Executive Summary of the National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution

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Overview
Objective A: Reduce Pollution from Plastic Production
Objective B: Innovate Material and Product Design
Objective C: Decrease Waste Generation
Objective D: Improve Waste Management
Objective E: Improve Capture and Removal of Plastic Pollution
Objective F: Minimize Loadings and Impacts to Waterways and the Ocean
Next Steps

Overview

The "National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution: Part Three of a Series on Building a Circular Economy for All" provides an ambitious, equitable approach to reduce and recover plastics and other materials, as well as prevent plastic pollution from harming human health and the environment. Plastic pollution has accumulated over time and will continue to grow as plastic production increases. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development projects that, without interventions, global plastic use and waste will almost triple by 2060. Because most plastic products are not reused or recycled, many will end up incinerated, disposed of in landfills, or leaked into the environment, negatively impacting terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems.

The production, use and disposal of plastic products also contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions, and there are significant human health concerns associated with plastic pollution across the lifecycle of plastic products. For decades, EPA has worked to protect human health and the environment from air and water pollution and solid and hazardous waste created throughout this lifecycle. Recognizing the need to take further action to address plastic pollution, Congress passed the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act in December 2020. The Act directed EPA to develop a national strategy to address this problem.

EPA developed the "National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution" drawing on decades of efforts to conserve materials and resources and prevent and reduce pollution. These efforts were made possible by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and other statutes designed to protect human health and the environment. Together with EPA’s "National Recycling Strategy," the "National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution" presents a 10-year vision of opportunities for voluntary and regulatory actions that can be taken by businesses; nongovernmental organizations; federal, Tribal, state, local, and territorial governments; academia; and consumers. Together, these U.S. entities could eliminate the release of plastic waste from land and sea-based sources into the environment by 2040. These opportunities consist of interventions across the entire plastics lifecycle to reduce the U.S. contribution of plastic pollution into the environment, including the air, land and ocean.

In July 2024, the White House released "Mobilizing Federal Action on Plastic Pollution: Progress, Principles, and Priorities" (pdf)(1 KB), a government-wide report on combatting plastic pollution during production, processing, use and disposal, putting forth a number of opportunities for federal action at the programmatic and operational levels to reduce plastic pollution. The report and EPA’s national strategy work together to reduce plastic pollution from the United States throughout the plastics lifecycle.

EPA conducted public outreach and engagement activities to inform the development of this strategy, including issuing a draft for public comment in April 2023. EPA received almost 92,000 comments on the draft strategy. With this input, EPA identified six objectives that aim to prevent plastic pollution throughout the entire plastics lifecycle:

Two people working with a machine that produces a large roll of plastic wrap.

A: Reduce Pollution from Plastic Production.
B: Innovate Material and Product Design.
C: Decrease Waste Generation.
D: Improve Waste Management.
E: Improve Capture and Removal of Plastic Pollution.
F: Minimize Loadings and Impacts to Waterways and the Ocean.

Each objective is followed by opportunities for action that support the United States’ shift to a circular approach to materials management, which is restorative or regenerative by design, enables resources to maintain their highest value for as long as possible and aims to eliminate waste in the management of plastic products.

Objective A: Reduce Pollution from Plastic Production

Reducing pollution from plastic production operations in the United States is essential to minimizing the environmental and human health impacts of plastic on communities, particularly those with environmental justice concerns.

Conduct evaluations to ensure that fossil fuel extraction facilities, as well as petrochemical and plastic production facilities, comply with regulatory requirements.
Continue to make progress reviewing and, where appropriate, updating regulations for fossil fuel extraction, petrochemical, and plastic production facilities and transporters of plastic pellets and plastic additives.
Explore creating a voluntary certification to recognize plastic products that are manufactured under rigorous environmental standards.
Identify and reduce environmental injustice and public health impacts from fossil fuel extraction, petrochemical, and plastic production facilities.

Objective B: Innovate Material and Product Design

Plastic products and packaging have become increasingly complex and are not always designed to be sustainably managed once they become waste. Products and systems should be designed to minimize negative human health and environmental impacts.

Identify alternative materials, products, or systems that can minimize impacts on human health and the environment.
Review, develop, update, and use sustainability standards, ecolabels, certifications and design guidelines that can minimize the negative impacts to human health and the environment from plastic products across their lifecycle.

Objective C: Decrease Waste Generation

Woman refilling a bag of nuts from a large container

Circular approaches are needed to reduce the rates of plastic production and consumption and decrease waste generation to reduce the human health and environmental impacts of plastic products throughout the plastics lifecycle.

Reduce the production and consumption of single use plastic products.
Enhance the effectiveness of existing public policies and incentives for decreasing plastic waste generation.
Develop and expand the capacity to reuse materials.
Increase public understanding about the impacts of plastic pollution (including on waterways and the ocean) and how to appropriately manage plastics and other materials.

Objective D: Improve Waste Management

Paper bags, cups, silverware, chopsticks, and carriers

Improvements to the collection, transportation, and export of waste are needed so that it does not enter the environment.

Explore possible ratification of the Basel Convention and encourage environmentally sound management of scrap and recyclables traded with other countries.
Support state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments in their efforts to improve waste management to avoid adverse human health and environmental impacts, especially for communities with environmental justice concerns.
Develop a national extended producer responsibility framework.
Facilitate more effective composting of certified compostable products.

Objective E: Improve Capture and Removal of Plastic Pollution

Interventions to capture and remove plastic pollution, including micro/nanoplastic pollution, from wastewater, stormwater, and surface waters are needed to help address potential risks to human and ecosystem health. Such interventions are especially important given the expected increase in plastic production over the coming years.

Identify and implement policies and programs that effectively remove plastics and other materials from the environment, including waterways and the ocean.
Improve water management to increase the capture and removal of plastics and other materials from waterways, the ocean, and stormwater/wastewater systems.

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

Research and increased access to public and private funding are needed to measure the contributions of plastic pollution, including micro/nanoplastics, into waterways and the ocean and study the potential human health impacts of exposure to plastic pollution. Reliable baseline measurements of plastics and other materials in waterways and the ocean can be used to measure the success of mitigation efforts over time.

Increase and improve measurement of plastic and other material loadings into waterways and the ocean to inform management interventions.
Increase and coordinate research on methods to determine micro/nanoplastic prevalence, impacts, and mitigation.
Increase and coordinate research on macroplastic transport, degradation, and impacts in waterways and the ocean.

Next Steps

Implementation of this strategy is expected to be an iterative process as resources, entities leading efforts, and needs change over time. EPA will continue to enable and implement this strategy and EPA-specific opportunities for action in the White House’s "Mobilizing Federal Action on Plastic Pollution: Progress, Principles, and Priorities" (pdf)(July 2024)(1 KB), using both voluntary efforts and regulatory approaches, where appropriate. This includes, for example, using the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant program to support implementation of this strategy, as required by the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act. EPA will also provide periodic updates on the implementation of this strategy.