Day: June 15, 2022

Webinar: Development of Battery Collection Best Practices and Labeling Feedback

Jun 30, 2022 11 am CDT
Register here.

EPA is hosting virtual feedback sessions to provide input on new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law initiatives about end-of-life battery collection and labeling. This session is for all stakeholders involved in the battery lifecycle to provide input on new battery recycling initiatives. This includes:

  • battery manufacturers;
  • battery retailers;
  • battery recyclers;
  • consumers and businesses that purchase batteries;
  • companies in the electric vehicle management chain; and
  • tribal, state, and local government agencies.

EPA is seeking feedback on:

  • What types of batteries should EPA include in the best practices for collection (e.g., small consumer batteries, electric vehicle and grid storage batteries, industrial batteries, etc.)?
  • What are the current barriers to safe and effective battery collection and recycling?
  • What practices exist to improve battery collection and recycling, especially to increase the safe recovery of critical minerals?
  • What types of communication and outreach activities are most useful to reach key battery stakeholders?
  • What existing labeling programs should EPA use to inform a new labeling program?

EPA warns toxic ‘forever chemicals’ more dangerous than once thought

Read the full story in the Washington Post.

The Environmental Protection Agency warned Wednesday that a group of human-made chemicals found in the drinking water, cosmetics and food packaging used by millions of Americans pose a greater danger to human health than regulators previously thought.

The new health advisories for a ubiquitous class of compounds known as polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, underscore the risk facing dozens of communities across the country. Linked to infertility, thyroid problems and several types of cancer, these “forever chemicals” can persist in the environment for years without breaking down.

LanzaTech, with support of Danone, discovers breakthrough method to produce PET from captured carbon

Read the full story at Sustainable Brands.

A consortium including LanzaTech and Danone has discovered a new route to manufacturing monoethylene glycol (MEG) — a key building block for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin, fibers and bottles — from captured carbon emissions. The technology converts carbon emissions from steel mills or gasified waste biomass directly into MEG.

LanzaTech’s carbon-capture technology uses a proprietary, engineered bacterium to convert the CO2 directly into MEG through fermentation, bypassing the need for an ethanol intermediate, and simplifying the MEG supply chain. The direct production of MEG has been proven at laboratory scale and the presence of MEG was confirmed by two external laboratories.

How to recycle a 150-foot wind turbine blade? Haul it to Louisiana, MO

Read the full story from St. Louis Public Radio.

In the small community of Louisiana, Missouri, it’s not uncommon to see what looks like massive white wings traveling down the road, strapped to flatbed tractor-trailers.

Once a bustling commercial port, the historic Mississippi River town 90 miles north of St. Louis has become a hub for an unusual commodity: used wind turbine blades. Shipments from nearly every corner of the U.S. arrive daily at the Veolia North America recycling plant, the last stop for turbine blades at the end of their lifespan.

Metal-lifespan analysis shows scale of waste

Read the full story in Nature.

Metals might be the foundation of the modern economy, but that doesn’t mean they stick around.

A study looking at the economic lifetimes of 61 commercially used metals finds that more than half have a lifespan of less than 10 years. The research, published on 19 May in Nature Sustainability, also shows that most of these metals end up being disposed of or lost in large quantities, rather than being recycled or reused.

Cars could get a ‘flashy’ upgrade

Read the full story from Rice University.

The part of an old car that gets turned into graphene could come back as a better part for a new car.

Rice University chemists working with researchers at the Ford Motor Company are turning plastic parts from “end-of-life” vehicles into graphene via the university’s flash Joule heating process.

The average SUV contains up to 350 kilograms (771 pounds) of plastic that could sit in a landfill for centuries but for the recycling process reported in the debut issue of a new Nature journal, Communications Engineering.

Minneapolis firm strikes first major deal for its PFAS-fighting technology

Read the full story in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Claros Technologies, which last year raised $5.35 million in venture capital, has struck its first major agreement to scale its system to “capture, concentrate and destroy” PFAS chemicals from wastewater.

Minneapolis-based Claros said it has a partnership worth millions of dollars with Japan’s Kureha Corp., a manufacturer of specialty chemicals and plastics for the advanced materials, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and wastewater-treatment industries.

Federal suppliers to be required to report carbon emissions

Read the full story at Bloomberg Law.

The Biden administration will soon propose a rule requiring major companies that supply goods and services to the federal government to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, a White House official said Wednesday.

The rule will be distinct from—but similar to—the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s March proposal that requires publicly-traded companies to report their carbon emissions in their registration statements and annual reports, according to Andrew Mayock, federal chief sustainability officer at the Council on Environmental Quality.

He provided few details about the proposal, except to say it will require suppliers to report on greenhouse gases, “report on climate risk, and required to set science-based targets,” and that it will be issued “in the very near future.”

Community-led science uncovers high air pollution from fracking in Ohio county

Read the full story from the Columbia Climate School.

Some residents of Belmont County in eastern Ohio have long suffered from headaches, fatigue, nausea and burning sensations in their throats and noses. They suspected these symptoms were the result of air pollution from fracking facilities that dominate the area, but regulators dismissed and downplayed their concerns.

With the technical assistance of volunteer scientists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, MIT and the American Geophysical Union’s Thriving Earth Exchange, local advocacy groups set up their own network of low-cost sensors. They found that the region’s three EPA sensors were not providing an accurate picture: The sensors revealed concerning levels of air pollution, and correlations between local spikes and health impacts.

The results are published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

A heat wave’s lamented victim: The mango, India’s king of fruits

Read the full story in the New York Times.

Blistering spring temperatures have devastated crops of the country’s most beloved fruit. “The soul of a farmer shudders at seeing these fruitless trees,” one grower said.