By Jessica Franken, Director of Government Affairs & Dawnee Giammittorio, Associate Director of Government Affairs INDA, Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry01.12.15
At the halfway mark of President Barack Obama’s second term and as a new Congress prepares to commence work, we think it is an appropriate time to clarify the status of several key issues of importance to our industry.
Implementation of the Industrial Wiper Rule: After nearly 30 years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally completed its solvent-contaminated industrial wipes rule” (a.k.a. “industrial wiper rule”) in July 2013. The rule allows for disposable wipes to be exempted from certain onerous hazardous waste requirements, thereby better leveling the regulatory playing field between non-laundered wipes and laundered shop towels. Our focus has now turned to the states, which are not required to adopt the deregulatory provisions affecting disposables and must only implement rules that are more stringent than current law. In the preamble of the rule, however, EPA encouraged states to pick up the entire rule as quickly as possible to enhance regulatory uniformity for businesses that use wipes.
Since the rule took effect in January 2014, INDA has tracked its progress in each state. At press time, 12 states have adopted the rule in its entirety (Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Utah), and six states (California, Delaware, Hawaii, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Colorado) have said they will not be adopting the rule. Maryland, New York, Oregon and Maine are still evaluating the rule and have not signaled how likely adoption is. Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington also continue to evaluate the rule but appear unlikely to adopt the deregulatory provisions as written. The remaining 24 states have indicated they are likely to adopt rule in its entirety.
In September, INDA launched the product stewardship committee on industrial wipes to monitor implementation in the states and rally to influence state activity as needed. INDA will continue to be engaged with the implementation of the rule which offers significant opportunities for makers of non-laundered wipes. Please contact INDA’s Director of Government Affairs Jessica Franken at jfranken@inda.org to learn more about participating in the Product Stewardship Committee on Industrial Wipes.
National Flammability Standard for Upholstered Furniture: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is continuing its work, which dates back to 1993, to develop a national upholstered furniture flammability standard. In March 2008, CPSC published a proposal which placed upholstered furniture sold in the United States in two categories based on the cover fabric and dictated a smolder or open flame test depending on the category.
After conducting performance testing as set forth in the proposal, the commission announced in March 2013 that it would re-evaluate the proposed rule in light of technology advances in fire barriers, unexpected CPSC lab test results, and mounting evidence of the dangers of chemical flame retardants in homes. In April 2013, the CPSC held a public hearing and accepted input to gather information on upholstered furniture fire safety technology. The agency has just recently completed full scale testing of fire barriers in various chair constructions based on information it learned from the hearing and comments.
In the meantime, California adopted a new flammability standard designed to discourage the use of flame retardant chemicals in upholstered residential furniture. The new law, Technical Bulletin (TB) 117-2013, revised the earlier TB 117 by replacing the standard’s open flame test with a smolder test that regulators believe can be met without using flame retardant chemicals. Compliance with the new standard is required as of January 1, 2015. However, California regulators have also undertaken a two-year Barrier Research Study to develop “a simple and cost effective bench scale open flame test method for barrier materials for use on upholstered furniture.”
The CPSC will be participating in the California initiative as well as conducting another round of its own tests using chairs that reflect the latest furniture manufacturing construction techniques, testing the efficacy of the various barrier materials and evaluating potential health effects of reducing flammability. The CPSC has set FY 2016 as a target for the release of a draft furniture flammability standard.
Thus, California TB 117-2013 is the de facto standard until a federal one is implemented or California elects once again to adopt an open flame test. INDA will continue to be actively involved in the development of federal flammability standards and promote the effectiveness of nonwoven materials in mitigating fire damages.
Reinstatement of the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill: The Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB), which provides critical import duty suspensions and reductions on hundreds of essential manufacturing inputs that are not available in the U.S., continues to languish in Congress. Unfortunately, these duty relief benefits, including those for viscose rayon staple fibers, lapsed at the end of 2012, forcing companies to absorb the additional costs on necessary inputs, essentially taxing manufacturers to make their products.
August 2015 could be the earliest an MTB will be able to move through Congress. With some Republican lawmakers asserting that the relief constitutes an earmark, support is growing for the idea of revamping the MTB process to address those concerns before the measure can move forward. Of course, getting any reform bill through Congress will take time. Additionally, the currently stalled MTB provisions were vetted two years ago, so lawmakers will likely insist that inputs be re-vetted because the information may be stale.
INDA will continue working with the coalition led by the National Association of Manufacturers to urge action on the MTB and keep its members apprised of developments as things move forward.
Reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act: As public concern about the dangers of toxic chemicals in homes and the environment rises and a number of states and countries advance chemicals reform initiatives, the time may finally be ripe for Congress to revise the nation’s chemical laws. While most stakeholders have long agreed that the current law, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA), is outdated and ineffective, they have been unable to agree how best to reform the law. During the recently concluded Congress, bipartisan bills were introduced in both the House and Senate: a discussion draft, the Chemicals in Commerce Act (CICA), released by Rep. John Shimkus (R-Il 15th), and the Chemical Safety Improvement Act (CSIA), sponsored by the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA). While both measures received some positive accolades, neither made it out of committee. The House has long been considered a greater challenge than in the Senate for moving TSCA reform, so the House showing any interest in modernizing TSCA was seen as a positive step.
Meanwhile, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) released in August 2013, its final Safer Consumer Products Regulation, a key element of the state’s 2008 Green Chemistry legislation. The Regulation requires manufacturers of a broad range of consumer products sold in California to identify safer alternatives to a potential range of more than a thousand chemicals thought to be harmful to public health and the environment.
The regulations adopt a four-step process aimed at having manufacturers replace toxic chemicals used in their products with safer options and making information about product materials more available to the public. The four steps are: (1) DTSC creates a Candidate Chemicals list of potentially toxic chemicals; (2) DTSC develops a list of Priority Products which contain the Candidate Chemicals for which alternative analysis will be required; (3) Manufacturers of Priority Products must perform an alternatives assessment to limit exposure to Chemicals of Concern; and (4) DTSC will impose conditions on Priority Products. DTSC has announced 10 categories of Priority Products targeted for evaluation, including several that contain INDA members’ products--beauty, personal care and hygiene products, building products and cleaning products. The regulations are expected to force businesses selling products in California to make major investments in compliance.
There may finally be a perfect storm of events to motivate the 114th Congress to finally pass chemical reform: consumers are aware and upset about chemicals in products; without a workable federal law, more states are enacting their own measures; the business community cannot operate efficiently under 50 different regimes; and bipartisan support is building in both chambers of Congress. We will keep you posted. n
Implementation of the Industrial Wiper Rule: After nearly 30 years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally completed its solvent-contaminated industrial wipes rule” (a.k.a. “industrial wiper rule”) in July 2013. The rule allows for disposable wipes to be exempted from certain onerous hazardous waste requirements, thereby better leveling the regulatory playing field between non-laundered wipes and laundered shop towels. Our focus has now turned to the states, which are not required to adopt the deregulatory provisions affecting disposables and must only implement rules that are more stringent than current law. In the preamble of the rule, however, EPA encouraged states to pick up the entire rule as quickly as possible to enhance regulatory uniformity for businesses that use wipes.
Since the rule took effect in January 2014, INDA has tracked its progress in each state. At press time, 12 states have adopted the rule in its entirety (Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Utah), and six states (California, Delaware, Hawaii, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Colorado) have said they will not be adopting the rule. Maryland, New York, Oregon and Maine are still evaluating the rule and have not signaled how likely adoption is. Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington also continue to evaluate the rule but appear unlikely to adopt the deregulatory provisions as written. The remaining 24 states have indicated they are likely to adopt rule in its entirety.
In September, INDA launched the product stewardship committee on industrial wipes to monitor implementation in the states and rally to influence state activity as needed. INDA will continue to be engaged with the implementation of the rule which offers significant opportunities for makers of non-laundered wipes. Please contact INDA’s Director of Government Affairs Jessica Franken at jfranken@inda.org to learn more about participating in the Product Stewardship Committee on Industrial Wipes.
National Flammability Standard for Upholstered Furniture: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is continuing its work, which dates back to 1993, to develop a national upholstered furniture flammability standard. In March 2008, CPSC published a proposal which placed upholstered furniture sold in the United States in two categories based on the cover fabric and dictated a smolder or open flame test depending on the category.
After conducting performance testing as set forth in the proposal, the commission announced in March 2013 that it would re-evaluate the proposed rule in light of technology advances in fire barriers, unexpected CPSC lab test results, and mounting evidence of the dangers of chemical flame retardants in homes. In April 2013, the CPSC held a public hearing and accepted input to gather information on upholstered furniture fire safety technology. The agency has just recently completed full scale testing of fire barriers in various chair constructions based on information it learned from the hearing and comments.
In the meantime, California adopted a new flammability standard designed to discourage the use of flame retardant chemicals in upholstered residential furniture. The new law, Technical Bulletin (TB) 117-2013, revised the earlier TB 117 by replacing the standard’s open flame test with a smolder test that regulators believe can be met without using flame retardant chemicals. Compliance with the new standard is required as of January 1, 2015. However, California regulators have also undertaken a two-year Barrier Research Study to develop “a simple and cost effective bench scale open flame test method for barrier materials for use on upholstered furniture.”
The CPSC will be participating in the California initiative as well as conducting another round of its own tests using chairs that reflect the latest furniture manufacturing construction techniques, testing the efficacy of the various barrier materials and evaluating potential health effects of reducing flammability. The CPSC has set FY 2016 as a target for the release of a draft furniture flammability standard.
Thus, California TB 117-2013 is the de facto standard until a federal one is implemented or California elects once again to adopt an open flame test. INDA will continue to be actively involved in the development of federal flammability standards and promote the effectiveness of nonwoven materials in mitigating fire damages.
Reinstatement of the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill: The Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB), which provides critical import duty suspensions and reductions on hundreds of essential manufacturing inputs that are not available in the U.S., continues to languish in Congress. Unfortunately, these duty relief benefits, including those for viscose rayon staple fibers, lapsed at the end of 2012, forcing companies to absorb the additional costs on necessary inputs, essentially taxing manufacturers to make their products.
August 2015 could be the earliest an MTB will be able to move through Congress. With some Republican lawmakers asserting that the relief constitutes an earmark, support is growing for the idea of revamping the MTB process to address those concerns before the measure can move forward. Of course, getting any reform bill through Congress will take time. Additionally, the currently stalled MTB provisions were vetted two years ago, so lawmakers will likely insist that inputs be re-vetted because the information may be stale.
INDA will continue working with the coalition led by the National Association of Manufacturers to urge action on the MTB and keep its members apprised of developments as things move forward.
Reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act: As public concern about the dangers of toxic chemicals in homes and the environment rises and a number of states and countries advance chemicals reform initiatives, the time may finally be ripe for Congress to revise the nation’s chemical laws. While most stakeholders have long agreed that the current law, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA), is outdated and ineffective, they have been unable to agree how best to reform the law. During the recently concluded Congress, bipartisan bills were introduced in both the House and Senate: a discussion draft, the Chemicals in Commerce Act (CICA), released by Rep. John Shimkus (R-Il 15th), and the Chemical Safety Improvement Act (CSIA), sponsored by the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA). While both measures received some positive accolades, neither made it out of committee. The House has long been considered a greater challenge than in the Senate for moving TSCA reform, so the House showing any interest in modernizing TSCA was seen as a positive step.
Meanwhile, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) released in August 2013, its final Safer Consumer Products Regulation, a key element of the state’s 2008 Green Chemistry legislation. The Regulation requires manufacturers of a broad range of consumer products sold in California to identify safer alternatives to a potential range of more than a thousand chemicals thought to be harmful to public health and the environment.
The regulations adopt a four-step process aimed at having manufacturers replace toxic chemicals used in their products with safer options and making information about product materials more available to the public. The four steps are: (1) DTSC creates a Candidate Chemicals list of potentially toxic chemicals; (2) DTSC develops a list of Priority Products which contain the Candidate Chemicals for which alternative analysis will be required; (3) Manufacturers of Priority Products must perform an alternatives assessment to limit exposure to Chemicals of Concern; and (4) DTSC will impose conditions on Priority Products. DTSC has announced 10 categories of Priority Products targeted for evaluation, including several that contain INDA members’ products--beauty, personal care and hygiene products, building products and cleaning products. The regulations are expected to force businesses selling products in California to make major investments in compliance.
There may finally be a perfect storm of events to motivate the 114th Congress to finally pass chemical reform: consumers are aware and upset about chemicals in products; without a workable federal law, more states are enacting their own measures; the business community cannot operate efficiently under 50 different regimes; and bipartisan support is building in both chambers of Congress. We will keep you posted. n