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
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight Subcommittee
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
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
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
Superfund, Waste Management, and Regulatory Oversight Subcommittee
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.
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
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