US EPA publishes a draft of its plastic pollution prevention strategy.
Source:https://www.wastetodaymagazine.com/news/epa-plastic-pollution-prevention-strategy/
Author: DEANNE TOTO
During Earth Week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the draft “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution” for public comment. The draft 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 the benefits of acting on plastic pollution—including jobs, minimized exposure to harmful chemicals and clean communities—are available to all, the EPA says.
In response to growing concerns about plastic pollution and marine debris, Congress passed the bipartisan Save Our Seas 2.0 Act in late 2020. Title 3, “Improving Domestic Infrastructure to Prevent Marine Debris, Section 301 Strategy for Improving Post-Consumer Materials Management and Water Management,” charges EPA with developing a strategy to improve postconsumer materials management and infrastructure to reduce plastic waste and other postconsumer materials in waterways and oceans. Congress also asked EPA to “distribute the strategy to states and to make it publicly available, including for use by for-profit private entities involved in postconsumer materials management and other nongovernmental entities.” Together with the “National Recycling Strategy,” the “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution” fulfills this mandate, the EPA says.
“However, other components of the strategy risk sending plastic manufacturing and jobs overseas where plastic is often made with less stringent environmental standards and more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We caution the administration that prescribing alternative materials, capping plastic production or limiting innovative recycling technologies could work against its climate objectives as plastic almost always has a lower lifecycle GHG footprint compared to paper and metal.”