[Pharmwaste] RE: Wisconsin adopts ban on microbeads

Fri Jul 10 17:19:19 EDT 2015

It started out good. There was a nice definition of "biodegradeable" that meant it had to disappear within 2 weeks. I see that is gone :/ and it isn't effective until 2018. Weak and sad.

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=HF834&version=0&session=ls89&session_year=2015&session_number=0

Also, Laurie, you still want us to remove all of the extra individual names on these messages, right? I remembered!

Well, here I go out onto the Mississippi to boat. Maybe a bunch of microbeads will get stuck in my water cooling thinger and plug it up and then we can get boaters involved in stopping this madness. That has to be at least .00001 percent of the population.
________________________________
From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us [pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] on behalf of Catherine Zimmer [zenllc at usfamily.net]
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2015 3:28 PM
To: 'Ed Gottlieb'; 'Bickford, Barbara J - DNR (Barb)'; pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: RE: [Pharmwaste] RE: Wisconsin adopts ban on microbeads

Thanks for the inside story, Ed.  I wondered why these “bans” were passing so easily.  Jen V.  do you have the language of the bill passed here in MN?

Very truly yours,

Catherine Zimmer, MS, BSMT
Zimmer Environmental Improvement, LLC
Reducing and managing healthcare related waste and costs for fifteen years.
St. Paul, MN
Ph:  651.645.7509
zenllc at usfamily.net<mailto:zenllc at usfamily.net>

From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us [mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Ed Gottlieb
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2015 1:50 PM
To: Bickford, Barbara J - DNR (Barb); pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] RE: Wisconsin adopts ban on microbeads

In signing the ban on plastic microbeads in personal care products (PCP), Governor Walker showed his support of the plastics and cosmetics industries and his lack of concern for the environment and human health.

The movement to ban microbeads in PCP is primarily driven by their ability to collect and concentrate pharmaceuticals and other pollutants which then enter the food chain when the beads are eaten by aquatic organisms.  In response to the ban the bead movement, the plastics industry has been successfully pushing state legislatures to adopt bans using wording that they wrote rather than wording promoted by environmental groups.  The industry version has two provisions that make it very objectionable to anyone wanting an effective ban.  It is the plastics industry version that Governor Walker just signed into law.

The law [http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2015/related/acts/43] only applies to, "non-biodegradable, solid plastic" [299.50 Sec 1(e)].  With "non-biodegradable" left undefined, it can, and will, be argued that the plastics used (or the bio-polymers they could switch to) are biodegradable.  But, under what conditions do they biodegrade?

It has been reported that the biodegradable plastics now available require composting at high temperatures to break down.  They do not biodegrade in the natural environment.  California is now considering a ban on biodegradable microbeads in PCP!  For a detailed explanation of this point, read these recent stories:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2015/01/28/3612216/environmentalists-pan-microbeads.html

http://www.theguardian.com/vital-signs/2015/jun/08/california-microbead-ban-bioplastic-story-of-stuff-water
The Wisconsin law also includes an industry written ban on local communities enacting legislation [Sec 4].  "A political subdivision may not enact an ordinance or adopt a resolution concerning the manufacture, sale, or distribution of products containing synthetic plastic microbeads."
This law is a total win for the manufactures and polluters, allowing them to continue their activities while locking out effective local legislation.

When your state legislators consider a ban on plastic microbeads in PCP, please be sure to lobby for a bill that does not include the non-biodegradable loop-hole or a ban on local action.  Thanks!
Ed Gottlieb
Chair, Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal
Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator
Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility
525 3rd Street
Ithaca, NY  14850
(607) 273-8381
fax: (607) 273-8433
________________________________
From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us<mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us> [pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] on behalf of Bickford, Barbara J - DNR (Barb) [Barbara.Bickford at wisconsin.gov]
Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2015 6:31 PM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us<mailto:pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us>
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Wisconsin adopts ban on microbeads

Wisconsin adopts ban on microbeads

Wisconsin is the seventh state to ban microbeads in personal care products.  On Wednesday, Governor Walker signed bipartisan legislation that bans the manufacturing of microbead products at the beginning of 2018 and their sale one year later.
http://news.yahoo.com/wisconsin-governor-walker-signs-bill-banning-microbeads-002857108--sector.html

Barb Bickford
Medical Waste Coordinator and Hydrogeologist
Waste and Materials Mgt/AWaRe Division
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
101 S. Webster St., PO Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921
Phone: 608-267-3548
Fax: 608-267-2768
barbara.bickford at wisconsin.gov<mailto:barbara.bickford at wisconsin.gov>

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