On July 19, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration released the report Mobilizing Federal Action on Plastic Pollution: Progress, Principles, and Priorities, the first comprehensive, government-wide strategy to target plastic pollution at production, processing, use, and disposal. In the report, the federal government formally acknowledges the severity of the plastic pollution crisis and the scale of the response that will be required to effectively confront it. It outlines key principles for reducing plastic pollution, focus areas of federal agencies, and opportunities for further action, including a new goal to phase out federal procurement of single-use plastics from food service operations, events, and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035.

The report details federal initiatives underway to address plastic pollution across its lifecycle, including:

  • Addressing Pollution from Chemical Manufacturing for Plastic Production and Advancing Environmental Justice
  • Reducing Single-Use Plastic on Public Lands and in Department of the Interior Facilities
  • Investing in Infrastructure to Improve Reuse, Recycling and Composting
  • Cleaning Up Existing Plastic Pollution in the Environment

Read the press release with links to the report.