U.S. Federal Government Introduces Measures to Tackle Plastics Crisis, Including Phasing Out Single-Use Plastics by 2035

As part of its strategy to reduce plastic pollution, the Biden administration has announced plans to phase out single-use plastics from federal government operations by 2035, a press release from The White House said. The administration also has a goal of phasing out federal procurement of the disposable plastics from food service operations, packaging and events by 2027.

The plan builds on President Joe Biden’s Federal Sustainability Plan as well as the Executive Order on Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs through Federal Sustainability.

“Communities across the United States and around the world are facing a plastic pollution crisis. Plastic production and waste have doubled over the past two decades, littering our ocean, poisoning the air of communities near production facilities, and threatening public health. The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes that pollution can occur at every stage of the plastic lifecycle, disproportionately impacting communities with environmental justice concerns, contributing to loss of biodiversity, and exacerbating the impacts of climate change,” the press release said.

The Federal Sustainability Plan includes a mandate that the federal government reach net-zero procurement by 2050.

“Today’s actions further leverage the purchasing power of the federal government to reduce emissions, protect public health, and spur markets for new sustainable products,” the press release said.

A report developed by the administration’s Interagency Policy Committee on Plastic Pollution and a Circular Economy, Mobilizing Federal Action on Plastic Pollution: Progress, Principles, and Priorities, sets out key principles for plastic pollution reduction and federal agency focus areas, as well as opportunities for further action.

“Over 90% of plastic is derived from fossil fuels. Under President Biden’s leadership, federal agencies are taking steps to reduce pollution from the extraction of fossil fuels and production of plastic. This includes chemicals of concern and a range of hazardous air pollutants and volatile organic compounds, some of which are known carcinogens. Pairing these measures with improved data collection is necessary to understand the full extent of the environmental and human health risks of plastic production,” The White House said.

One impactful way to reduce plastic waste is to limit initial use of unnecessary, hard to manage materials, as well as those that are likely to become pollution in the environment. Federal agencies are taking steps to reduce their own single-use plastics by introducing more water refill stations and substitutes for single-use plastic bottles.

Efforts to tackle the lifecycle of plastic pollution include addressing chemicals used in plastic manufacturing and advancing environmental justice.

“[T]he Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing critical health protections to hundreds of thousands of people living near facilities that produce chemicals used in the manufacture of plastics and other products, including finalizing rules to reduce emissions of toxic air pollutants and harmful pollution that contributes to smog, expanding the Toxics Release Inventory Program to improve the public’s understanding of releases associated with plastics production, and starting the process of prioritizing five chemicals used in plastic production, including vinyl chloride, for risk evaluations under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA),” the press release said. “EPA is also currently evaluating several flame retardants and phthalate chemicals used in plastics under TSCA.”

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland has also issued Secretary’s Order 3407 to decrease the sale, procurement and distribution of single-use plastics and packaging in the Department of the Interior, with a target of phasing out single-use plastics on lands managed by the department by 2032.

As part of the president’s Investing in America agenda, the EPA is awarding $275 million in Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grants for 140 projects from composting, recycling and improvements to reuse infrastructure and local waste management technical support.

More plastic waste is generated by the U.S. than any other country, reported The New York Times. Nearly 500 pounds of plastic are generated by the average American each year, but only roughly nine percent collected by city solid-waste programs gets recycled. The remainder goes to landfills, gets dumped into the environment, is incinerated or shipped overseas.

The EPA is getting ready to regulate toxic per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS “forever chemicals,” which are created during plastics manufacturing.

The federal government’s efforts will “have a global impact” if they stay in force after the Biden administration, said Christy Leavitt, Oceana’s plastics campaign director, as The New York Times reported.

“The U.S. has been a laggard on national action to address plastic pollution,” Leavitt added. The new measures “[put] the federal government in the driver’s seat to tackle its own plastic use.”