Oil companies are looking at plastic production as their new business model. But continuing to produce more and more plastic without collecting it all would be an environmental disaster. Here are two legislative solutions being considered.
Production bans
Some locations have banned certain single use plastics, focusing on those products like plastic bags that most contribute to litter. But some experts think we should phase out the use of virgin plastic, which would create a market for recycled stocks.
In a special report published this summer in the prestigious journal Science, researchers called for a “legally binding agreement” to, among other things, phase down the creation of new plastic by 2040.
Perhaps the most direct route would be to implement a national cap on the production of new — or “virgin” — plastic. According to Paulita Bennett-Martin, federal policy director for the ocean protection nonprofit Oceana, this could involve Congress passing a law that empowers the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, to decide on a specific amount of new plastic that the country can produce annually — perhaps by targeting the production of “nurdles,” tiny beads of plastic that form the building blocks for larger products products. Each year, the EPA could gradually ratchet down its nurdles production cap, until by some year — say, 2035 — it would no longer be legal to make products from new plastic.
The plastics industry is fighting against any production caps.
Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act
The Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act is spearheaded by Alan Lowenthal. It takes a more market-based approach but more complex set of requirements. It would include minimum standards for using recycled plastic, put more of the burden on manufacturers to collect recyclables, and eventually ban individual products most responsible for plastic pollution.
For example, the bill intends to make recycled plastic cheaper to buy than virgin plastic — in part through its minimum recycled content requirements, which are expected to increase demand and create a bigger market for recycled plastic. Companies making more than $1 million in revenue from plastic products will also be required to participate in an “extended producer responsibility” system, which will place fees on companies that choose to make their products from virgin plastics. This system will also place greater financial responsibility on plastic companies for the collection and management of products after they’re used, making it more expensive to produce large quantities of disposable plastic. The plastic industry doesn’t exactly love these ideas, Lowenthal said, but sees them as less “offensive” than a production cap.
The bill currently has 121 cosponsors in the House and 12 in the Senate.
https://grist.org/regulation/beyond-reusing-recycling-how-us-could-reduce-plastic-production/
Darcy Hitchcock 
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