The Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse (TPCH) is currently evaluating the results of its aggressive testing program to examine compliance with state packaging laws that ban the intentional addition of 4 metals including lead & cadmium to packaging. TPCH used a portable Niton XRF Spectroscope that was provided by EPA to detect the presence of the listed metals in states that have enacted the model legislation. A number of glass containers were sampled along with a wide variety of other packaging materials, & TPCH has indicated that companies will be asked to confirm compliance with the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test if lead or cadmium were detected during the sampling. The model glass exemption has been formally adopted by only 3 of the 19 states that have enacted the TPCH model legislation (often referred to as CONEG legislation). As previously reported, TPCH voted in 2004 to make permanent model provisions exempting glass and ceramic packaging from its model packaging legislation. The exemption was based on a review of ASTM's C1606-04 Standard Test Method for Sampling Protocol for TCLP Testing of Container Glassware which SGCD developed in cooperation with Ceram Research, Stoke-on-Trent, England. To qualify for the model exemption, a glass or ceramic package producer must demonstrate that its ware would pass a TCLP test after preparing a sample for that test using the ASTM C1606-04 method. TCLP results must not exceed 1.0 ppm for cadmium, 5.0 ppm for lead, and 5.0 ppm for hexavalent chromium.
