Recently, some new plastic pollution legislation was introduced into Congress. It’s called the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act, introduced by Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.). This act basically covers a few main points.
- Corporate responsibility for pollution
- Nationwide beverage container refund system
- Reduce & ban single use plastics
- Establish minimum content guidelines (of recycled plastic, etc.) for plastic items
According to Mashable, this legislation is a “long shot” and will not pass due to the financial nature of parts of the legislation (mainly the beverage container refund program). However, I think, that with enough support and public influence, Congress will end up passing the legislation.
The first part of the act talks about corporations being responsible for the plastic waste they produce. This means that corporations have to implement and invest in cleanup programs with EPA approval.
They also will be required to promote awareness programs for plastic waste. This section makes sure that all corporations are reducing the waste they produce as much as possible, both on the production side and consumer side.
Beverage Container Refund Programs are basically ways for state and local governments to persuade people to recycle their plastics. Implementing this at a National Level will increase the amount of plastic containers people recycle. The main concern I have with this is the issue of traveling to a recycling center and turning in the containers.
The other parts of the legislation have also been implemented locally and statewide. Banning single-use plastic bags is a nationwide movement and many major cities have already instituted a ban. However, as I mentioned in one of my earlier articles, reducing one area of plastic use increases another area, in this case, trash bags (as people use grocery bags as bags for trash cans).
Minimum content guidelines are also being implemented nationwide. These usually refer to the amount of post-consumer or recycled plastic used in a product. Chains like McDonalds and Starbucks would have to rework their product design if this law comes in to effect. This would improve the efficiency of our recycling system as a whole.
I think with enough bipartisan support, this bill would pass. Our lawmakers are working for the future of the environment, and passing this bill would be a big part of it.