VIDEO LINK: https://youtu.be/vt-zuEoztD4
WASHINGTON— Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) testified before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on his landmark legislation to address the plastic pollution crisis. Udall introduced the first-ever comprehensive legislation to tackle the plastic pollution crisis, the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act , in February as a groundswell of Americans across the country are pushing for bold action to address the plastic waste that has infiltrated our land, water and our own bodies. The oversight hearing , “Responding to the challenges facing recycling in the United States,” examined the current state of the nation’s recycling infrastructure.
Last week, a peer-reviewed scientific study found that every year tiny plastic particles, equivalent to 123 to 300 million plastic bottles rain down or are blown by winds onto our western national parks and wilderness areas. Ongoing research is finding these tiny particles in the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. One study estimates that each person consumes a credit card’s worth of plastic per week. Plastic production is also a major contributor to climate change, with its production expected to account for 20 percent of global oil consumption by 2050.
“For too long, we have placed the burden on millions of consumers — and taxpayers — through curbside recycling and the hope that, if we dutifully sort our plastic into blue bins, we will reduce pollution,” Udall said. “It is clear that this approach has failed. We cannot expect consumers to clean up all this plastic waste.
“We have lost sight of the foundation of our environmental laws — and the teachings of Economics 101 — the polluter, not the consumer or taxpayer — should pay to clean up the waste,” Udall continued. “Americans generated 35 million tons of plastic waste. Only 8 percent of that waste was sorted for recycling. The vast majority was sent directly to landfills and incineration, and that 8 percent was mostly shipped overseas to developing countries.
Udall highlighted the false promise of plastic recycling in America. “Here’s the root of the problem: this is plastic that is not manufactured for recycling or reus e. This is waste that manufacturers have designed for a one-time use. It’s the opposite of sustainable….We need to return to the “polluter pays” principle and recognize who the true polluters are. My bill – the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act – does just that.
Udall moved on to detail the groundbreaking provisions in his bill. “We start by dramatically reducing manufacture of those items that pollute the most and can’t be recycled. Plastic bags top the list – causing tremendous environmental harm….Producers need to take responsibility for the collection, recycling, and disposal of the products they create….Many U.S. states have had “bottle deposits” for decades. Using deposits on beverage containers greatly increases the return of those products for recycling and keeps them out of our environment. My bill also stops sending plastic waste overseas to developing countries and requires that new products be made from recycled plastic here in America. Finally, my bill presses pause on expanding more plastic-producing plants. These new, planned facilities are greenhouse gas super-polluters. If built, they are guaranteed to pump billions more tons of plastic waste into the environment. The lack of regulation on these facilities is shocking. Many Americans simply would not believe it. It’s a scandal.
“There is a mass movement of people across our country who are fighting this awful situation,” Udall concluded. “When people realize that the blue recycling bin is largely a lie, they are angry. They want answers. This is not the fault of a few litterbugs. It’s past time for Congress and industry to step up on solutions to this problem. My legislation does just that.”
The Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act would address the broken state of plastic recycling in the U.S. and provide badly-needed national leadership – reducing the amount of wasteful plastic and reforming our broken waste and recycling collection system. It will shift the burden of cleanup to where it belongs – to the corporations that produce plastic products and packaging instead of taxpayers and local governments. The bill will also ban certain single-use plastic items and pause the build-out of numerous new plastic plants until environmental safeguards are in place.
A copy of Udall’s full testimony can be found here.
To learn more about the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act , click here. A summary and extensive background materials can be found here .
Find a letter endorsing the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020 signed by over 500 organizations here.
