A September 23 European Rubber Journal staff reports that the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will issue a study entitled, “Remanufactured Goods:  An Overview of the U.S. and Global Industries, Markets, and Trade.” The report will be issued on October 28. The study is being prepared at the request of US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

In a 28 June letter to the ITC, Kirk remarked, “American consumers and businesses purchase remanufactured products and use them in their daily activities, as they know that such products provide high-end performance at lower cost. Remanufacturing also provides significant environmental benefits, since it uses less material, energy and water than manufacturing goods from virgin material… I believe that additional data collection and analysis will help manufacturers…in growing their companies, accessing foreign markets and responding to increasing resource scarcity.”

The study will cover the years 2009-2011 and cover the size and scope of remanufacturing in the US; the US market for remanufactured goods; US exports of remanufactured goods by sector and destination; and the factors affecting sales, trade and investment in US remanufactured goods.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is observing Pollution Prevention Week (September 19-25, 2011) by launching a new tool designed to provide easy access to information about everyday products like home appliances, electronics and cleaning products that can save money, prevent pollution and protect health. The green products web portal is available at www.epa.gov/greenerproducts. The product categories include several relevant to the tire and rubber industries, including tire additives, mulch, hoses, coatings and insulation.

The German specialty Chemicals group, LANXESS, announced on September 21 that it is targeting bio-based ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) rubber production in Brazil by late 2011. This will be the first-ever commercial production of bio-based EPDM rubber. LANXESS states that it is strengthening its commitment to produce premium synthetic rubbers from bio-based raw materials. Additionally, LANXESS plans a bio-based form of ethylene produced by dehydrating sugar cane, a renewable resource. This underlines LANXESS’s “commitment to reducing CO2 emissions through sustainable production,” says Guenther Weymans, head of LANXESS’ Technical Rubber Products business unit. “We are very excited that our Brazilian plant will be the pioneer for bio-based EPDM.”

The September 15 Wall Street Journal reports that Bridgestone Corporation will plead guilty of participating in conspiracies to rig bids, bribe Latin American government officials, and fix prices in the international rubber marine hose business. Bridgestone has agreed to pay $28 million in fines according to press releases from the company and the Justice Department. The department said that Bridgetstone was part of an antitrust cartel that fixed prices for hundreds of millions of dollars of marine hose, which is used for transferring oil from tankers to storage facilities. The company’s actions took place from 1999 to May 2007. Bridgestone is the fifth company to be charged in the department’s marine-hose investigation. The department said it agreed to recommend a “substantially reduced” fine for Bridgestone because the company cooperated extensively with investigators, restructured parts of its business and fired many of its third-party agents. Bridgestone emphasized its efforts to cooperate in a written statement and signaled that it would withdraw from the marine hose business.