EPA Releases Final National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on November 21 published the National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution (the Strategy). Through the Strategy, EPA aims to address plastic pollution and its effects on human health, the environment, and the economy.

The Strategy is a voluntary action plan and the third pillar of EPA’s “Building a Circular Economy for All” initiative. It outlines objectives focused on reducing plastic pollution at each stage of its lifecycle, adopting a circular solution approach that incorporates both voluntary measures and proposed regulatory action to address plastic pollution. The Strategy includes action opportunities aimed at reducing consumption, material substitution, recycling, and proper disposal with the goal of eliminating plastic waste releases by 2040. First released in April 2023, the draft National Plastics Strategy (draft Strategy) received nearly 92,000 comments. The final Strategy stops short of proposing actions to ban or cap plastic production—something that environmental groups lobbied heavily for—and imposes no legally binding requirements, while also highlighting several potential regulatory actions under a number of environmental statutes.

A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO COMBAT PLASTIC POLLUTION

EPA proposes a comprehensive approach to combat plastic pollution that is structured around six objectives (Objectives A-F)—an increase from the three objectives laid out in the 2023 draft—that each identify opportunities for action aimed at preventing plastic pollution through distinct phases of the plastics lifecycle. In addition to the six main objectives, there are 19 proposed areas of action, with a total of approximately 69 supporting elements.

Objective A: Reduce Pollution from Plastic Production

Objective A includes four proposed areas of action, with 12 supporting elements, aimed at reducing pollution from plastic production. While the draft Strategy focused on reducing pollution during plastic production, the final Strategy expands Objective A to include fossil fuel extraction and petrochemical production, aiming for broader regulatory compliance and environmental responsibility. The areas of action and supporting elements in the final Strategy include ensuring compliance with regulations, updating standards, exploring certifications for environmentally responsible manufacturing, and addressing environmental justice and public health impacts from production facilities.

Objective B: Innovate Material and Product Design

Objective B includes two proposed areas of action, with 11 supporting elements, focused on innovating material and product design, emphasizing sustainable practices, and reducing environmental impacts throughout the product lifecycle. The goal is to promote a circular economy by encouraging designs that reduce waste and enhance recyclability.

Objective C: Decrease Waste Generation

Objective C includes four proposed areas of action, with 12 supporting elements, focused on decreasing waste generation by reducing single-use plastics, enhancing public policies, expanding reuse capacities, and increasing public awareness about plastic pollution and management. While the draft Strategy focused on preventing trash (including plastic waste) and microplastics from entering waterways, the final Strategy shifts the focus to decreasing plastic waste generation, emphasizing reducing single-use plastics and enhancing public policies for waste management.

Objective D: Improve Waste Management.

Objective D includes four proposed areas of action, with 13 supporting elements, that expand the draft’s focus on improving post-use materials management to include comprehensive waste management practices and frameworks. The areas of action and supporting elements in the final Strategy seek to improve waste management by supporting local governments, exploring international agreements (including exploring ratification of the Basel Convention, a global environmental treaty that controls the international trade in hazardous wastes and certain other wastes), and enhancing composting practices.

EPA’s release of the Strategy aligned with a meeting of the International Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC) that took place the week of November 25, 2024 in Busan, Republic of Korea. During which the United States also declined to back plastic production limits. The INC failed to reach an agreement, extending treaty negotiations into next year.

Objective E: Improve Capture and Removal of Plastic Pollution.

Objective E includes two proposed areas of action, with 10 supporting elements, that expand the draft’s focus on preventing trash from entering waterways to improving the capture and removal of plastic pollution by implementing effective policies and enhancing water management systems to clean up waterways and oceans.

Objective F: Minimize Loadings and Impacts to Waterways and the Ocean.

Objective F includes three proposed areas of action, with 11 supporting elements, that expand the draft’s focus on preventing plastic pollution in aquatic environments to minimizing plastic pollution in waterways and oceans by improving measurement of plastic loadings and coordinating research to understand the prevalence of micro/nanoplastics and their impacts on health and the environment.

The Strategy also outlines roles and authorities for federal agencies beyond the EPA. It encourages interagency collaboration with agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) to advance research and innovation in sustainable materials and waste management. The Strategy also calls on agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to regulate and enforce standards related to plastic use and safety.

EPA proposes to utilize the resources of agencies like the Department of Education to enhance public awareness and education on plastic pollution and sustainability practices and to engage the US Department of State to work on international agreements and initiatives aimed at reducing global plastic pollution. The final Strategy also mentions increasing awareness of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Green Guides, which are intended to help businesses make truthful and substantiated environmental marketing claims, to prevent misleading information about the environmental benefits of products.

REGULATORY AUTHORITIES AND ACTIONS

In the Strategy, EPA points to regulatory schemes including the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), Clean Water Act (CWA), Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), Clean Air Act (CAA), and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to tackle plastic pollution.

Toxic Substances Control Act

EPA discusses using its recently strengthened authorities under TSCA to address concerns about the potential health and environmental risks from chemicals used in plastic manufacturing. EPA is currently reviewing a number of chemicals (in both the TSCA prioritization and risk evaluation processes) that are used in plastic manufacturing, including vinyl chloride, seven phthalate chemicals, 1,3 butadiene, and several flame retardants. If unreasonable risks are found, EPA will propose risk management actions. EPA also highlighted a proposed rule under TSCA in 2023 that would require companies producing pyrolysis oil-based feedstocks from plastic waste for use in fuel to conduct testing for impurities before use in fuel manufacturing.

Clean Water Act

EPA outlines plans under the CWA to ensure compliance with water quality standards, strengthen permitting programs to include specific requirements for managing plastic waste and preventing pollution from industrial and municipal sources, enhance monitoring and reporting requirements for facilities to track plastic discharges and improve transparency, and work with state and local governments to implement best practices and technologies for reducing plastic pollution in water bodies.

Safe Drinking Water Act

EPA describes plans to expand actions under the SDWA by enhancing the monitoring of drinking water sources for plastic-related contaminants, including microplastics; developing and updating regulatory standards to address emerging plastic contaminants in drinking water; conducting research to better understand the health impacts of plastic contaminants and assess the effectiveness of treatment technologies; collaborating with state and local agencies to implement best practices for preventing plastic contamination in drinking water supplies; and increasing the public’s awareness of the risks of plastic pollution in drinking while also promoting actions to reduce exposure.

Clean Air Act

EPA describes its authority under the CAA to develop and enforce stricter emissions standards for facilities involved in plastic production and waste management, enhance monitoring and reporting requirements for air emissions related to plastic manufacturing and disposal processes, promote the use of advanced technologies to capture and reduce emissions from plastic-related activities, and support research to identify and mitigate air quality impacts from plastics and encouraging innovation in emission reduction technologies.

In the draft Strategy, advanced recycling was approached with caution, as EPA expressed concerns and invited further discussion on its environmental impact. The final Strategy maintains this cautious stance, emphasizing the need for evaluation and ensuring that advanced recycling processes align with sustainability goals. Both the draft and final Strategy documents note that EPA does not consider the conversion of plastic waste to fuels as recycling, which could potentially curb innovation in pyrolysis-based advanced recycling.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

The final Strategy outlines plans for the EPA to use RCRA to address plastic pollution by updating standards for the management and disposal of plastic waste to ensure environmentally sound practices, promoting recycling and recovery initiatives to reduce the amount of plastic waste entering landfills, evaluating and potentially classifying certain plastic wastes as hazardous to ensure proper handling and disposal, engaging with stakeholders to develop best practices for plastic waste management and encourage sustainable materials management, and supporting research and development of new technologies and methods for reducing plastic waste and enhancing recycling efforts.

Extended Producer Responsibility

Objective D also encourages the development of a national framework for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). EPR shifts the responsibility for managing plastic waste from consumers and governments to producers. By holding producers accountable for the entire lifecycle of their products, EPR is intended to incentivize companies to innovate in packaging and product design to minimize waste and environmental harm. A number of states, including California, Oregon, Colorado, Maine, New Jersey, and Washington, have already implemented various EPR plastics programs. EPR programs often include targets for reducing plastic waste, promoting recycling, and increasing the use of recycled materials.

IMPLEMENTING THE STRATEGY

The “Next Steps: Implementing the Actions Identified as Opportunities” discussion outlines plans to advance the mostly voluntary Strategy by leveraging partnerships, enhancing regulatory frameworks, and promoting innovation. It emphasizes collaboration with stakeholders, continuous evaluation, and adaptation of strategies to effectively address plastic pollution, with a focus on integrating sustainable practices and increasing public engagement and education. EPA also states that it intends to develop and finalize additional strategies to complete the series on building a circular economy for all, including a Strategy to address textiles.

EPA cautions that the implementation of its Strategy will be an iterative process as resources, entities leading efforts, and needs evolve over time. And, while President Donald Trump signed the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act of 2020 (SOS 2.0) [1] during his first term, which in part directed EPA to create a Strategy to reduce plastic pollution, questions loom about the overall direction of environmental policy in the United States. The incoming Trump-Vance administration’s promise to prioritize deregulation as part of a broader economic agenda to support growth, coupled with expected EPA budget cuts and shifts in both EPA’s regulatory focus and the overarching view of the role of the federal government, may limit the use of the regulatory schemes discussed in the final plastics Strategy. Nonetheless, EPA has committed to providing periodic updates on the implementation of its Strategy.