The U.S. Senate voted unanimously Oct. 1 to pass the Save Our Seas (SOS) 2.0 Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Bob Menendez of New Jersey designed to address the plastic debris threatening coastal economies and harming marine life. SOS 2.0 builds on the Save Our Seas Act introduced by Sens. Whitehouse and Sullivan and signed into law by President Trump in October 2018.

The Save Our Seas 2.0 Act consists of three main pieces:

1. strengthening the United States’ domestic marine debris response capability with a Marine Debris Foundation, a genius prize for innovation and new research to tackle the issue;
2. enhancing global engagement to combat marine debris, including formalizing U.S. policy on international cooperation, enhancing federal agency outreach to other countries and exploring the potential for a new international agreement on the challenge; and
3. improving domestic infrastructure to prevent marine debris through new grants for and studies of waste management and mitigation.

Each of the bill’s components was reviewed and passed by a committee of jurisdiction – the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee.

“Our legislation aims to tackle this global challenge on three fronts—improving America’s ability to respond to marine debris events and clean up waste, working toward international cooperation and agreements with nations responsible for the majority of trash entering the oceans and exploring new, innovative ways to manage and even reuse plastic waste,” Sullivan says.

Menendez, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says, “This legislation takes important steps to protect our coastal waters that support everything from fishing and recreation to trade through our ports and harbors. I am committed to continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make sure this bill is signed into law as soon as possible.”

In response to the passage of SOS 2.0, Washington-based Plastics Industry Association (Plastics) President and CEO Tony Radoszewski says, “We applaud the U.S. House of Representatives for passing the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act. It is a testament to the bipartisan agreement that we all need to do more to protect our oceans. The plastics industry and its more than 1 million American workers strongly support this legislation and applaud the work of its sponsors Sens. Dan Sullivan and Sheldon Whitehouse and champions in the House, Reps. Suzanne Bonamici and Don Young.”

He adds that Sullivan and Whitehouse will speak at the Global Plastics Summit (GPS) later this month about the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act and marine debris cleanup and prevention. “We’re honored to welcome the senators to the summit, and we look forward to building on this momentum and continuing to find innovative approaches to advancing our shared sustainability goals,” Radoszewski says.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), also based in Washington, also has acknowledged the passage of the bill.

“ISRI and its members recognize the importance of protecting oceans and waterways and the enormous challenge of cleaning decades-worth of plastic debris,” says ISRI Vice President of Advocacy Adina Renee Adler. “It is incumbent upon all of us to help in this important endeavor of saving our seas for generations to come. We look forward to being a part of discussions that lead to innovative solutions.”

ISRI says it expects the president will sign this legislation very soon after unanimous agreement by Congress. 

Collier County, Florida, announced Oct. 1 that it will begin offering expanded polystyrene recycling effective immediately at its North Collier Recycling Drop-Off Center. The county says it is one of the leading counties in Florida proving this service, which is aimed at keeping foam out of landfill and helping preserve the environment.

Residents and commercial customers can drop off foam products at the North Collier Recycling Drop-Off Center for free. Most foam products with a No. 6 recycling symbol can now be recycled, including clean takeout containers, coolers and egg cartons.

Collier County’s foam recycling pilot program was made possible by a $50,000 grant from the Foam Recycling Coalition. The grant was used to purchase a foam densifier, which compresses foam into blocks which are then sold to a vendor for collection and resale.

The Györ, Hungary-based Audi Hungaria Zrt operation of the Germany-based Volkswagen Group says it is preparing to manage the approximately 38,000 metric tons of aluminum it consumes there per year in part by creating what it calls an aluminum closed loop.

“With the aluminum closed loop, aluminum [scrap] arising during production is returned to the supplier, who uses it to produce aluminum coils of original quality and returns these to Audi,” states the automaker in a press release. The firm does not name the aluminum producer with whom it cooperates to “close the loop and provide for sustainable production.”

On its website, Audi says the Györ facility “develops and produces engines for Audi and other companies of the Volkswagen Group.”  Assembly operations also now take place at the site. “Audi Hungaria produced a total of 1,968,742 engines and 164,817 automobiles in Győr” in 2019, according to Audi.

States Alfons Dintner, chairman of the board of management of Audi Hungaria, “We are not only reducing factory CO₂ emissions, but are also implementing measures that transcend the plant’s grounds to reduce our carbon footprint. Our motivation is the Volkswagen and Audi Group’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement. The aluminum closed loop plays an important role here. We are pleased to be implementing it at Audi Hungaria in the near future.”

Audi Hungaria describes its aluminum closed loop process as having the ability to reduce the consumption of non-renewable resources by recycling aluminum scrap “as secondary raw materials of original quality.”

Adds the firm, “Thanks to this recycling with no loss in quality, the automobiles produced at the site begin their life cycle with a more favorable life cycle assessment. The production of this secondary aluminum enables net energy savings of up to 95 percent compared with the production of primary aluminum.”

A subsidiary of United States-based International Paper (IP) has filed a notice posted to a Turkish investment oversight agency website indicating it is considering options to sell the stake it holds in Turkey-based Olmuksan International Paper Ambalaj Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi. That company operates containerboard mills and downstream corrugating plants in Turkey.

The IP Container Holdings (Spain) SL subsidiary, in the posted notice, says it is evaluating “various alternatives for the packaging press business in Turkey,” and thus needed “to make a statement on the news and rumors in the mass media.”

IP adds that its “evaluation of strategic options for the sale of shares owned by Olmuksan International Paper Ambalaj Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi, including sale to potential investors or sale in the relevant share market of Borsa İstanbul Financial advisors, have been authorized for the purpose.”

The disclosure indicates the sale evaluation process was started at an IP board of directors meeting in late August, and at that time “it was decided to postpone the public disclosure of the information, on the grounds that the announcement of this situation may harm the legitimate interests of our company, create false and misleading impressions on investors, cause speculation in the market and therefore investors may be harmed.”

Turkey’s government has recently proposed a restriction on recovered fiber imports that may be considered unwelcome by operators of containerboard mills and other paper producers in that nation. It is unclear, however, whether that restriction will have any impact on the IP mills.

On its website, Olmuksan International Paper refers to its use of “responsible forest management” in terms of resources, although it also says it is working to expand its “reuse capacity.”