Below are some recent announcements:

Proposed Rule on Modernizing Hazardous Waste Regulations for Ignitable Liquids Determinations 

EPA is proposing changes to the hazardous waste regulations that will modernize how the hazardous waste characteristic of ignitability is determined under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The proposal will also allow the use of non-mercury thermometers in a variety of EPA's analytical methods that currently require mercury thermometers. These proposed amendments, when finalized, will allow for the use of modern equipment and techniques for making ignitability determinations for waste. In addition, these changes will reduce potential mercury exposures to humans and the environment by reducing the overall use of mercury-containing products.

Comments must be received on or before June 3, 2019. For more information, visit: https://www.epa.gov/hw-sw846/proposed-rule-modernizing-ignitable-liquids-determinations.  

The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest (e-Manifest) System

Webinar Recording Available

Last Wednesday, March 27th, EPA's e-Manifest team conducted their monthly public webinar. The recording of that webinar can be viewed here: https://epawebconferencing.acms.com/pg7mhc9rbtf2/.

Next Webinar

Please join the e-Manifest team at 2 PM (ET) on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, for their next e-Manifest public webinar. The webinar can be accessed here: https://epawebconferencing.acms.com/r3x3041s4xd/.

Recording of Generator Improvements Rule Workshop Now Available

Last month, EPA held three webinars to provide an in-depth look at the 2016 Generator Improvements Rule. Below is a description of each webinar:

• Part 1 covers the goals and background of the rule, hazardous waste determinations, counting, mixing, and marking and labeling.
• Part 2 covers episodic generation, consolidation of very small quantity generator waste and closure for large quantity generators.
• Part 3 covers satellite accumulation areas, emergency planning and preparedness, reporting and recordkeeping, and state adoption.

The recordings of those webinars are now available online, which can be accessed here:  https://www.epa.gov/hwgenerators/final-rule-hazardous-waste-generator-improvements#additional-resources.

Free Educational Materials Available for Order in Print 

We're having a "clearance sale" on all National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP) materials. Order your free copies soon - to save costs, we'll be eliminating several of these publications from our inventory soon.

You can view, download, print and/or order the below and other publications online at https://www.epa.gov/nscep or by phone at 800-490-9198.

All NSCEP documents are available for order in hard copy. EPA has many different technical, scientific and educational materials that you can get in print for free. The below publications are available in hard copy, free of charge:

• Life Cycle of a Cell Phone (530H04002)
• Life Cycle of a Soccer Ball (530H05001)
• Pack a Waste-Free Lunch (530H05002)
• Planet Protectors Club Calendar of Activities (For Teachers) (530H06004)
• Planet Protectors Club Calendar of Activities (For Students) (530H06005)
• Planet Protectors Club Certificate (530E98002C)
• Starting a Planet Protectors Club (530F06017)
• Protect Yourself, Protect Others: Safe Options for Home Needle Disposal (530F06014)
• Science Fair Fun: Designing Environmental Science Projects for Students Grades 6-8 (530K10002)
• Tools to Reduce Waste in Schools (530K07002)
• Working Together For a Healthy Environment: A Guide For Multi-Cultural Community Groups (530K06008)
• Service-Learning: Learning By Doing: Students Take Greening to the Community, Edition 3 (530K11001)
• Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: Protect Your Family, Your Community and the Environment (English/Spanish poster) (530H07002)
• Make A Difference (530E03001)
• Teach English, Teach About the Environment: A Resource for Teachers of Adult English for Speakers of Other Languages (530K07001)
• You Dump It, You Drink It (English/Spanish poster) (530H02003)

U.S. Department of Energy Announces Battery Recycling Competition

On January 17, 2019, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry, at the Bipartisan Policy Center's American Energy Innovation Council, announced the Battery Recycling Prize - a $5.5 million three-year competition in three progressive phases. The prize is designed to address critical material supply issues for lithium-ion batteries by encouraging American entrepreneurs to find innovative solutions to safely and economically collect, sort, store, and transport spent lithium-ion batteries for eventual recycling and recovery. The eventual goal of the effort is to support establishing processed that, when scaled, capture 90 percent of all spent or end-of-life lithium-based batteries from consumer electronics, transportation, and industrial applications. A successful process will, after recycling, re-introduce key materials from lithium-based batteries into the battery manufacturing supply chain.

This completion is expected to:

• Enable U.S.-based recyclers to reach economies of scale in their processes by providing higher volume feedstocks;
• Attract private, public, state, and local dollar investments to scale safe and economic collection, storage, sorting, and transportation of discarded or end-of-life lithium-ion batteries; and
• Bring together stakeholders from municipalities, states, industry, universities, and relevant government agencies to enable significant recycling, reuse, and recovery of lithium-ion batteries.

Learn more about this here:  https://www.energy.gov/articles/energy-department-announces-battery-recycling-prize-and-battery-recycling-rd-center.

To learn more about the Battery Recycling Prize and to participate and follow, please visit: https://americanmadechallenges.org/batteryrecycling/.

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