Advocacy

SWANA Signs U.S. Plastics Pact

SWANA has joined more than 60 other stakeholders in signing the U.S. Plastics Pact, an agreement to work collectively towards a common vision of a circular economy for plastics. The U.S. Plastics Pact brings together businesses, government entities, NGOs, researchers, and other stakeholders as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s network of Plastics Pacts around the world. SWANA’s Core Advocacy Group, consisting of representatives from each Chapter and Technical Division, was consulted in the decision to sign.

By joining the U.S. Plastics Pact, signatories agree to collectively deliver these four targets:

1. Define a list of packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary by 2021 and take measures to eliminate them by 2025. ​
2. By 2025, all plastic packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable. ​
3. By 2025, undertake ambitious actions to effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging.
4. By 2025, the average recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging will be 30%. ​
   

David Biderman, SWANA’s Executive Director & CEO, states: “It is SWANA’s mission to support the advancement of the industry from solid waste management to resource management. The U.S. Plastics Pact is an important step in that direction. The ambitious targets set by the Pact, together with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s impending national recycling strategy and national recycling goals, will substantially improve recycling in the United States.”

As a Founding Activator of the Pact, SWANA will work with other recycling stakeholders to transition from the current plastics system to a circular economy for plastics, maximizing the value of this material and avoiding its waste and pollution, as well as the associated negative environmental effects. This aligns with SWANA’s previous commitments as signatory to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation New Plastics Economy Global Commitment and the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency America Recycles Pledge.

EPA Webinar on New International Requirements for Exports and Imports of Plastic Recyclables

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is holding a webinar on September 24 at 1:00 p.m. ET to explain important new international requirements for exports and imports of plastic recyclables that will significantly limit the market for U.S. plastic recyclables. In May 2019, 187 countries decided to significantly restrict international trade in plastic scrap and waste to help address the improper disposal of plastic waste and reduce its leakage into the environment.

As a result of these changes adopted under a treaty called the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, international shipments of most plastic scrap and waste will be allowed only with the prior written consent of the importing country and any transit countries, effective January 1, 2021. The United States has one such agreement that addresses trade in non-hazardous plastic scrap with member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the webinar will discuss how plastic scrap is covered under that agreement.