07.01.21
COVID-19 made it impossible to hold in-person events during the past year. Like other trade associations, the Household and Commercial Products Association (HCPA) was forced online for its mid-year and annual meetings. But that all will change this Fall when HCPA’s New Horizons conference takes place in Austin, TX, September 13-16.
“Many of you will agree that direct, in-person, collaboration is critical in building those professional relationships that allow both our businesses and employees to excel,” said HCPA President Bill Schalitz during his opening remarks at the recent HCPA’s virtual mid-year meeting. “A virtual attendance option will still be offered, but we certainly hope and encourage as many of you as possible to come join us in Austin!”
New Horizons is held once every three years and is an interactive educational experience engaging experts from industry and academia on the future trends and technologies impacting the household and commercial products industry.
In his mid-year address, Schalitz reviewed and provided updates on several of the issues impacting HCPA members. This year, the association continued to work closely with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerning supply chain uncertainties due not only to demand from the pandemic, but also the winter weather emergency in Texas that drastically impacted key feedstocks across the industry.
When the Agency’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention reorganization threatened the viability of the Safer Choice program, HCPA helped organize a coalition of nearly 60 stakeholders that called on the EPA to restore the program. The coalition is still waiting on a response from EPA Administrator Michael Regan but Schalitz said the group is hopeful this broad show of support will go a long way to securing the program’s long-term viability.
In California, HCPA staff, along with members of the Air Quality Council, held countless meetings with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) concerning consumer products regulation and updated VOC limits for certain product categories along with revised definitions and flexibility provisions.
“HCPA’s negotiation on members behalf resulted in a unanimous vote by CARB to approve our proposed amendments that are both workable for industry and meet CARB’s stringent standards,” asserted Schalitz.
As waste management and recycling concerns grow, HCPA stepped up by being a founding member of the Recycling Leadership Council, which is designed to work with Congress to help fix recycling in the US by making it effective and scalable across the country. HCPA also launched a research project in conjunction with the Can Manufacturers Institute and Pet Food Institute to better understand how aerosol containers are processed in the recycling stream in an effort to increase the recycling rate of this product group.
“Lastly, we have continued to champion our position as the unquestioned leader in the fight for a national ingredient disclosure standard,” noted Schalitz. “Last month, Steve Caldeira authored an op-ed about the importance of a national ingredient disclosure standard in RealClearPolicy and we sponsored Politico Influence to further our message on the Hill. It is critical to our industry that we continue to fight this legislative battle and avoid a patchwork of regulations at the state level.”
During his presentation, Schalitz presented Makayla Lagerwall as the winner of this year’s Murray Glauberman Memorial Scholarship. The selection committee was very impressed with Lagerwall’s ability to balance her schoolwork with community service activities. Ranked No. 1 in her class, Lagerwall will attend North Dakota State in the fall, majoring in engineering.
The scholarship is presented annually to a high school senior whose parent or grandparent is employed full-time by an HCPA member company, and recognizes achievement in the classroom, leadership skills, and a commitment to community service. HCPA established the award in 1988 to honor the late Murray Glauberman, who served as chair of the board of directors in 1986. In his recorded remarks, Caldeira pointed out that since its inception, HCPA has awarded more than $250,000 to 32 deserving Glauberman award recipients to pursue their collegiate studies.
In January, Caldeira tore his carotid artery, which caused a stroke. He’s still in therapy, but he’s back at work full time, according to the Association.
“I appreciate your patience as I continue my recovery and want to thank you for all your support and prayers over the last few months,” he said. “It is the ongoing encouragement from family, friends, and colleagues that keeps me going.”
Caldeira reviewed several of the Association’s accomplishments during the past year in diverse areas such as CARB, EPA and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC). For the past several years, HCPA has worked with other stakeholders to shape New York’s 1,4-Dioxane law which goes into effect next year.
Policies & Politics
The mid-year meeting featured two keynotes on diversity and politics. In the former, Ivan Joseph, PhD, noted that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is good for a company’s bottom line. Joseph is VP-student affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University. He is also a coach, author and co-founder of Ivan Joseph Leadership.
“Companies with more female executives are more profitable. More diverse companies create better products,” he asserted.
So why have so many companies stalled when it comes to implementing a successful DEI program? According to the Harvard Business Review, business leaders insist homogeneous teams are more effective. In reality, however, outcomes are better, though harder to come by, when groups are diverse.
“We must recognize the bias that keeps us from adding Blacks, women, etc. to our teams and change that,” said Joseph. “Let go of the guilt! I’m not saying you’re racist, I’m just opening a window to what is happening.”
He asked attendees to take a look at their organizations to see what systems are in place to create diversity, what is limiting them and what bias exists in the workplace? He recalled a resume study by Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan that uncovered significant discrimination against African-American names. White names receive 50% more callbacks for interviews. In fact, being white was equivalent to eight more years of work experience, according to the Bertrand and Mullainathan research.
Joseph said companies seeking a “culture fit” limits the applicant pool.
“Referral hiring keeps us bringing in the same people with the same style and we leave out people who are not like us,” he charged. “Diverse teams are harder, but they produce better results.”
Washington Week
Getting results in Washington DC is nearly as difficult as creating diversity in the workplace. AB Stoddard, columnist at RealClearPolitics, assured HCPA members that the US has a functioning federal government. One that, when away from the media spotlight, shows signs of bipartisanship on physical infrastructure improvements. Stoddard said there even seems to a chance that some sort of police reform will happen.
“Getting just one bipartisan measure passed it is quite a feat,” she acknowledged. “But getting two? It is very promising.”
That said, Stoddard said the honeymoon phase is over for President Joe Biden. Following the successful rollout of the vaccine program, Biden’s approval rating was 60%. But his window is closing as Middle East tensions, tepid job reports, rising inflation and the border crisis worsen. Stoddard also warned of a Federal Government shutdown this fall if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.
In Congress, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is trying to form an alliance with the Freedom Caucus in an effort to win Speaker of House following the 2022 elections. In the Senate, Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he would vote against a sweeping election reform bill (S 1, For the People Act). According to Manchin, he cannot support strictly partisan election reform.
Stoddard noted that despite calls for election reform, the 2020 election was the biggest in US history. There was a 12% increase in voting, led by a 14% increase in new voters led by Latinos and Asians. Overall, both groups supported Biden, but Latinos in Texas and Florida supported President Donald Trump.
Next year, Stoddard said the Democrats could lose control of the House and, with only eight seats up for grabs, the Senate, too. She acknowledged that government is gridlocked, but insisted there is room for broader coalitions.
“There are people in Washington who are working for consensus,” said Stoddard. “Our founders built a system based on consensus.”
She called Facebook and other social media platforms “cesspools,” and urged attendees to get their news from multiple sources.
“When we talk to each other, we can solve problems,” Stoddard concluded. “We are blessed to me Americans, and should give her our all!”
“Many of you will agree that direct, in-person, collaboration is critical in building those professional relationships that allow both our businesses and employees to excel,” said HCPA President Bill Schalitz during his opening remarks at the recent HCPA’s virtual mid-year meeting. “A virtual attendance option will still be offered, but we certainly hope and encourage as many of you as possible to come join us in Austin!”
New Horizons is held once every three years and is an interactive educational experience engaging experts from industry and academia on the future trends and technologies impacting the household and commercial products industry.
In his mid-year address, Schalitz reviewed and provided updates on several of the issues impacting HCPA members. This year, the association continued to work closely with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerning supply chain uncertainties due not only to demand from the pandemic, but also the winter weather emergency in Texas that drastically impacted key feedstocks across the industry.
When the Agency’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention reorganization threatened the viability of the Safer Choice program, HCPA helped organize a coalition of nearly 60 stakeholders that called on the EPA to restore the program. The coalition is still waiting on a response from EPA Administrator Michael Regan but Schalitz said the group is hopeful this broad show of support will go a long way to securing the program’s long-term viability.
In California, HCPA staff, along with members of the Air Quality Council, held countless meetings with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) concerning consumer products regulation and updated VOC limits for certain product categories along with revised definitions and flexibility provisions.
“HCPA’s negotiation on members behalf resulted in a unanimous vote by CARB to approve our proposed amendments that are both workable for industry and meet CARB’s stringent standards,” asserted Schalitz.
As waste management and recycling concerns grow, HCPA stepped up by being a founding member of the Recycling Leadership Council, which is designed to work with Congress to help fix recycling in the US by making it effective and scalable across the country. HCPA also launched a research project in conjunction with the Can Manufacturers Institute and Pet Food Institute to better understand how aerosol containers are processed in the recycling stream in an effort to increase the recycling rate of this product group.
“Lastly, we have continued to champion our position as the unquestioned leader in the fight for a national ingredient disclosure standard,” noted Schalitz. “Last month, Steve Caldeira authored an op-ed about the importance of a national ingredient disclosure standard in RealClearPolicy and we sponsored Politico Influence to further our message on the Hill. It is critical to our industry that we continue to fight this legislative battle and avoid a patchwork of regulations at the state level.”
During his presentation, Schalitz presented Makayla Lagerwall as the winner of this year’s Murray Glauberman Memorial Scholarship. The selection committee was very impressed with Lagerwall’s ability to balance her schoolwork with community service activities. Ranked No. 1 in her class, Lagerwall will attend North Dakota State in the fall, majoring in engineering.
The scholarship is presented annually to a high school senior whose parent or grandparent is employed full-time by an HCPA member company, and recognizes achievement in the classroom, leadership skills, and a commitment to community service. HCPA established the award in 1988 to honor the late Murray Glauberman, who served as chair of the board of directors in 1986. In his recorded remarks, Caldeira pointed out that since its inception, HCPA has awarded more than $250,000 to 32 deserving Glauberman award recipients to pursue their collegiate studies.
In January, Caldeira tore his carotid artery, which caused a stroke. He’s still in therapy, but he’s back at work full time, according to the Association.
“I appreciate your patience as I continue my recovery and want to thank you for all your support and prayers over the last few months,” he said. “It is the ongoing encouragement from family, friends, and colleagues that keeps me going.”
Caldeira reviewed several of the Association’s accomplishments during the past year in diverse areas such as CARB, EPA and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC). For the past several years, HCPA has worked with other stakeholders to shape New York’s 1,4-Dioxane law which goes into effect next year.
Policies & Politics
The mid-year meeting featured two keynotes on diversity and politics. In the former, Ivan Joseph, PhD, noted that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is good for a company’s bottom line. Joseph is VP-student affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University. He is also a coach, author and co-founder of Ivan Joseph Leadership.
“Companies with more female executives are more profitable. More diverse companies create better products,” he asserted.
So why have so many companies stalled when it comes to implementing a successful DEI program? According to the Harvard Business Review, business leaders insist homogeneous teams are more effective. In reality, however, outcomes are better, though harder to come by, when groups are diverse.
“We must recognize the bias that keeps us from adding Blacks, women, etc. to our teams and change that,” said Joseph. “Let go of the guilt! I’m not saying you’re racist, I’m just opening a window to what is happening.”
He asked attendees to take a look at their organizations to see what systems are in place to create diversity, what is limiting them and what bias exists in the workplace? He recalled a resume study by Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan that uncovered significant discrimination against African-American names. White names receive 50% more callbacks for interviews. In fact, being white was equivalent to eight more years of work experience, according to the Bertrand and Mullainathan research.
Joseph said companies seeking a “culture fit” limits the applicant pool.
“Referral hiring keeps us bringing in the same people with the same style and we leave out people who are not like us,” he charged. “Diverse teams are harder, but they produce better results.”
Washington Week
Getting results in Washington DC is nearly as difficult as creating diversity in the workplace. AB Stoddard, columnist at RealClearPolitics, assured HCPA members that the US has a functioning federal government. One that, when away from the media spotlight, shows signs of bipartisanship on physical infrastructure improvements. Stoddard said there even seems to a chance that some sort of police reform will happen.
“Getting just one bipartisan measure passed it is quite a feat,” she acknowledged. “But getting two? It is very promising.”
That said, Stoddard said the honeymoon phase is over for President Joe Biden. Following the successful rollout of the vaccine program, Biden’s approval rating was 60%. But his window is closing as Middle East tensions, tepid job reports, rising inflation and the border crisis worsen. Stoddard also warned of a Federal Government shutdown this fall if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.
In Congress, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is trying to form an alliance with the Freedom Caucus in an effort to win Speaker of House following the 2022 elections. In the Senate, Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he would vote against a sweeping election reform bill (S 1, For the People Act). According to Manchin, he cannot support strictly partisan election reform.
Stoddard noted that despite calls for election reform, the 2020 election was the biggest in US history. There was a 12% increase in voting, led by a 14% increase in new voters led by Latinos and Asians. Overall, both groups supported Biden, but Latinos in Texas and Florida supported President Donald Trump.
Next year, Stoddard said the Democrats could lose control of the House and, with only eight seats up for grabs, the Senate, too. She acknowledged that government is gridlocked, but insisted there is room for broader coalitions.
“There are people in Washington who are working for consensus,” said Stoddard. “Our founders built a system based on consensus.”
She called Facebook and other social media platforms “cesspools,” and urged attendees to get their news from multiple sources.
“When we talk to each other, we can solve problems,” Stoddard concluded. “We are blessed to me Americans, and should give her our all!”