Hill Heat

Subcommittee hearing on “Evaluating Material Alternatives for Single-Use Plastics”.

Witnesses:

• Marcus Eriksen, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Executive Director, The 5 Gyres Institute, Leap Lab
• Erin Simon, Vice President, Plastic Waste + Business, World Wildlife Fund
• Humberto Kravetz, Founder and CEO, GSF Upcycling

Subcommittee hearing on plastics.

Witnesses:

• Susan Collins, President, Container Recycling Institute
• Jules Bailey, President & CEO, Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative
• Steve Alexander, President & CEO, Association of Plastic Recyclers

Subcommittee hearing on single-use waste. Part of a series of hearings on the plastics industry.

Witnesses:

• Dacie Meng, Policy and Institutions Senior Manager (North America), Ellen MacArthur Foundation
• Clemence Schmid, General Manager, Loop Global
• Tim Debus, President & CEO, Reusable Packaging Association

On Thursday, June 15, 2023, at 10:00 AM ET, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight, will hold a hearing to examine the public health and environmental impacts of plastic production and disposal on environmental justice communities.

Witnesses:

• Angelle Bradford, Doctoral student in physiology and medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine, Volunteer, Sierra Club Delta Chapter
• Sharon Lavigne, Founder, Rise St. James
• Chris Tandazo, Director of Government Affairs, New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance
• Kevin Sunday, Director of Government Affairs, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry
• Donna Jackson, Director of Membership Development, Project 21 – National Center for Public Policy and Research

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) presents findings of the new report from the Mindaroo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Public Health.

Please join for a briefing to review the findings of the new report on the impacts of plastics on human health. The authors of the report will describe the health and environmental implications of plastic at every stage of its lifecycle, including recommendations for the United Nations Global Plastics Treaty.

Thursday, April 27th, 2:00pm ET 406 Dirksen Senate Office Building

RSVP

Hearing page

Witnesses:

• Arvind Ravikumar Ph.D., Research Associate Professor, Co-Director, Energy Emissions Modeling and Data Lab, The University of Texas at Austin
• Chelsea M. Rochman Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Head of Operations & Science Programming and Application Lead, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, St. George
• Hota GangaRao Ph.D., Ph.D, Wadsworth Professor and Director of Constructed Facilities Center, Wadsworth Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, West Virginia University

Hearing page

When it comes to reducing waste, we were taught the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle; however, the reality for plastics is the three Bs: buried, burned, or borne out to sea,” said Sen. Merkley. “My Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act is a comprehensive plan to reduce plastic production, improve our recycling systems, and protect frontline communities. It’s not just enough for us to curb our own individual plastic use, we must take action at the federal and international level to solve this environmental and public health crisis.”

Recent polling shows that two-thirds of Americans believe that businesses that produce or use plastics in their products should pay for collecting, sorting, and recycling plastics; 86 percent of Americans support requiring new plastic to contain at least some recycled material; and 80 percent of Americans support phasing out certain non-recyclable plastics altogether.

The Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act — led by Sen. Merkley and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) — would reduce plastic production, increase recycling, and protect frontline communities from the burden of toxic emissions from plastic waste by changing the incentives of the industry. The bill would shift the burden of cleanup to the corporations that produced the plastics so they have financial motivation to end the burning and dumping; strengthening environmental justice protections; eliminating waste export loopholes; and extending across the nation existing laws that have been proven to work on the state and local level, among other steps.

Witnesses:

• John Peterson “Pete” Myers, Ph.D., Founder, CEO & Chief Scientist, Environmental Health Sciences
• Judith Enck, President, Beyond Plastics
• Matt Seaholm, CEO, Plastics Industry Association
• Eric Hartz, Co-Founder & President, Nexus Circular

Hearing charter

The purpose of this hearing is to discuss federal research and development and standards development needs to help address the plastic waste crisis and barriers to the current recycling system. In addition, the Subcommittee will explore challenges and opportunities for adopting sustainable upstream plastic waste reduction solutions and efficacy of existing lifecycle analysis models for assessing the impact of plastic waste and metrics for sustainability. The Subcommittee will also consider the role that the Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling Research Act can play in addressing these important issues.

Opening Statements

• Chairwoman Haley Stevens (D-MI) of the Subcommittee on Research and Technology
• Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)

Witnesses

• Keefe Harrison, Chief Executive Officer, The Recycling Partnership
• Dr. Marc Hillmyer, Director and Principle Investigator, University of Minnesota National Science Foundation Center for Sustainable Polymers
• Dr. Gregory Keoleian, Director, Center for Sustainable Systems, Peter M. Wege Professor of Sustainable Systems, School for Environment and Sustainability, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, co-Coordinator, Engineering Sustainable Systems Program, University of Michigan
• Joshua Baca, Vice President, Plastics Division, American Chemistry Council

Witnesses

• Winnie Lau, Senior Manager, Preventing Ocean Plastics, The Pew Charitable Trusts
• Ginger Spencer, Public Works Director, City of Phoenix, Arizona
• Nicole Collier, Senior Director, Corporate Affairs, Nestlé USA

Hearing page