On March 20, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order intended to eliminate waste and save taxpayer dollars by consolidating the domestic federal procurement processes within the General Services Administration (GSA)....more
Waste treatment, recycling and take back obligations in relation to electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and waste of such electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) have long been a focus area for EU regulators, and now...more
In California, "they don't throw their garbage away, they turn it into television shows." So said Woody Allen in "Annie Hall." But when Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 707 into law last September, the Golden State...more
In an important development for the sustainability movement, Oregon and Colorado are implementing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws that shift the responsibility for managing packaging waste to the manufacturer. The...more
In 1984, while Ronald Reagan was securing a landslide reelection and Apple introduced the Macintosh, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) last updated the state’s primary oil and gas waste regulations. Now, four decades...more
California’s Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Responsibility Act (“SB 54” or “the Act”) is unique in the growing extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) packaging landscape for its source reduction component for...more
The Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment - Division of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”) issued a January 8th news release announcing that it will hold stakeholder meetings across Arkansas: …for better understanding...more
Companies would be wise to take into consideration the potential outsized impact of DOGE as they develop public policy plans for the new administration. DOGE is intended to serve as an advisory or consulting organization...more
The Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (“ASTSWMO”) submitted comments to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) addressing a Solar Panel and Lithium Battery Universal...more
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and similar open records acts allow the public access to records under the control of governmental agencies. These access rights state that public information shall be delivered within a...more
Healthcare organizations face an ever-growing list of regulatory demands and risks, with Fraud, Waste, and Abuse (FWA) at the forefront. Addressing FWA is more than avoiding fines under regulations like the False Claims Act –...more
The Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (“ASTSWMO”) issued on August 24, Part One of a document titled: Rate Establishment Guide for State Financial Assurance Funds (“Guide”)....more
Yesterday, the Court of Appeals of Virginia issued an important decision regarding two often troubling elements under Virginia law regarding proving a claim of adverse possession....more
The Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality (“MCEQ”) and Mr. Graham C. Coats entered into a May 15th Agreed Consent Order (“ACO”) addressing the alleged abandonment of waste tires. The ACO states that an...more
La sentencia SU-018/24 proferida por la Corte Constitucional de Colombia confirmó la posición evidenciada en la sentencia del Consejo de Estado del 19 de agosto de 2022, por medio de la cual condenó a una empresa del sector...more
The Washington State Legislature has passed legislation which would allow in certain circumstances the sale of cannabis waste. The legislation is denominated Senate Bill 5376....more
The Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 2 (“Court of Appeals”) addressed in a February 13th Opinion a challenge to a King County Code (“KCC”) involving flow control. See SkyCorp Ltd. v. King County, 2024 WL 562169. ...more
During arguments on Wednesday in the most significant environmental dispute before the U.S. Supreme Court this year, the Court's conservative justices expressed skepticism over the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to...more
The California Department of Conservation last Friday released a proposal to stop issuing permits for well stimulation treatments, commonly known as fracking. Most fracking operations in California are carried out in oil...more
Massachusetts residents and businesses dispose of enough trash yearly to fill up about 31 Fenway Parks. Despite decades of government policies to reduce waste, we continue throwing away about six million tons of waste each...more
In a new study, researchers from NYU, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Defend Our Health have estimated the costs of plastic exposure on the U.S. healthcare system. In 2018, several common endocrine disruptors, a...more
This is Akin’s newsletter on climate change policy and regulatory developments, providing information on major climate policy headlines from the past three weeks and forthcoming climate-related events and hearings...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced that it is planning to propose new rules to: . . . improve the management and recycling of end-of-life solar panels and lithium batteries....more
The Environmental Protection Agency on Oct. 19 released new reports regarding the impact of methane emissions from food waste. As previously discussed in this space[i], many states have passed regulations to address methane...more
Corporate entities have significant responsibilities in managing and allocating resources effectively. The need to ensure proper use of funds for critical development and construction projects, as well as other large-scale...more