How Might Harris Handle Plastic Pollution? A Recent Policy Shift Provides Insight. 

COMMENTARY

The views expressed below are the author’s alone, and do not represent those of Wake Forest University.

When the White House released its plan to tackle plastic pollution in July 2024, caps on plastic production were missing. Now, in a change of course, the United States says it will support production caps. Could Harris be the reason for the change?   

The Problem

Plastic is everywhere — the atmosphere, tap and bottled water, soil — and in everything — cosmetics, clothing, baby formula and playgrounds. Given its ubiquity, it’s not surprising that plastic has been found in human blood, placenta, testicles and even brains. Marine mammals are entangled in and ingest plastic at alarming rates. And there is growing research on plastics’ impact on animal feeding and behavior.  

Less clear is the harm microplastics pose to humans. All plastics have added chemicals; some are known carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. Some studies have linked microplastics to health concerns like cardiovascular disease and low male fertility, and investigations of microplastics’ impact on humans are ongoing.  

Plastic’s lightweight, durable and inexpensive nature has made it the material of choice across industries and households. But this everyday use of plastic has extraordinary consequences. Plastic exacerbates climate change and biodiversity loss, and high-income countries increasingly consume and export used plastic to lower-income countries for disposal. The amount of plastic entering the marine environment is set to double by 2040, and solutions, like plastic recycling and voluntary reduction efforts by businesses, have fallen short.  

Existing efforts have failed to keep plastic out of the environment, prompting countries to come together to work out the terms of a binding United Nations global treaty to end plastic pollution. More than 175 nations are currently engaged in the final stages of these negotiations.  

The US Plan

On July 19, the White House released its plan to tackle plastic pollution. The report articulates the federal government’s strategy to combat plastic pollution. Divided into five sections — plastic production, product design, waste generation, waste management, and plastic capture and removal — the report provides opportunities for federal action and the agency responsible for the action. The plan also includes a phase-out of single-use plastics by the federal government.

The federal strategy, however, is silent on production caps despite continued calls to limit plastic production and the past success of global agreements.

For example, the Montreal Protocol limited the manufacturing of chlorofluorocarbons to address the ozone hole, and the Minamata Convention phases out the use of mercury in manufacturing. 

A recent study by the University of California-Berkley shows capping virgin plastic production to be more effective than bans or recycling. When designed correctly, production caps can stem the flow of pollution into the environment.

Both the Trump and Biden administrations have treated plastic pollution as a waste problem, focusing on end-of-life solutions, such as recycling, rather than reducing the amount of plastic produced.

This has been the U.S. position throughout U.N. treaty negotiations, and it was the approach that many people, including myself, expected the United States to maintain during the final negotiations in Busan, South Korea, in late November 2024.

Then Biden withdrew from the presidential race.

The Shift

On Aug. 14, almost a month after the U.S. plan was released and the Democratic Party united behind Harris, Reuters reported that the United States now supports limiting plastic production and will support a global treaty calling for reductions in how much new plastic is produced each year.

This position change was announced in a closed-door meeting and details on how production limits should be achieved have yet to be released. 

Harris has the support of environmental activists and has been called a “terrific ally” of climate policy and a champion of environmental justice. In 2011, as California attorney general, Harris sued the manufacturers of plastic beverage containers for making false and misleading claims about recyclability. And as a U.S. senator, she supported the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020. Some have said Harris will go further than Biden on environmental and climate issues.  

In prior treaty negotiations, the United States never fully aligned itself with the countries in the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, some of whom proposed cutting plastic production by 40% by 2040. Now the United States, a top producer of plastic waste, supports some form of production limits.

The position of the United States during final treaty negotiations will depend on the outcome of the 2024 presidential election as the treaty will not be finalized until after Tuesday, Nov. 5. Given her earlier stance on plastic issues, a Harris administration could galvanize support for production limits in the final version of the U.N.’s global plastic treaty.

Sarah J. Morath is a professor of Law and associate dean for International Affairs at Wake Forest University. She is the author of “Our Plastic Problem and How to Solve It” (Cambridge University 2022). She can be reached on LinkedIn.