On the eve of Earth Day, the Biden Administration announced a new “White House Interagency Policy Committee (“IPC”) on Plastic Pollution and a Circular Economy.” The IPC is tasked with coordinating federal efforts on plastic pollution, prioritizing public health, economic development, environmental justice, and equity to ensure that the benefits of acting on plastic pollution are available to all.

Alongside the IPC, the Environmental Protection Agency also released a draft “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution” for public comment, which seeks to eliminate the release of plastic and other waste from land-based sources into the environment by 2040. Toward this end, the Strategy identifies three key objectives, including (1) reducing pollution during plastic production; (2) improving post-use materials management; and (3) preventing trash and micro/nanoplastics from entering waterways and removing escaped trash from the environment. 

Although these latest measures represent a significant step toward reducing plastic pollution, the global annual production of which has doubled over the past twenty years, the impetus for these actions began in December 2020 when Congress signed the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act of 2020 into law. The Act contains three titles that enhance: (1) the United States’ domestic programs to address marine debris; (2) international engagement to combat marine debris; and (3) domestic infrastructure to prevent marine debris. 

In particular, Title 3 of the Act, “Improving Domestic Infrastructure to Prevent Marine Debris, Section 301 Strategy for Improving Post-Consumer Materials Management and Water Management” charges the EPA with developing a strategy to improve post-consumer materials management and infrastructure to reduce plastic waste and other post-consumer materials in waterways and oceans. To fulfill this mandate, in November 2021, the EPA published a “National Recycling Strategy” which focused on enhancing and advancing the national municipal solid waste (MSW) recycling system and identified strategic objectives and actions to create a stronger, more resilient, and cost-effective domestic MSW recycling system. The “National Recycling Strategy” was also organized into five strategic objectives in an effort to create a more resilient and cost-effective national recycling system: (1) improving markets for recycling commodities; (2) increasing collection and improving materials management infrastructure; (3) reducing contamination in the recycled materials stream; (4) enhancing policies to support recycling; and (5) standardizing measurement and increasing data collection.

Together the “National Recycling Strategy” and the “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution” aims to create a more robust national strategy for reducing plastic pollution. The EPA is currently soliciting public comments on the draft “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution,” which includes specific questions in the draft report for the public and other organizations to provide feedback. The EPA expects to finalize the Strategy by the end of 2023.