytic converters. Significant compromises were reached, resulting in numerous positive changes to the bill. However, negotiations…
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released a new notice in the Federal Register that extends selected product exclusions from the China Section 301 tariffs for one additional year. This announcement includes the extension of the exclusion on shredder wear parts through May 31, 2025, which is great news for ReMA members that…
On May 14, two ReMA member companies received the President’s “E” Awards for excellency in exports, which is the highest honor bestowed upon U.S. exporters by the U.S. government. Executives from both companies, Sigma Recycling and Pan American Zinc, were in Washington, D.C. to receive the award at the ceremony at the Commerce Department’s Herbert…
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is expected to release a notice in the Federal Register this week that lays out the full schedule for the implementation of modifications to the actions taken against China in Section 301 of the Trade Act. The Biden administration has not yet announced how it intends to…
ReMA is seeking nominations for the National Lieutenant Governors Association’s (NLGA) Recycling Impact Award by June 17, 2024. The award recognizes a public official who has played a key role in advocating for, or supporting resource conservation, sustainability, reuse, and recycling. Recycling impacts every aspect of life in America, converting end-of-life or otherwise obsolete materials into the…
Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-2 to approve a final rule that requires registrants to disclose certain climate-related information in an effort to gauge climate impact and emissions throughout companies’ supply chains. While the final rule is narrower than the SEC’s 2022 draft, it represents a significant shift in the U.S. regulatory…