XPAND 2019
The HCPA holds its 106th Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale
The theme of the Household &
Commercial Products Association’s
(HCPA) 106th Annual
Meeting, held Dec. 8–11 at the
Marriott Harbor Beach Resort in Fort
Lauderdale, FL, was XPAND 2019.
At the opening session, Steve Caldeira,
HCPA President & CEO, shared the
organization’s highlights from 2019.
For instance, a full reauthorization of
the Pesticide Registration Improvement
Act (PRIA) was passed unanimously in
both chambers of Congress and signed
into law by President Donald Trump in
March. Caldeira thanked the HCPA Government
Relations & Public Policy team
and PRIA Coalition, as well as member
companies in the room, for their hard
work and steadfast support.
“It is incredibly rare to see bipartisan
legislation pass in Congress, let alone
unanimously, so this is an impressive legislative accomplishment
that we can all take pride in,” said Caldeira.
The HCPA will continue to work with allied international trade
associations to maximize and leverage the power of the business
community to deal with the current tariffs and trade wars, noted
Caldeira, and will also continue to advocate for the Sustainable
Chemistry R&D Act, which passed unanimously out of committee
in both the U.S. House and Senate last fall.
The organization also relaunched its Political Action Committee
Giordano
32 Spray February 2020
(PAC) in 2018 to support and build relationships with candidates for
federal office. Since the relaunch, the PAC has raised nearly $50,000
in contributions and has supported 11 candidates from both political
parties in the 2018 and 2020 election cycles who hold positions
on committees with jurisdiction over key issues affecting member
companies or who represent areas with significant member presence.
HCPA was recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) as a 2019 Safer Choice Partner of the Year while
HCPA’s Dr. Steve Bennett, Senior VP of Scientific Affairs, continues
to serve on the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Chemicals
(SACC).
HCPA’s non-profit foundation, the Alliance for Consumer
Education (ACE), is launching a labeling literacy campaign to help
consumers understand the new information that they will begin to
see in 2020 online and on labels, as a result of the California Cleaning
Product Right to Know Act of 2017.
As retailers continue to respond to consumer preferences, HCPA
will continue to act as a bridge between retailers and manufacturers
on chemical safety policies and on a wider range of public policy
issues as a member of the UL Advisory Group.
California legislature recently proposed two identical bills, known
as the Circular Economy & Pollution Reduction Act, which would
require all single-use packaging sold in California on or after Jan. 1,
2030 to be recyclable or compostable.
“While we support the intent of this legislation, the Circular
Economy & Pollution Reduction Act set extreme and unrealistic
standards for recycling and packaging reduction,” stated Caldeira.
“Our industry has already taken significant steps to eliminate
packaging waste, and we look forward to working with the legislature
on a long-term solution to improve recycling efforts and reduce
plastic waste.”
Keynote speaker was corporate strategist and strategic futurist
Nancy Giordano, who noted we now live in a dynamic time,
with retail changing more in the next five years than it did in the
past 50 years. The future is under construction
and 100% of jobs will have to
be “re-skilled.”
Those who will fare well are companies
that can address critical issues,
such as housing (small homes that can
be built in a day for $4,000), health
(toothbrushes that can make dental
appointments) and food shortages
(Tupperware with food spoilage sensors and vertical farming in
South Korea using abandoned tunnels).
Giordano encouraged HCPA members to continue cultivating
partnerships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and
regulators, embrace diversity in thinking and stay curious and
open to change. She concluded by quoting entrepreneur and
business magnate Steve Jobs: “Everything around you that you
call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you.”