The federal government recently announced plans to stop purchasing single-use plastics in a bid to reduce waste and pollution.
Earlier this month the federal government released the first comprehensive, government-wide strategy to target plastic pollution at production, processing, use, and disposal. The strategy, Mobilizing Federal Action on Plastic Pollution: Progress, Principles, and Priorities, outlines existing and new federal actions to reduce the impact of plastic pollution throughout the plastic lifecycle and calls for sustained and coordinated work with state, local, Tribal, and Territorial governments, local communities, the private sector, and other stakeholders to address the scale and breadth of the plastic pollution challenge.
Additionally, officials announced a new goal to phase out federal procurement of single-use plastics from food service operations, events, and packaging by 2027 and from all federal operations by 2035.
Highlights from the Strategy:
- The work represents the first time the federal government has formally acknowledged the severity of the plastic pollution crisis and the scale of the response required to confront it effectively.
- Assessing and Reducing Pollution from Plastic Production: Over 90% of plastic is derived from fossil fuels. Under this plan, 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.
- Innovating Materials and Product Design: Agencies are advancing work to explore alternative materials and processing methods. Innovation in materials and services can help ensure that products are compatible with waste management systems and have minimal impacts on human health and the environment.
- Decreasing Plastic Waste Generation: A key step to decreasing the quantity of plastic waste generated is limiting the initial use of materials that are unnecessary, difficult to manage, or likely to end up as pollution in the environment. Federal agencies are leading by example to reduce single-use plastic within their own operations by targeting specific items or pollution pathways, such as introducing more environmentally friendly systems like water refill stations as a substitute for single-use plastic bottles.
- Informing and Conducting Capture and Removal of Plastic Pollution: Several federal agencies are leading efforts to clean up existing plastic pollution and prevent additional plastic pollution from entering the environment, including the ocean. Additional action is needed to improve the capture of plastic, both before it enters the waste management system, and to address and prevent its escape during the waste management process.
