Calling plastic pollution one of the world’s most pressing environmental problems, the Biden administration Friday said that the federal government, the biggest buyer of consumer goods in the world, would phase out purchases of single-use plastics.
The administration also said it planned tougher regulations on plastic manufacturing, which releases planet-warming greenhouse gases and other dangerous pollutants.
The efforts, which the White House called the first comprehensive strategy to tackle plastic use nationwide, aim to reduce demand for disposable plastic items while also helping to create a market for substitutes that are reusable, compostable or more easily recyclable.
Brenda Mallory, who heads the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in a statement that the changes would “require unprecedented action at every stage of the plastic life cycle.” Because of its purchasing power, the White House added, “the federal government has the potential to significantly impact the supply of these products.”
The emphasis on curbing plastic use mirrors a growing recognition that the world can’t recycle or manage its way out of a deluge of plastic waste. Global plastic production rose nearly 230-fold between 1950 and 2019, to more than 400 million tons a year, and is expected to quadruple from current levels by 2050. An estimated 40% of that is single-use plastic, which makes up the bulk of the world’s plastic waste.
Some environmental groups say that the United States still lags in tackling plastic waste, especially compared with nations in Africa like Rwanda and Kenya, which have adopted national bans on single-use plastic bags and have led the global push to curb plastic. Within the United States, 12 states have adopted plastic bag bans, including California, Colorado, New Jersey and New York.
The cornerstone of the federal government’s plan is to phase out purchases of single-use plastics for food, events and packaging by 2027. By 2035, it will banish single-use plastics from all government operations.
Stronger federal regulations on plastics manufacturing are also in the works.
The EPA is preparing to regulate harmful per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or “forever chemicals,” created during the manufacture of plastic containers. That came after a federal court this year blocked an attempt by the EPA to ban a major container manufacturer from producing PFAS.
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