Steve Toloken

After its third year in a row stalling in the New York legislature, it's not clear what happens next for the state's contentious packaging EPR bill. All sides expect the topic to be back in 2027 but fault lines remain.

During Plastics News' latest Plastics in Politics livestream, Steve Toloken discussed how California's SB 343 labeling law is reshaping packaging recyclability claims, the polystyrene industry's effort to remove certain materials from the U.S. Plastics Pact's problematic list, and the third consecutive failure of New York's EPR legislation.

The plastics industry is pushing the EPA to drop microplastics from a list of potential drinking water contaminants, but health and environmental groups want the agency to go further.

The chemical associations in Canada, Mexico and the United States met in Washington to push for the USMCA trade deal, while President Donald Trump said ahead of a July 1 deadline he was not inclined to renew it.

A group of consumer product makers and retailers are starting a trial in California to test the case for recycling small plastic packaging like cosmetic containers, ahead of potentially onerous requirements under the state's SB-54 EPR law.

The U.S. Plastics Pact named Crystal Bayliss its new executive director, elevating her from the interim role she has held since the previous head of the organization stepped down suddenly in January.

Amid community opposition to pollution from chemical recycling plants, a standards setting body is out with a certification system it says can demonstrate responsible environmental and social impacts.

A group of 50 Democrats in the House and Senate sent a letter to the EPA June 18 opposing changes to chemical recycling regulations.

In June, standard thermoplastics prices turned sharply downward on lower feedstock costs and weak demand.

Polypropylene pipe maker Aquatherm is paying the U.S. government $1.35 million to settle an investigation into whether it improperly obtained a COVID-19 loan to pay employees during the pandemic.