In 1989, The Coalition of Northeastern Governors (CONEG) drafted the model legislation in an effort to reduce the amount of heavy metals in packaging and packaging components that are sold or distributed throughout the United States.
Four specific heavy metals are targeted for elimination or reduction: mercury, lead, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium. Scientific studies have shown that these metals pose significant environmental and health hazards as toxic constituents of incinerator ash and stack emissions or landfill leachate.
California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin are among the nineteen states with legislation based on, or similar to, the CONEG model legislation.
It is imperative in nature that all raw materials when used in manufacturing of CONEG complaint packaging should not exceed the regulated heavy metals above the threshold of 100 PPM.
Nanophase’s high purity metal oxides and dispersions contain levels of CONEG regulated metals that are well below threshold values.