PLASTICS Act

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 4636 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 30, 2020 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations AN ACT To authorize the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Develop- ment to prioritize and advance efforts to improve waste management systems and prevent and reduce plastic waste and marine debris, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4636.RFS H4636 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 HR 4636 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Partnering and 2 Leveraging Assistance to Stop Trash for International 3 Cleaner Seas Act’’ or the ‘‘PLASTICS Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 5 Congress finds the following: 6 (1) Eight million metric tons of plastic enter 7 the ocean every year. Marine debris damages the 8 health of marine life, impedes local economic devel- 9 opment, and threatens health systems. Ten river sys- 10 tems carry an estimated 90 percent of the river- 11 based plastic waste that ends up in the ocean. 12 (2) Mismanaged plastic waste has the highest 13 risk of contaminating rivers and oceans. China con- 14 tributes the largest share of this mismanaged waste, 15 followed by Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, 16 Thailand, Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa. The 17 United States is the world’s second-largest producer 18 and consumer of plastics products, and the top ex- 19 porter of plastic scrap. 20 (3) Most marine debris, particularly plastics, 21 enters the oceans from land-based sources, mainly in 22 developing countries, that lack the capacity to ade- 23 quately manage waste and prevent dumping. 24 (4) During the Our Ocean Conference in Octo- 25 ber 2018, the United States announced assistance to 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4636.RFS H4636 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 HR 4636 RFS prevent marine debris from entering the ocean 1 through development of waste management systems 2 and reduce plastics in marine protected areas in the 3 Indo-Pacific. 4 (5) During the June 2019 G20 Summit in 5 Osaka, Japan, the United States joined other G20 6 members in endorsing the ‘‘Osaka Blue Ocean Vi- 7 sion’’ to reduce additional pollution by marine plas- 8 tic litter to zero by 2050 and the G20 Implementa- 9 tion Framework for Actions on Marine Plastic Lit- 10 ter, which outlines a commitment to prevent and re- 11 duce plastic debris in the oceans through waste man- 12 agement and clean-up efforts to remove marine plas- 13 tic debris and prioritizes efforts to advance innova- 14 tive solutions and international cooperation to sup- 15 port such initiatives. 16 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 17 It is the policy of the United States to consult, part- 18 ner, and coordinate with the governments of foreign coun- 19 tries, international organizations, private and civil society 20 entities, and other stakeholders in a concerted effort to— 21 (1) prevent and reduce marine debris and plas- 22 tic waste, including through reduced consumption, 23 greater transparency in global trade of plastic waste, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4636.RFS H4636 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 HR 4636 RFS and support for integrated waste management sys- 1 tems in developing countries; 2 (2) advance innovative market-based solutions 3 and catalyze private capital to prevent and reduce 4 marine debris and plastic waste, support integrated 5 waste management systems, and improve market de- 6 mand for recycled material; 7 (3) build the capacity of national and sub- 8 national governments in other countries to develop 9 and implement integrated waste management sys- 10 tems, measure and report progress in reducing plas- 11 tic waste, and prevent plastic waste from entering 12 rivers and oceans; 13 (4) support local economic development through 14 programs that assist community members, particu- 15 larly women, youth, and marginalized populations, to 16 derive economic benefit from waste products and 17 participation in waste management systems; and 18 (5) engage in international and regional co- 19 operation to prevent and reduce marine debris and 20 plastic waste, share best practices, and empower na- 21 tional and subnational governments, local commu- 22 nities, civil society, and the private sector to engage 23 in such efforts. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4636.RFS H4636 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 HR 4636 RFS SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 It is the sense of Congress that, in pursuing the pol- 2 icy described in section 3, the President should direct 3 United States representatives to appropriate international 4 bodies to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 5 States to advocate support for the following: 6 (1) Efforts to improve transparency in global 7 trade of plastic waste, improve plastic waste regula- 8 tion to ensure the safety of humans and the environ- 9 ment, strengthen integrated waste management sys- 10 tems, and prevent, reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic 11 waste, to the extent practical. 12 (2) Collaborative approaches to establish meas- 13 urable targets and objectives, with related action 14 plans, for reducing marine debris and plastic waste 15 from all sources and sharing best practices in waste 16 prevention and management systems to prevent plas- 17 tic waste. 18 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES SUPPORT TO IMPROVE WASTE 19 MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND PREVENT AND 20 REDUCE MARINE DEBRIS. 21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State and the 22 Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter- 23 national Development, in coordination with the heads of 24 relevant Federal departments and agencies, are authorized 25 to prioritize and advance ongoing global efforts to— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4636.RFS H4636 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 HR 4636 RFS (1) prevent and reduce marine debris and plas- 1 tic waste, including through reduced consumption, 2 greater transparency in global trade of plastic waste, 3 and support for integrated waste management sys- 4 tems in developing countries; 5 (2) advance innovative market-based solutions 6 and catalyze private capital to prevent and reduce 7 marine debris and plastic waste, support integrated 8 waste management systems, and improve market de- 9 mand for recycled material; 10 (3) build the capacity of national and sub- 11 national governments in other countries to develop 12 and implement integrated waste management sys- 13 tems, measure and report progress in reducing plas- 14 tic waste, and prevent plastic waste from entering 15 rivers and oceans; and 16 (4) support local economic development through 17 programs that assist community members, particu- 18 larly women, youth, and marginalized populations, to 19 derive economic benefit from waste products and 20 participation in waste management systems. 21 (b) COORDINATION WITH PRIVATE SECTOR.—The 22 Secretary and the Administrator, in coordination with the 23 Chief Executive Officer of the United States International 24 Development Finance Corporation and the Chief Execu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4636.RFS H4636 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 HR 4636 RFS tive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation and 1 in consultation with the heads of relevant Federal depart- 2 ments and agencies, are authorized and encouraged to 3 work with entities in the private sector and with non- 4 governmental organizations to leverage sources of public 5 and private capital to complement the efforts described in 6 subsection (a), including by financing infrastructure in- 7 vestments, supporting capacity-building activities, and en- 8 tering into cost-sharing, cost-matching, and other coopera- 9 tive agreements to support and finance such efforts. 10 (c) MONITORING AND EVALUATION.—The Secretary 11 and the Administrator shall establish monitoring and eval- 12 uation mechanisms, including measurable goals, objec- 13 tives, and benchmarks, to ensure the effective use of 14 United States foreign assistance to achieve the objectives 15 described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection (a). 16 (d) DOMESTIC RESOURCE MOBILIZATION.—In car- 17 rying out the authority under subsection (a), the Secretary 18 and the Administrator, in coordination with the heads of 19 relevant Federal departments and agencies, shall seek to 20 provide technical assistance to mobilize the domestic re- 21 sources of recipient countries in order to increase cost- 22 sharing, self-reliance, and host country ownership of waste 23 prevention and management programs. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4636.RFS H4636 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 HR 4636 RFS (e) COST LIMITATION.—No additional funds are au- 1 thorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act. 2 (f) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 3 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Ad- 4 ministrator, in consultation with the heads of relevant 5 Federal departments and agencies, shall jointly submit to 6 the appropriate congressional committees a report on on- 7 going programs and monitoring and evaluation mecha- 8 nisms to carry out the authority under subsection (a) that 9 includes a description of— 10 (1) the monitoring and evaluation plans and in- 11 dicators used to measure performance of assistance 12 programs, in accordance with subsection (d); 13 (2) best practices and lessons learned in imple- 14 menting the efforts authorized under subsection (a); 15 (3) the extent to which recipient countries have 16 demonstrated a commitment and willingness to co- 17 operate to advance the efforts described in sub- 18 section (a) and to dedicate resources to support 19 waste prevention and management initiatives; 20 (4) the extent to which host country govern- 21 ments and other governments in the region are in- 22 vesting resources to advance initiatives to prevent or 23 reduce marine debris and plastic waste and develop 24 integrated waste management systems; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4636.RFS H4636 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 HR 4636 RFS (5) the extent to which other funding sources, 1 including through private sector investment, have 2 been identified to advance waste prevention and 3 management initiatives. 4 (g) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES 5 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con- 6 gressional committees’’ means— 7 (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 8 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep- 9 resentatives; and 10 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 11 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 12 SEC. 6. PLASTIC WASTE REDUCTION INITIATIVE. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Executive Officer of the 14 United States International Development Finance Cor- 15 poration is authorized to establish, in coordination with 16 relevant Federal departments and agencies and incor- 17 porating any existing programs of the Corporation for 18 such purposes, an initiative to pursue investment opportu- 19 nities to address plastic waste pollution and support im- 20 proved, integrated waste management systems in devel- 21 oping countries, including by catalyzing global public and 22 private-sector investments to prevent and reduce marine 23 debris and plastic waste in such countries. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4636.RFS H4636 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 HR 4636 RFS (b) REFERENCE.—The initiative established under 1 subsection (a) may be referred to as the ‘‘Plastic Waste 2 Reduction Initiative’’. 3 Passed the House of Representatives November 18, 2020. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4636.RFS H4636 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS