US to phase out single-use plastic from federal operations

By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Biden administration on Friday announced it plans to phase out the use of single-use plastics from all federal operations by 2035, as part of its broader strategy to tackle plastic pollution.

The phase-out would start with a goal to end federal procurement of single-use plastics from food service operations, events, and packaging by 2027.

The announcement comes ahead of the last scheduled round of negotiations toward a global treaty to end plastic pollution set to start in Busan, Korea on Nov. 25. Countries are still divided on whether the deal should include caps on plastic production.

The United States has said it supports a goal to end plastic pollution by 2040 in the treaty but it wants countries to set their own plans for doing so instead of setting global targets and goals, and to detail those plans in pledges sent regularly to the United Nations.

The White House on Friday said the new procurement policies are the latest domestic effort aimed at addressing plastic pollution, and pointed to several policies it has announced that tackle fossil-fuel intensive polymer production, recycling and removing plastic that has washed up in oceans.

For example, the White House said the Environmental Protection Agency issued rules to limit emissions from the production of chemicals used to make plastic, and plans to invest $275 million to improve recycling infrastructure.

Given the purchasing power of the U.S. government, some environmental groups said the move to phase-out single-use plastics in favor of reusable or compostable products was significant.

"The U.S. government is the world’s largest purchaser of goods and services, and its purchasing decisions can have a global impact," said Plastics Campaign Director Christy Leavitt at Oceana.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Diane Craft)