U.S. Signals New Support for Global Plastics Reduction, Reports Say

The U.S. has shifted its policy position and is now in favor of supporting limitations on global plastics, Reuters confirmed.

As reported by Grist, the Biden administration announced in closed-door meetings this week that it supported global efforts to limit plastic pollution via the United Nations’ plastic treaty. Previously, the U.S. had held the stance of allowing individual UN member states to make their own decisions on plastic production, Plastic Pollution Coalition reported.

“Science and common sense tell us that to solve plastic pollution, we need to turn off the tap of plastic production,” Jen Fela, vice president of programs and communications for the Plastic Pollution Coalition, said in a statement. “Industry is already producing more plastic than the world can handle, and it is poisoning people and the planet; we simply cannot produce more.”

The Biden administration has not publicly announced the decision at the time of writing, but the U.S. Department of State confirmed the announcement with Grist.

Following the announcement, the nonprofit Greenpeace is now asking the Biden administration to sign the Bridge to Busan Declaration to address primary plastic polymer production to further establish a commitment to limiting plastics.

“As we near the final round of negotiations we urge the U.S. to lead on this issue by encouraging other countries to prioritize the health of people and our planet over the interest of the oil and gas industry,” John Hocevar, Greenpeace USA Ocean’s campaign director, said in a statement. 

As Reuters reported, the U.S. is now more aligned with several other countries, including members of the EU, South Korea, Rwanda, Peru and Canada, that approve of limits to plastic production as well as potential limits and a possible phasing out of certain chemicals currently used in plastic production.

However, there has been opposition to the treaty and to the newly announced U.S. support for it. Opponents believe that a treaty should address recycling and other downstream initiatives rather than plastic production to reduce pollution. Plastic industry leaders have also argued that plastics can be reused and recycled and that U.S. support for limiting plastic production is “misguided,” as reported by the Plastics Industry Association. The American Chemistry Council also criticized the decision, saying the administration “caved” to environmental organizations, Reuters reported.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, about 460 million metric tons of plastic are produced every year. Yet only around 9% of the total amount of global plastic waste is recycled, while most of it is sent to landfills or ends up as pollution in the environment, the United Nations Development Programme reported.

The U.S. will now be joining negotiations before the Global Plastics Treaty is finalized next year. The treaty, which has been in negotiations since March 2022, will go through a final round of negotiations in Busan, South Korea in November 2024.