The U.S. plastics problem: the road to circularity
| Date | 01 January 2022 |
| Author |
52 ELR 10018 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 1-2022
ARTICLES
by Ruth Jebe
Ruth Jebe is an Associate Professor of Legal Studies at the
Boise State University College of Business and Economics.
SUMMARY
Plastics pollution has been an issue in the United States since discovery of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
catapulted it to the forefront of news reporting. Regulator y and academic activity around plastics has had a
common feature: it focused almost exclusively on one stage in plastics’ linear model and framed the problem
as a waste problem. Challenges have come in two forms: the shift from the linear production model of take-
make-waste to a sustainability paradigm represented by the concept of circular production, and disruption
of the global plastics waste supply chain occasioned by changes in China’s waste import policies. These s hifts
are forcing countries to reassess their approach to plastics. This Article argues for an expanded view of the
U.S. plastics problem, one that reframes the problem around sustainability and plastics’ full life cycle, rather
than a focus on waste alone. It proposes regulatory inter ventions and ideas for a future research agenda to
move the study and regulation of plastics from linear to circular.
THE U.S. PLASTICS PROBLEM:
THE ROAD TO CIRCULARITY
In the spring of 2020, at the beginning of the coronavi-
rus pandemic, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New
York all delayed enforcement of their new restrictions
on single-use plastic (SUP) carryout bags.¹ e bans were
intended to reduce plastics waste, but concerns about the
possibility that reusable bags might transmit the corona-
virus derailed their implement ation.² As the pandemic
deepened, attention focused on human health, not on
1. Ariela Lovett, Governor Lifts Suspension of Plastic Bag Bans, Restrictions on
Reusables, M. M. A’ (July 16, 2020), https://www.mma.org/gov-
ernor-lifts-suspension-of-plastic-bag-bans-restrictions-on-reusables/ (noting
that Massachusetts had suspended SUP bag restrictions beginning in March
2020); Press Release, State of Connecticut Department of Revenue Services,
Single-Use Plastic Bag Fee Suspension Set to Expire June 30th (June 26,
2020), https://portal.ct.gov/DRS/Press-Room/Press-Releases/2020/Single-
Use-Plastic-Bag-Fee-Suspension-Set-to-Expire-June-30 (notifying retailers
of expiration of the March 26, 2020, suspension of bag restrictions).
2. Eliza Fawcett, e Pandemic Continues, but Connecticut's Single-Use Plas-
tic Bag Fee Will Return Wednesday, H C (June 30, 2020),
https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-news-plastic-bag-tax-re
turns-20300630-xyixfuxfhzdyzf2ieeqm6bncgq-story-html (reporting that
the state's SUP-bag restrictions were suspended in response to concerns
raised by retail employees about the potential for reusable bags to spread
the coronavirus).
environmental impacts of public health issues and not on
plastics waste.
Plastics waste had been a topic of interest since the 1997
discovery of the Great Pacic Garbage Patch.³ Between
1950 and 2015, plastics production increased rapidly, with
much of that growth coming in recent years: half of all the
plastics produced since 1950 were produced between 2004
and 2017. Plastics demand and production have doubled
since 2000, and estimates are that they will double in the
next 20 years and perhaps triple by 2050. Plastics produc-
3. e Great Pacic Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the
North Pacic Ocean. National Geographic, Great Pacic Garbage Patch,
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacic-garbage-
patch/ (last visited Nov. 6, 2021). e patch was discovered by yachtsman
Charles Moore. Laura Parker, e Great Pacic Garbage Patch Isn’t What You
ink It Is, N’ G (July 3, 2019), https://www.nationalgeo-
graphic.org/article/great-pacic-garbage-patch-isnt-what-you-think.
4. Roland Geyer et al., Production, Use, and Fate of All Plastics Ever Made,
3 S. A e1700782 (2017), https://advances.sciencemag.org/
content/3/7/e1700782.
5. I E A (IEA), T F P
1 (2018), https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/bee4ef3a-8876-4566-
98cf-7a130c013805/e_Future_of_Petrochemicals.pdf.
6. E MA F ., T N P E—
R F P 24 (2016), https://emf.thirdlight.
com/link/faarmdpz93ds-5vmvdf/@/preview/1?o; Peter Lacy et al., Plastic
Is a Global Problem. It’s Also a Global Opportunity, W E. F. (Jan.
25, 2019), https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/plastic-might-just-
be-the-solution-to-its-own-problem/. 2015 global plastics production, for
example, reached 407 million tons and is projected to reach 1,600 million
tons per year in 2050. I P M: T, P
Author's note: Development of this Article was generously
supported by the Boise State University College of Busi-
ness and Economics summer research grant program.
Many thanks to Boise State University M.B.A. student Va-
sudha Bhandare for her invaluable research assistance.
Copyright © 2022 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.
1-2022 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 52 ELR 10019
tion now surpasses that of most other human-made materi-
als. With increased production has come increased plastics
waste. A recent study concludes that the United States gen-
erates more plastics waste than any other nation.
e United States developed an uncomfortable rela-
tionship with its ever-increasing amount of plastics waste,
one that was dependent on globalized recycling supply
chains that led to China. en, two seismic shocks dis-
rupted this precarious system. First, beginning in 2015,
China instituted a number of import requirements that
greatly reduced the amount of plastics waste the country
would permit inside its borders. ese import restric-
tions sent shock waves throughout global waste supply
chains and had deva stating eects on U.S. waste ma n-
agement systems.¹
Second, the COVID-19 pandemic increased consump-
tion of plastics products, especially medical products like
persona l protective equipment¹¹ and SUP packaging for
consumer items.¹² Overall, it is estimated that consump-
tion of plastics increased between 250% and 300% due
to the pandemic.¹³ At the same time, recycling of plastics
decreased, in part because some localities suspended col-
R, R I C-O T
2 (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),
Environment Policy Paper No. , 2018), https://www.oecd.org/environ-
ment/waste/policy-highlights-improving-plastics-management.pdf [herein-
after OECD P M].
7. Geyer et al., supra note 4.
8. Kara Lavender Law et al., e United States’ Contribution of Plastic Waste
to Land and Ocean, 6 S. A eabd0288 (2020), https://advances.
sciencemag.org/content/6/44/eabd0288/tab-pdf. e United States also has
the highest annual per capita plastic waste generation among top plastic
waste-generating countries. Id.
9. Saabira Chaudhuri, Recycling Rethink: What to Do With Trash Now at
China Won’t Take It, W S. J. (Dec. 19, 2019), https://www.wsj.com/
articles/recycling-rethink-what-to-do-with-trash-now-china-wont-take-it-
11576776536.
10. Leslie Hook & John Reed, Why the World’s Recycling System Stopped Working,
F. T (Oct. 25, 2018), https://www.ft.com/content/360e2524-d71a-
11e8-a854-33d6f82e62f8 (describing the impact of China’s import restric-
tions on global recycling systems); Megan Manning & Stephanie Deskins,
Making It Usable Again: Reviving the Nation’s Domestic Recycling Industry, 50
G G U. L. R. 107, 113-18 (2020) (explaining the interrelation-
ship between China and the U.S. recycling industry).
11. Ana L. Patricio Silva et al., Rethinking and Optimizing Plastic Waste Manage-
ment Under COVID-19 Pandemic: Policy Solutions Based on Redesign and
Reduction of Single-Use Plastics and Personal Protective Equipment, 742 S.
T E’ art. 140565, at 2 (2020) (noting the sudden surge in demand
for plastic products by healthcare workers due to the pandemic). Reuters
reported that production of face masks in China was 12 times higher in
March 2020 than in February 2020 and that the United States generated
a year’s worth of medical waste in two months at the height of the pan-
demic. Joe Brock, e Plastic Pandemic: COVID-19 Trashed the Recycling
Dream, R (Oct. 5, 2020), https://www.reuters.com/investigates/
special-report/health-coronavirus-plastic-recycling/.
12. Tanveer M. Adyel, Accumulation of Plastic Waste During COVID-19, 369
S 1314 (2020) (noting the increased plastic demand created by
consumers ordering packaged take-out meals and home-delivered groceries
during the pandemic); Ana L. Patricio Silva et al., Increased Plastic Pollution
Due to COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Recommendations, 405 C.
E’ J. art. 126683, at 4 (2021) (reporting that demand for plastic packag-
ing is expected to increase by 40%).
13. Stephanie Zimmermann, Plastic Waste Problem “Amplied” by the Pan-
demic, C. S-T/ABC7 (Nov. 11, 2020), https://chicago.suntimes.
com/2020/11/11/21558733/styrofoam-plastic-waste-takeout-delivery-res-
taurants-coronavirus-pandemic-COVID-chicago-recycling.
lection of recyclables.¹ More importantly, demand for
recycled content decreased as the pandemic intensied
the price war between new plastics and recycled plastics.
e economic slowdown punctured demand for oil, cut-
ting the price of new plastics far below that of recycled
plastics.¹ With few options for waste recycling, more and
more cities and states began disposing of plastics in land-
lls and incinerators.¹
e twin disruptions of China’s import restrictions
and the coronavirus pandemic, and their impact on the
U.S. plastics industry, demonstrate the shortcomings of
the growth-oriented organizing logic of U.S. business, the
foundation of plastic’s linear production model. In linear
production models, referred to as take-make-waste, raw
materials are extracted, processed into nished goods,
and become waste after being consumed.¹ e focus of
the growth model is to internalize the benets of resources
while externalizing the environmental costs of their
exploitation. Unfortunately, this model entails signicant
resource a nd value losses¹ and contributes to depletion of
natural resources.¹
As sustainability becomes the organizing logic for 21st
century business, there are calls to move away from lin-
ear production systems toward circular production and
business models.² Circular models bridge production and
consumption a nd foster business models that decouple
economic growth from environmental loss.²¹ Unlike lin-
ear production systems, circula r systems are closed systems
that seek to redirect the ow of materials, keeping them
14. Jacob Duer, e Plastic Pandemic Is Only Getting Worse During CO-
VID-19, W E. F. (July 1, 2020), https://www.weforum.org/
agenda/2020/07/plastic-waste-management-COVID19-ppe/ (noting that
U.S. curbside recycling pickup had been suspended in many locations);
E.A. (Ev) Crunden, Municipalities Suspend Recycling Due to Coronavirus Im-
pact on Prison Labor, Broader Safety Concerns, W D (Mar. 19, 2020),
https://www.wastedive.com/news/recycling-mrfs-prison-labor-suspensions-
coronavirus-COVID-19/574301/ (reporting on several municipalities’ suspen-
sions of recycling pickup activities).
15. Brock, supra note 11; Adyel, supra note 12.
16. Alana Semuels, Is is the End of Recycling?, A (Mar. 5, 2019),
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/china-has-
stopped-accepting-our-trash/584131/ (reporting that much recyclable plas-
tic was disposed of as municipal solid waste following China’s imposition of
import restrictions); Silva et al., supra note 12, at 5 (contending that much
SUP generated during the coronavirus pandemic will be disposed of as solid
waste, rather than recycled).
17. Andrea Urbinati et al., Toward a New Taxonomy of Circular Economy Business
Models, 168 J. C P. 487 (2017); Taylor Brydges, Closing the Loop
on Take, Make, Waste: Investigating Circular Economy Practices in the Swedish
Fashion Industry, 293 J. C P. art. 126245 (2021).
18. E MA F, T C E 14-
18 (2013) (detailing the types of resource and value losses resulting from
linear production models). A World Economic Forum (WEF) and MacAr-
thur Foundation study estimates the economic loss of plastics’ linear process
for plastics packaging alone at between $80 and $120 billion. E M-
A F ., supra note 6, at 26.
19. Irel De los Rios & Fiona J.S. Charnley, Skills and Capabilities for a Sustain-
able and Circular Economy: e Changing Role of Design, 160 J. C
P. 109 (2017).
20. See, e.g., Ira Feldman et al., e Circular Economy: Regulatory and Commer-
cial Law Implications, 46 ELR 11009, 11010 (Dec. 2016) (arguing that the
“business-as-usual” linear economy is being challenged as the best model for
economic growth).
21. Brydges, supra note 17, at 2.
Copyright © 2022 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.
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