MOSCOW (MRC) -- The US Environmental Protection Agency is now aiming for Dec. 31 as the point by which it will propose rules on the amount of biofuels refiners must blend into their fuel mix next year, after missing a deadline last month to release the proposal, reported Reuters.
Under the adjusted timeline, the agency will aim to finalize the rule on the so-called Renewable Volume Obligations in June 2021, according to the agency's agenda on the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs' website.
EPA is in charge of administering the US Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires refiners to blend billions of gallons of biofuels into their fuel mix each year, or buy tradable credits from those that do.
The regulation is a lightning rod of contention between the corn industry, which supports it because it creates demand for ethanol, and the refining industry, which opposes it because it is costly and competes with traditional petroleum fuels.
The EPA missed a Nov. 30 deadline for issuing the obligations this year, after the process was complicated by the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout for the fuel industry.
EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As MRC wrote before, in October, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a federal strategy for addressing marine litter that includes broad efforts to incentivize recycling and build infrastructure both domestically and overseas. “Internationally, up to 28 billion pounds of waste makes it into our oceans every year, harming marine life and coastal economies,” says EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler. “Marine litter is a top priority for this Administration, and working together with our global partners, we aim to solve the current growing marine litter problem in our shared oceans.” According to EPA, five countries in Asia - China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam - account for over half of the plastic waste input into the ocean. The majority of marine litter comes from land-based sources, such as littering and the mismanagement of waste, and the most effective way to combat marine litter is to prevent and reduce land-based sources of waste from entering the oceans in the first place.
We remind that Braskem has formed first partnership for removing household plastic waste from landfill in Greater Sao Paulo. The partnership forged between Braskem and Tecipar, the Brazilian company specializing in environmental engineering, will avoid some 2,000 tons of plastic waste annually from being discarded in the landfill of Santana do Parnaiba, a city in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo. This volume is equivalent to 36 million units of plastic packaging made from polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). The partnership reinforces Braskem's commitment to the Circular Economy and is aligned with the business strategy of the company, which is engaged in supporting the development of the recycling chain and its market.
According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
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