THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE
Division on Earth and Life Studies
Ocean Studies Board
Committee on United States Contributions to Global Ocean Plastic Waste
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Congressional Briefings
Tuesday, November 30, 2021 – 2:00 p.m.
and
Wednesday, December 15, 2021 – 2:30 p.m.
via Zoom
on
Reckoning with the U.S. Role in Global Ocean Plastic Waste
The United States is a major producer of plastics and in 2016, generated more plastic waste by weight and per capita than any other nation. Although the U.S. solid waste management system is advanced, it is not sufficient to deter leakage into the environment.
Requested by Congress in P.L. 116-224, the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act, this new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine calls for a national strategy by the end of 2022 to reduce the nation's contribution to global ocean plastic waste at every step - from production to its entry into the environment - including by substantially reducing U.S. solid waste generation. The report also recommends a nationally-coordinated and expanded monitoring system to track plastic pollution in order to understand the scales and sources of U.S. plastic waste, set reduction and management priorities, and measure progress.
These briefings were for members of Congress and congressional staff only. The report was publicly released on December 1, 2021 and can be found, in its entirety, on the Web site of the National Academies Press.