Capitol Hill

The American Cleaning Institute (ACI) hosted its annual Capitol Hill fly-in event on June 12 for member companies to engage with congressional offices on issues most important to the cleaning products industry. The lobbying event focused on issues related to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and recycling, among others.

“Manufacturers need policies and processes that encourage the market entry of new chemicals that will help meet the growing demand for more sustainable products and chemistries,” said Blake Nanney, ACI director, Government Affairs. 

“ACI has heard loud and clear from our member companies that it’s nearly impossible to get new chemicals – including sustainable materials – through the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) TSCA review processes,” adds Nanney. “ACI is committed to addressing this issue in Congress and at EPA to bring about greater ‘speed-to-market’ for vital cleaning chemistries.”

The Push for Recycling

ACI and the cleaning products industry are committed to working toward a more circular economy that eliminates packaging waste and limits raw material extraction through continuous reuse and reprocessing of existing materials. We have pledged as an industry to achieve a 75 percent recycling rate for cleaning product packaging waste by 2030 while achieving 100 percent collection and reuse, recycling, or composting cleaning product packaging waste by 2040.

ACI’s advocates called on members of the House of Representatives to pass two bipartisan bills to improve recycling rates around the nation: The Recycling and Composting Accountability Act (H.R. 4040/S. 1194), which would require EPA to collect and publish data on recycling and composting rates nationwide, as well as the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act (H.R. 6159/S. 1189), that awards grants to improve recycling accessibility for rural and underserved areas. Both bills have already passed the Senate.

ACI members engaged 19 congressional offices on these important issues. Fly-in participants included leading companies and brands from across the cleaning product supply chain:

    • BASF Corporation
    • The Clorox Company
    • Dow
    • dsm-firmenich
    • ExxonMobil Product Solutions
    • Givaudan
    • GOJO Industries
    • Henkel
    • IFF
    • MonoSol
    • Primient Covation
    • Procter & Gamble
    • Reckitt
    • SC Johnson
    • Takasago
    • Univar Solutions