The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the draft “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution” for public comment, a significant step forward to reduce pollution and build a circular economy for all. EPA’s draft strategy includes ambitious actions to eliminate the release of plastic and other waste from land-based sources into the environment by 2040.
The EPA’s draft national strategy was released alongside a new White House Interagency Policy Committee (IPC) on Plastic Pollution and a Circular Economy. The IPC will coordinate federal efforts on plastic pollution, prioritizing public health, economic development, environmental justice, and equity to ensure that the benefits of acting on plastic pollution – including jobs, minimized exposure to harmful chemicals, and clean communities – are available to all.
In the last 20 years, global annual production of plastics and plastic waste has more than doubled. As a result, communities face pollution not only from the manufacture and transportation of plastic and associated chemicals, but from the millions of tons of plastic products that end up in waste streams and “leak” into parks, neighborhoods, waterways and oceans. Products that range from shopping bags and takeout food containers to beverage bottles, food wrappers, bottle caps, and much more can be found in the environment.
Working closely with industry leaders and additional stakeholders, EPA identified three key objectives for the strategy:
- Objective A: Reduce pollution during plastic production.
- Objective B: Improve post-use materials management.
- Objective C: Prevent trash and micro/nanoplastics from entering waterways and remove escaped trash from the environment.
The draft “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution,” together with EPA’s “National Recycling Strategy,” identifies how the agency can work collaboratively with U.S. organizations to prevent plastic pollution and reduce, reuse, recycle, and capture plastic and other waste from land-based sources. These actions support a circular approach to the management of plastics – one that is regenerative by design, enables resources to maintain their highest value for as long as possible, and aims for the elimination of waste.
Examples of actions in the draft strategy include:
- Improve the design of plastic products for more reuse and refill opportunities.
- Increase solid waste collection and ensure that solid waste management does not adversely impact communities.
- Produce fewer single-use, unrecyclable, and frequently littered plastic products, and reduce pollution from plastic production facilities.
- Increase public awareness of ways to reduce plastic and other trash in waterways.
EPA invites public comments on the draft “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution.” EPA included specific questions in the draft report for the public and other organizations to provide feedback. EPA expects to finalize the strategy by the end of the year.
Additionally, EPA is posting public comments on the Federal Trade Commission’s request for comment on potential updates to its “Green Guides” for the use of environmental marketing claims. Marketing claims include recyclable, compostable, renewable energy, and general environmental benefit claims, among others. EPA supports strengthening requirements for environmental marketing claims and combating greenwashing, including requiring higher thresholds for plastic products and packaging to be marketed as recyclable.
Published in the May 2023 Edition of American Recycler News