Creating an Industrial Regulatory Framework to Reduce Plastics

Synthetic carbon-based polymers, commonly called “plastics,” are flexible,durable, and cheap to produce, making them a very popular material. They havebecome essential components of most automobiles, medical devices, andconsumer products. Plastics are also used in common items of convenience, suchas straws, cigarette filters, and product packaging, and in this form are meant tobe discarded after a brief use. Such “single-use” plastics present a majorenvironmental challenge. They take a long time to degrade and thereforelanguish in landfills or litter the landscape. Hazardous chemicals can leach outof plastics over time, and what does not end up in a landfill often blows into theocean, harming marine life. Current methods of incinerating plastics create toxicsmoke and greenhouse effects, and while recycling methods are available, theyare costly and underutilized. This paper explores the risks of single-use plasticsand how the United States specifically can address the problems throughregulation. By examining current federal and state trends, we exploreincentivizing a reduction in single-use plastics at the industrial level byencouraging or requiring the producers of single-use plastics to bear the costs oftheir disposal.