[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
PLASTIC WASTE REDUCTION
AND RECYCLING RESEARCH:
MOVING FROM STAGGERING STATISTICS
TO SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE,
AND TECHNOLOGY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JUNE 24, 2021
__________
Serial No. 117-22
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
44-862PDF WASHINGTON : 2023
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas, Chairwoman
ZOE LOFGREN, California FRANK LUCAS, Oklahoma,
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon Ranking Member
AMI BERA, California MO BROOKS, Alabama
HALEY STEVENS, Michigan, BILL POSEY, Florida
Vice Chair RANDY WEBER, Texas
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey BRIAN BABIN, Texas
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio
MELANIE A. STANSBURY, New Mexico MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida
BRAD SHERMAN, California JAMES R. BAIRD, Indiana
ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida
JERRY McNERNEY, California MIKE GARCIA, California
PAUL TONKO, New York STEPHANIE I. BICE, Oklahoma
BILL FOSTER, Illinois YOUNG KIM, California
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey RANDY FEENSTRA, Iowa
DON BEYER, Virginia JAKE LaTURNER, Kansas
CHARLIE CRIST, Florida CARLOS A. GIMENEZ, Florida
SEAN CASTEN, Illinois JAY OBERNOLTE, California
CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania PETER MEIJER, Michigan
DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina VACANCY
GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin VACANCY
DAN KILDEE, Michigan
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania
LIZZIE FLETCHER, Texas
------
Subcommittee on Research and Technology
HON. HALEY STEVENS, Michigan, Chairwoman
PAUL TONKO, New York MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida,
GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin Ranking Member
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio
BILL FOSTER, Illinois JAMES R. BAIRD, Indiana
DON BEYER, Virginia PETE SESSIONS, Texas
CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania JAKE LaTURNER, Kansas
DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina PETER MEIJER, Michigan
C O N T E N T S
June 24, 2021
Page
Hearing Charter.................................................. 2
Opening Statements
Statement by Representative Haley Stevens, Chairwoman,
Subcommittee on Research and Technology, Committee on Science,
Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives........... 8
Written Statement............................................ 9
Statement by Representative Michael Waltz, Ranking Member,
Subcommittee on Research and Technology, Committee on Science,
Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives........... 10
Written Statement............................................ 11
Statement by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, Chairwoman,
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of
Representatives................................................ 12
Written Statement............................................ 12
Witnesses:
Ms. Keefe Harrison, Chief Executive Officer, The Recycling
Partnership
Oral Statement............................................... 14
Written Statement............................................ 16
Dr. Marc Hillmyer, Director and Principal Investigator,
University of Minnesota National Science Foundation Center for
Sustainable Polymers
Oral Statement............................................... 20
Written Statement............................................ 22
Dr. Gregory Keoleian, Director, Center for Sustainable Systems,
Peter M. Wege Professor of Sustainable Systems, School for
Environment and Sustainability; Professor, Civil and
Environmental Engineering, co-Coordinator, Engineering
Sustainable Systems Program, University of Michigan
Oral Statement............................................... 31
Written Statement............................................ 33
Mr. Joshua Baca, Vice President, Plastics Division, American
Chemistry Council
Oral Statement............................................... 45
Written Statement............................................ 47
Discussion....................................................... 56
Appendix: Additional Material for the Record
Letters submitted by Representative Haley Stevens, Chairwoman,
Subcommittee on Research and Technology, Committee on Science,
Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives
Anthony Pitagno, Senior Director, American Chemical Society.. 76
Clarence E. Anthony, CEO and Executive Director, National
League of Cities........................................... 77
Steve Alexander, President and CEO, Association of Plastic
Recyclers.................................................. 79
Tony Radoszewski, President and CEO, Plastics Industry
Association (PLASTICS)..................................... 82
PLASTIC WASTE REDUCTION
AND RECYCLING RESEARCH:
MOVING FROM STAGGERING STATISTICS
TO SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS
----------
THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2021
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Research and Technology,
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology,
Washington, D.C.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m.,
in room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building and via
Webex, Hon. Haley Stevens [Chairwoman of the Subcommittee]
presiding.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Stevens [continuing]. Order. Without objection,
the Chair is authorized to declare recess at any time. Before I
deliver my opening remarks, I wanted to note that today the
Committee is meeting both in person and virtually. I want to
announce a couple of reminders to the Members about the conduct
of this hearing. First, Members and staff who are attending in
person, and are unvaccinated against COVID-19, must stay masked
throughout the hearing. Unvaccinated Members may remove their
masks only during their questioning under the 5 minute rule.
Members who are attending virtually should keep their video
feed on as long as they are present in the hearing. Members are
responsible for their own microphones. Please also keep your
microphones muted, unless you are speaking. Finally, if Members
have documents they wish to submit for the record, please e-
mail them to the Committee Clerk, whose e-mail address was
circulated prior to the hearing.
So good morning, and thank you all for joining today's
hearing, and a special thank you to our witnesses for joining
us here today. 2 years ago I had the honor and privilege of
chairing the first hearing on recycling in this Committee in
almost over a decade. Since then much has changed, but the
problem of plastic waste, and how to enable a circular economy
for recycling continues. We only have to look to the past year
and a half to see some of the important medical and safety
functions of plastic. Face shields, face masks, and other
personal protective equipment allowed America's essential
workers to be on the front lines of our Nation's COVID-19
response. Disposable syringes are helping to deliver vaccine
shots in arms all across this country. Plastic can be
designated to be rigid enough to use in vehicle safety
applications, durable enough to hold liquid products for years,
and flexible enough to keep our food fresh. Virgin plastic is
also cheap to produce.
Unfortunately, the characteristics that make plastic
convenient also make it difficult to recycle and to manage
after it has been used. Global plastic production increased
from two million tons per year in 1950--we remember plastic,
plastic, plastic--to 400 million tons annually in recent years.
What's more, if current trends continue, plastic production is
projected to quadruple by 2050. So there is no one-size-fits-
all solution here, but what we do know, and where we want to
start, is with reducing, reusing, and recycling.
Historically the U.S. has done a great job--excuse me, has
not done the best job at recycling. We recycle less than 9
percent of our plastic waste, despite all the campaigns that
are pursued across the country. For more than 20 years the U.S.
shipped our plastic waste to international markets to be
recycled. When one of the major markets closed in 2018, items
collected for recycling sat in warehouses because many cities
across the Nation didn't have a local recycler that could
process these bales of plastic, which were too often highly
contaminated. Unfortunately, our communities face the choice of
incinerating recyclables, or dumping them in landfills. While
market, economic, and other factors led to the current plastic
pollution crisis, part of the solution can be to invest in
research to reduce plastic waste, and improve domestic
recycling infrastructure and capabilities.
This past Earth Day I was proud to introduce the Plastic
Waste Reduction and Recycling Research Act, alongside my
colleague from Ohio, Congressman Anthony Gonzalez. The bill
called on the Federal Government to develop a strategic plan
for plastic waste reduction, and directs the Office of Science
and Technology Policy to establish a program to leverage the
expertise of Federal science agencies, academia, scientific
associations, State and local governments, and the private
sector. This bill will support research and international
standards development to spur innovative, sustainable solutions
that could create a world-leading U.S. industry in plastics
recycling. Research is absolutely needed into how to design
plastics to be recyclable, upcycle existing plastic into high
value products, minimize environmental impacts of plastic
waste, and recycling on our climate, and to improve plastic
waste management to prevent plastic from entering our air,
soil, and oceans.
Finally, this legislation would support the measurement
science needed to make sorting technologies more efficient, and
to update standards for characterizing the multi-layered
plastic packaging materials used today. No one solution will
completely solve plastic pollution. Rather, it will take
multiple efforts. The research supported in this bill can drive
innovation, and innovation is at the heart of American industry
and manufacturing that creates jobs. I look forward to hearing
from our distinguished witnesses as our Committee explores
challenges and opportunities for adopting sustainable upstream
plastic waste reduction solutions, and improvements to the
recycling system.
[The prepared statement of Chairwoman Stevens follows:]
Good morning, and thank you to all of the witnesses for
joining us today
Two years ago, I had the honor of chairing the first
hearing on recycling in this committee for over a decade. Since
then, much has changed but the problem of plastic waste and how
to enable a circular economy of recycling continues.
We only have to look to the past year and a half to see
some of the important medical and safety functions of plastic.
Face shields, face masks, and other personal protective
equipment allowed America's essential workers to be on the
front lines of our nation's COVID-19 response.Disposable
syringes are helping deliver vaccine shots in arms all across
the country.
Plastic can be designed to be rigid enough to use in
vehicle safety applications, durable enough to hold liquid
products for years, and flexible enough to keep our food fresh.
Virgin plastic is also cheap to produce.
Unfortunately, the characteristics that make plastic
convenient also make it difficult to recycle and to manage
after it has been used.
Global plastic production increased from 2 million tons per
year in 1950 to 400 million tons annually in recent years.
What's more, if current trends continue, plastic production is
projected to quadruple by 2050. There is no silver bullet, but
we do know where to start--reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Historically, the U.S. has not done a great job at recycling.
We recycle less than 9 percent of our plastic waste.
For more than 20 years, the U.S. shipped our plastic waste
to international markets to be recycled. When one of the major
markets closed in 2018, items collected for recycling sat in
warehouses because many cities across the nation didn't have a
local recycler that could process these bales of plastic, which
were too often highly contaminated. Unfortunately, communities
faced the choice of incinerating recyclables or dumping them in
landfills.
While market, economic, and other factors led to the
current plastic pollution crisis, part of the solution can be
to invest in research to reduce plastic waste and improve
domestic recycling infrastructure and capabilities.
This past Earth Day, I was proud to reintroduce the Plastic
Waste Reduction and Recycling Research Act with my colleague
from Ohio Congressman Anthony Gonzalez. The bill calls on the
Federal government to develop a strategic plan for plastic
waste reduction and directs the Office of Science and
Technology Policy to establish a program to leverage the
expertise of federal science agencies, academia, scientific
associations, State and local governments, and the private
sector.
It will support research and international standards
development to spur innovative sustainable solutions that could
create a world-leading U.S. industry in plastics recycling.
Research is needed into how to design plastics to be
recyclable, upcycle existing plastic into high-value products,
minimize environmental impacts of plastic waste and recycling
on our climate, and to improve plastic waste management to
prevent plastic from entering our air, soil, and oceans.
Finally, this legislation would support the measurement
science needed to make sorting technologies more efficient and
to update standards for characterizing the multilayered plastic
packaging materials used today.
No one solution will completely solve plastic pollution;
rather, it will take multiple efforts. The research supported
in this bill can drive innovation and innovation is at the
heart of American industry and manufacturing that creates jobs.
I look forward to hearing from our distinguished witnesses
as our Committee explores challenges and opportunities for
adopting sustainable upstream plastic waste reduction solutions
and improvements to the recycling system.
Chairwoman Stevens. Before I yield to Mr. Waltz for his
opening statement, I would like to enter into the record two
letters of support for the Plastic Waste Reduction and
Recycling Research Act from the American Chemical Society (ACS)
and the National League of Cities. The Chair now recognizes Mr.
Waltz for an opening statement.
Mr. Waltz. Thank you, Madam Chair, and before I give my
opening statement, I'd like to wish you a happy birthday. I
share your passion for this topic. I'm an avid recycler, and my
17-year-old daughter keeps me on track in that regard, so good
morning. Thank you for holding today's hearing. It's good to be
in the hearing room with you, and I look forward to examining
emerging technologies in plastics recycling. I'd also like to
thank our witnesses for appearing before the Subcommittee, and
sharing their expertise with us.
As we take a step back, I want to note that in the 20th
century the United States was a leader in the development of
plastics. We revolutionized the world by making material wealth
widespread and obtainable like never before. However, the U.S.
recycling infrastructure has failed to keep up with the booming
plastic market. In 2018 the U.S. produced 36 million tons of
plastic, as the Chairwoman noted. However, the domestic
recycling industry only repurposed eight and a half percent of
it. America has a new opportunity to lead in the development of
a circular economy of plastics, an economy that produces,
recycles, and reuses materials to reduce cost and waste.
Investments in research and development (R&D) of new
sustainable materials and recycling technologies will help the
environment and the U.S. economy. For example, with advanced
recycling tools and technologies, we can fully repurpose
plastic without needing to harvest any new resources. In
essence, we can turn waste into a marketable commodity. And the
economic potential here truly is immense. According to a report
by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), advanced plastics
recycling could support over 38,000 U.S. jobs, and produce
nearly 10 billion in U.S. economic output.
Today plastics are integral to our daily lives, but we
cannot ignore their impact on the environment. In my district
in Northeast Florida, we are blessed with miles of beautiful
coastline. It's a main focal point of our lives, and of our
economy. Moving from plastic waste to plastic reuse ensures the
protection of Florida's pristine beaches, which many on this
Committee like to visit, and Floridians' economies that rely on
healthy coastal ecosystems. I recently had the pleasure to
visit the Loggerhead Marine Life Center in Jupiter, Florida,
which was amazing to see the research and the marine life that
they are helping there, but it was also very disturbing to see
the amount of microplastics that are appearing in our ocean
food supply. It was staggering, and it's dangerous, and we
absolutely need to take action.
I believe that using innovative methods to bolster and
optimize our domestic plastics recycling will not only preserve
this environment, preserve our environment, but also avoid
costly regulations, and that's unlike the plastic provisions in
the Green New Deal. Additionally, as demonstrated over the last
year, our national security is at risk as long as we are
dependent on foreign nations, particularly on the Chinese
Communist Party, for essential commodities or services.
America's clean energy future requires a reliable and stable
supply of critical minerals. My bill, the American Critical
Mineral Independence Act, addresses the issue of America's
reliance on foreign nations to obtain critical minerals. I'm
pleased that a provision of the legislation was included in the
NSF for the Future Act that recently passed this Committee.
When it comes to recycling, the U.S. cannot remain export
reliant. For one, media reports regarding China's 2018 plastics
importation restrictions highlighted that China never actually
disposed of plastics properly. Second, we should not become
reliant on China for yet another critical service, especially
when there's untapped economic gain to be had here at home. The
Science Committee's role is to look to innovation to solve
major challenges facing our Nation, and it's just what we're
doing here today. We have witnesses from academia and industry
who are working on new solutions to plastics recycling,
including chemical recycling, and applying robotics and
artificial intelligence to material sorting. I look forward to
having a productive, insightful conversation. Innovation in
these areas will ensure a better world for our children and
grandchildren. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I yield back.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Waltz follows:]
Good morning Chairwoman Stevens. Thank you for holding
today's hearing to examine emerging technologies in plastics
recycling. I would also like to thank our witnesses for
appearing before the subcommittee and sharing their expertise
with us this morning.
In the 20th Century, the U.S. was a leader in the
development of plastics, revolutionizing the world by making
material wealth widespread and obtainable like never before.
However, the U.S. recycling infrastructure has failed to
keep up with the booming plastics market. In 2018, the U.S.
produced 36 million tons of plastic, yet the domestic recycling
industry only repurposed 8.5 percent of it.
The U.S. has a new opportunity to lead in the development
of a circular economy of plastics--an economy that produces,
recycles, and reuses materials to reduce cost and waste.
Investments in research and development of new sustainable
materials and recycling technologies will help the environment
and the U.S. economy. For example, with advanced recycling
tools and technologies, we can fully repurpose plastic without
needing to harvest any new resources. In essence, we can turn
waste into a marketable commodity.
The economic potential here is immense. According to a
report by the American Chemistry Council, advanced plastics
recycling could support over 38,000 U.S. jobs and produce $9.9
billion in U.S. economic output.
Today, plastics are integral to our daily lives, but we
cannot ignore their impact on the environment. In my District,
we are blessed with miles of coastline, which is a main focal
point in our economy and our way of life. Moving from plastic
waste to plastic reuse ensures the protection of Florida's
pristine beaches and the Floridian economies that rely on
healthy coastal ecosystems. Using innovative methods to bolster
and optimize our domestic plastics recycling will not only
preserve our environment but also avoid costly regulations,
unlike the plastic provisions in the Green New Deal.
Additionally, as demonstrated over the last year, our
national security is at risk as long as we are dependent on
foreign nations, and particularly China, for essential
commodities or services. America's clean energy future requires
a reliable and stable supply of critical minerals. My bill, the
American Critical Mineral Independence Act, addresses the issue
of the United States' reliance on foreign nations to obtain
critical minerals. I am pleased that a provision of this
legislation was included in the ``NSF For the Future Act,''
that recently passed the Committee.
When it comes to recycling, the U.S. cannot remain export
reliant. For one, media reports regarding China's 2018 plastics
importation restrictions highlighted that China never actually
disposed of plastics properly. Secondly, we should not become
reliant on China for yet another critical service, especially
when there's an untapped economic gain to be had.
The Science Committee's role is to look to innovation to
solve major challenges facing our nation, and that's just what
we are doing here today. We have witnesses from academia and
industry who are working on new solutions to plastic recycling,
including chemical recycling and applying robotics and
artificial intelligence to material sorting. I look forward to
having a productive and insightful conversation.
Innovation in these areas will ensure a better world for
our children and grandchildren. Thank you, Madam Chair. I yield
back.
Chairwoman Stevens. Thank you. And the Chair now
recognizes the Chairwoman of the Full Committee, Chairwoman
Johnson, for an opening statement.
Chairwoman Johnson. Good morning, and thank you,
Chairwoman Stevens, for holding today's hearing, and happy
birthday. Leaders across the globe are wrestling with the need
to reduce plastic waste, and I appreciate the fact that you,
Chairwoman Stevens, and Congressman Gonzalez--this bipartisan
leadership on legislation you introduced supporting research
and development activities to help reduce plastic waste.
Communities across the country, including my district in
Dallas, Texas, are trying to find solutions to deal with the
increasing levels of plastic waste. The statistics concerning
plastic pollution are indeed staggering. In 2018 plastic waste
was the third largest source of municipal solid waste in the
United States. In that year alone we generated 35.7 million
tons of plastic waste, recycled three million tons, combusted
5.6 million tons, and put 27 million tons of plastic in waste
landfills. These statistics make it imperative to support
research that can help us move forward in a sustainable way.
Experts agree that no single solution will solve the plastic
waste crisis. We must have an all-of-the-above approach.
To that end, it is important to understand barriers to the
current recycling system, the potential for upstream solutions,
and what research, technology, and data gaps we need to fill.
Also critical is understanding the need for standards
development and new assessment models to help us achieve
sustainable systems. Collaboration will be key between Federal
agencies, State and local governments, academia, the private
sector, and international partners. Today's hearing is very
important, and the step we're taking with it is working toward
achieving sustainability goals for our environment, and I look
forward to this discussion, and I thank you and yield back.
[The prepared statement of Chairwoman Johnson follows:]
Good morning, and thank you Chairwoman Stevens for holding
today's hearing to discuss this important issue. Leaders across
the globe are wrestling with the need to reduce plastic waste,
and I appreciate Chairwoman Stevens' and Congressman Gonzalez's
bipartisan leadership on the legislation they introduced
supporting research and development activities to help reduce
plastic waste.
Communities across the country, including my district in
Dallas, Texas, are trying to find solutions to deal with the
increasing levels of plastic waste. The statistics concerning
plastic pollution are indeed staggering. In 2018, plastic was
the third largest source of municipal solid waste in the U.S.
In that year alone, we generated 35.7 million tons of plastic
waste, recycled 3 million tons, combusted 5.6 million tons, and
put 27 million tons of plastic waste in landfills.
These statistics make it an imperative to support research
that can help us move forward in a more sustainable way.
Experts agree that no single solution will solve the plastic
waste crisis. We must have an all-of-the-above approach. To
that end, it is important to understand barriers to the current
recycling system, the potential for upstream solutions, and
what research, technology, and data gaps we need to fill. Also
critical is understanding the need for standards development
and new assessment models to help us achieve sustainable
systems.
Collaboration will be key between federal agencies, State
and local governments, academia, the private sector, and
international partners. Today's hearing is an important step in
working towards achieving sustainability goals for our
environment, and I look forward to the discussion and our
witnesses' testimony.
Thank you.
Chairwoman Stevens. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair, and
if there are Members who wish to submit additional opening
statements, your statements will be added to the record at this
point.
Also at this time I'd like to introduce our witnesses. Our
first witness is Ms. Keefe Harrison. Ms. Harrison is the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of The Recycling Partnership, a
national nonprofit dedicated to protecting the planet by fixing
recycling and activating a circular economy throughout the
United States. She is an international speaker, media pundit,
and environmental author dedicated to engaging companies in
making measurable, lasting change in communities. Under her
leadership, The Recycling Partnership has grown significantly,
engaging more than 70 funding partners, and reaching more than
half of American households.
Our next witness is Dr. Marc Hillmyer. Dr. Hillmyer is the
Director, and Principal Investigator of the University of
Minnesota NSF (National Science Foundation) Center for
Sustainable Polymers. He joined the Department of Chemistry
Faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1997, and is
currently the McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Chemistry
at the University, where his research focuses on the synthesis
and self-assembly of multifunctional polymers. Dr. Hillmyer
served as an associate editor for the ACS journal
Macromolecules from 2018 to 2017, and he has been editor-in-
chief since 2018.
Our third witness is Dr. Gregory Keoleian. Dr. Keoleian is
the Peter M. Wege Professor of Sustainable Systems at the
University of Michigan, and serves as the Director of the
Center for Sustainable Systems. He also holds appointments as a
Professor in the School for Environment and Sustainability, and
the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His
research focuses on the development and application of life
cycle models and sustainability metrics to guide the design and
improvement of products and technology.
Our final witness is Mr. Joshua Baca. Mr. Baca is the Vice
President of the Plastics Division at the American Chemistry
Council. In this role he oversees strategic programs to advance
a science-based policy agenda, national outreach, and
sustainability initiatives on behalf of America's leading
plastic makers. He also leads industry initiatives and fosters
multi-stakeholder dialog around helping end plastic waste by
creating a more circular economy.
As our witnesses should know, you will each have 5 minutes
for your spoken testimony. You written testimony will be
included in the record for the hearing. When you all have
completed your spoken testimony, we will begin with questions.
Each Member will have 5 minutes to question the panel. We will
start with Ms. Harrison's opening testimony.
TESTIMONY OF MS. KEEFE HARRISON,
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER,
THE RECYCLING PARTNERSHIP
Ms. Harrison. Madam Chairwoman, and Members of the
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you
about this important topic. As you know, I am the CEO of The
Recycling Partnership, and we are a national nonprofit that
works with companies, communities, and policies to strengthen
the U.S. recycling system. You may remember our recent campaign
in D.C. to boost recycling. That was an example of the type of
grant that we give, and how we partner with thousands of cities
across the county, and across the country. The Recycling
Partnership is designed to bring together public and private
sectors because without coordination, recycling will never
deliver the solutions that we all need. Recycling has been
something old, become something new again, but we need to
ensure that that is by plan, and not just by chance, as is the
current case, and we're here today to talk about how to execute
that plan, a shared vision for the future, one of a circular
economy, moving away from a linear economy, where we take raw
materials from the planet, make stuff out of it, just to bury
all that value back in the ground after a single use.
Committee Members, recycling is so much more than just
putting things in a recycling bin. It's really about smarter
feed stock and stronger methods for manufacturing. But there's
a hitch. As many of you have heard, recycling faces barriers
that it needs help in overcoming. That's why we're here today,
and, in fact, The Recycling Partnership just wrote a report
that you may be interested in. It's called ``Paying It Forward:
How Investing In Recycling Will Pay Dividends'', and it
outlines how to fix the U.S. recycling system, and deliver
rewards to the environment and the economy.
Now, when it comes to plastics, technology has an
important role to play in delivering that better system. R&D
(research and development) can help us answer important
questions like how do we better design plastics products to
meet the demands of the infrastructure? Things like labels,
ink, adhesives, they make a big difference in determining if
something is truly recyclable. Similarly, how do we make sure
that improvements of the infrastructure are aligned with all
the innovation of what's coming into the system, what is being
designed? How can we develop standards to make sure that
businesses across the country know what quality of recyclable
feed stock that they're getting, and exactly how can we make
sure that recycled content supply is available for U.S.
businesses, like businesses in all of your States? There is
Unifi in North Carolina, turning old soda and water bottles
into recycled fiber for clothes, Polywood in Indiana, making
indoor--or outdoor furniture out of detergent bottles. Envision
Plastics in California, capturing ocean-bound plastics and
producing feed stock for shampoo and soap bottles for companies
like Method in Illinois. There's Schupan in Michigan, Indorama
in Texas, Alpek in Pennsylvania, all turning bottles into new
bottles.
So why does this matter to this Committee? Three things
should be top of mind for our discussion today, system
solutions, scale, and speed. R&D that focuses on those three
things matter most. Technology only helps if it's part of a
system. What's not needed? One-off technologies, silver
bullets, individual projects that don't add up to systems
change. Each one of those businesses that I mentioned, and all
the others like them, have to overcome technical barriers in
order to become profitable and grow. We need research to turn
those technical barriers into bridges, helping to create a
circular economy not just by chance, but by plan. We commend
this Committee for its attention to plastics in a circular
economy, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to testify today.
The Recycling Partnership looks forward to working with you on
solutions that create jobs, protect our planet, and its people.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Harrison follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Stevens. Thank you. And now we will hear from
Dr. Hillmyer.
TESTIMONY OF DR. MARC HILLMYER,
DIRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR,
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE POLYMERS
Dr. Hillmyer. Thank you. Chairwoman Stevens, Ranking
Member Waltz, Chairwoman Johnson, Ranking Member Lucas, and
distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the
invitation to provide testimony in today's hearing. I'm quite
honored to have this opportunity to speak with you today. I'm a
Professor of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota, and the
Director of the National Science Foundation Center for
Sustainable Polymers, which is a center for chemical innovation
headquartered here at Minnesota. Polymers are the molecules of
plastics, and I have worked in the field of polymer science
since my time as an undergraduate researcher at the University
of Florida. I earned my Ph.D. in Chemistry studying polymers at
the California Institute of Technology. Since beginning as a
Professor of Chemistry at Minnesota, I've worked in the areas
of sustainable polymers, and much of my research today has
connections to sustainability. As the Director of the National
Science Foundation Center for Sustainable Polymers since its
inception in 2009, I've led numerous research efforts and
managed a broad research portfolio focused on sustainable
polymers. I really have a passion for advancing sustainable
polymers through basic research endeavors that enable a
circular economy for future generations.
As a society that depends on plastics every day, and in
nearly all established, new, and emerging high and low tech
applications, we're faced with a crisis. The comforts,
conveniences, and efficiencies associated with the use of these
modern materials also comes at a cost, ever-increasing, broadly
distributed, and persistent plastic pollution. Moreover, nearly
all the new plastic that is produced globally every year is
derived from non-renewable fossil resources, thus contributing
to the depletion of finite feed stocks harbored by Earth. While
we all know about plastics recycling, and the chasing arrow
indicators on plastics, the fact is that a very small
percentage of plastics are effectively recycled.
To make matters worse, most plastics are used for a short
period of time, for example in packaging or disposable service-
ware, and then immediately disposed of, and often
indiscriminately. The value of plastic--of that plastic
material is lost, waste is generated, and very little is
ultimately recycled. A staggering level of these discarded
materials, and the microplastics derived therefrom, end up on
our landscapes and in our waterways, causing environmental and
ecological damage. The resulting negative impacts to the food
chain, and ultimately to our own health, is a clear concern.
Using oil and gas to make plastics that typically have very
short use lifetimes, end up in the environment, and cause
damage to our ecosystems is simply unsustainable.
However, we all need plastic. These remarkable materials
are so important it's difficult to imagine modern society
without them. In fact, plastics contribute to sustainability in
positive ways, such as in lightweight transportation, food
preservation, and renewable energy applications. The other main
contributing factor for our extensive use of plastic is that
these materials are generally available at very low cost. The
performance to price ratio of plastics is about as high as it
gets. While I can argue that we all need plastic, we don't need
all plastic. Certainly unnecessary plastic materials permeate
our society, and dematerialization will unquestionable play an
important role in a sustainable polymer future. There are some
places where we simply use too much plastic.
We need a major change in the way we produce, use, dispose
of, and recycle plastics. The goal of zero plastic pollution is
a lofty, but necessary one for a sustainable plastics future.
To realize this vision, there are many interwoven factors and
needs. These include policy initiatives, improved recycling
practices, other end-of-life infrastructure, and industry
adoption of sustainable alternatives for current plastic
products, packaging, and processes. I'm here today to emphasize
the fact that basic and fundamental research in sustainable
polymers is, and will continue to be, essential to build a
strong foundation from which new sustainable technologies can
be built. Now, this is where government, industry, and private
foundation support all play critically important roles. Basic
research in sustainable polymers that aims to uncover the
underlying principles associated with, for example, efficient
conversion of renewable feed stocks to valuable chemical
intermediates, green processes to incorporate those chemicals
into advanced polymer structures, and how to design materials
for viable and sustainable end-of-life scenarios post-use, will
positively contribute to a sustainable polymer future.
This important research, aimed and understanding
fundamentals, and revealing what is possible with sustainable
polymers, is decades behind analogous work in non-renewable,
fossil-derived, non-degradable, and practically non-recyclable
materials that dominate today's landscape. Significant effort,
support, and new initiatives are imperative for future
generations to enjoy the benefits of plastics, while
simultaneously eliminating their negative consequences. In my
written testimony I provide an overview of research efforts
carried out in the National Science Foundation Center for
Sustainable Polymers, my view on broader research needs in the
sustainable polymer arena, and my support for the proposed
Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling Research Act. Thank you
again for this opportunity to testify today. I am truly honored
to be here to be able to share my thoughts and visions for a
sustainable polymer future, and I look forward to answering any
questions you may have. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Hillmyer follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Stevens. Thank you, Dr. Hillmyer, the honor is
all ours. And with that, we will hear from Dr. Keoleian.
TESTIMONY OF DR. GREGORY KEOLEIAN,
DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS,
PETER M. WEGE PROFESSOR OF SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS,
SCHOOL FOR ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY;
PROFESSOR, CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING,
CO-COORDINATOR, ENGINEERING SUSTAINABLE
SYSTEMS PROGRAM, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Dr. Keoleian. Thank you, Chairwoman Stevens, and Ranking
Member Waltz, and all of the other Members of this
Subcommittee. My name is Greg Keoleian. I serve as Director of
the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of
Michigan, and the Professor in the School for Environment and
Sustainability in the Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering. My research focuses on the development of life
cycle models and sustainability metrics to guide the design and
improvement of products and technology. Our center recently
developed the first comprehensive characterization of plastics
use by resin type across the U.S. economy. I wish to offer some
observations and recommendations based on this and other
plastic sustainability research with industry, ranging from
milk packaging to building insulation.
The plastics waste crisis is more than a packaging waste
problem. 2/3 of the plastic put into use in the U.S. went into
markets other than packaging, including consumer products,
furniture, electronics, transportation, and buildings, each
with unique challenges and opportunities. Less than 8 percent
of the plastics retired in these products are recycled.
Multiple technical and economic barriers limit plastics
material recovery. In theory, most of the thermoplastics used
in packaging have a high recyclability, but actual low
recycling rates can be traced to inexpensive virgin feed stocks
combined with material quality issues. Plastic content and e-
waste is estimated at 20 to 33 percent, and commercially viable
mechanical recycling systems cannot handle the current volume
and diversity of plastics and e-waste. Buildings are using
increasing amounts of plastic for piping, siding, trim, plastic
wood composites, as well as insulation. Recovery is extremely
challenging, given that building demolition produces mixed
waste, with low fractions of plastics.
Plastics growth in the transportation sector has been
primarily due to light-weighting efforts, and the specialized
properties that engineered resins afford. Plastic recovery from
auto-shredder residue is challenging. 39 different plastic
types are used to make cars. Separation technologies are very
capital intensive, and the cost to separate, clean, and collect
often exceeds that of virgin plastic, especially with low oil
and national gas prices.
Systems analysis tools are necessary to overcome these
challenges. First, research is needed to fill in gaps in
plastics material flow. Improved characterization will
facilitate coordination between product design, manufacturing,
and material recovery efforts. This is needed to direct R&D and
capital resources toward bottleneck stages in greatest need of
innovation. Second, life cycle analysis models are needed to
guide innovation in robust, cost-effective solutions. Life
cycle assessments of plastic used in products can elucidate
tradeoffs and guide improvements. They're necessary to avoid
burden shifting and promotion of less environmentally
sustainable alternatives. Third, emphasize interdisciplinary
R&D to develop plastic waste solutions. At the core of the
current plastics waste crisis is an economics problem.
Sustainable solutions are effective when there is alignment
between technology, markets, policy, and behavioral drivers.
Interdisciplinary research bringing together engineers,
industrial ecologists--economists, policy analysts, behavioral
scientists can achieve convergence and robust solutions more
quickly. Also, implementation could be accelerated when
academics, industry, government, and community partners co-
create solutions.
Fourth, R&D should target product system design system
design solutions beyond recycling. I strongly encourage the
broadening of the research scope to develop solutions that can
avoid or limit generation of waste. These strategies include
dematerialization, material substitution, service life
extension of products, re-use, and re-manufacturing. Fifth,
develop a road map to guide R&D coordination across agencies.
This can help set research priorities and avoid research
duplication, given the wide array of resin and composite types
used for the wide range of plastic applications, each with
varying lifetimes. Finally, plastic waste reductions solutions
should also reduce carbon emissions. Humanity is facing a
climate emergency. We need to prioritize technological plastic
waste reduction innovations that could also create solutions to
accelerate greenhouse gas emissions to zero.
In conclusion, solutions to plastic waste crisis will
require a major transformation to systems through technology,
community engagement, behavior change, and policy innovations.
Technological innovations in recycling alone will not be
sufficient. I fully support the goals of the Committee's
legislation, and hope my systems analysis-based recommendations
will help strengthen programming and implementation. Appreciate
the opportunity to share my perspectives, and welcome your
questions. Thank you very much for your attention.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Keoleian follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Stevens. Thank you so much, Dr. Keoleian. And
now we will hear from Mr. Baca.
TESTIMONY OF MR. JOSHUA BACA, VICE PRESIDENT,
PLASTICS DIVISION, AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCIL
Mr. Baca. Good morning. Let me first start off by thanking
the Subcommittee for holding this important hearing today. I
want to commend the Chairwoman from Michigan for her leadership
in this issue, her pragmatic approach in driving actions, and
her collaborative style in bringing stakeholders together to
solve big challenges we face as a Nation. The American
Chemistry Council's Plastics Division is pleased to provide
testimony to this Subcommittee. Our members are the leading
producers of modern plastic materials used to make countless
consumer and durable goods, used in a variety of applications,
and innovations that improve the quality of our lives, our
environment, and our economy.
ACC encourages passage of the bipartisan Plastic Waste
Reduction and Recycling Research Act. If passed, this
legislation would direct Federal Government resources to
improve the global competitiveness of U.S. plastics recycling,
and ensure U.S. leadership in plastic waste reduction and
recycling research. It would also help capture the value of
used plastics through enhanced research and development, and
create standards, tools, and technologies necessary to
modernize and expand today's recycling systems. Finally, it
will accelerate the research and development for advanced
recycling technologies.
Our members are deeply committed to creating a circular
economy for plastics, and ending plastic waste in the
environment. Plastics contribute to sustainability goals, which
help protect the American environment for future generations.
Plastic waste does not. Waste in the environment, including
plastic waste, is never acceptable. We are eager in taking
action to solve this problem. That's why, in 2018, America's
plastic makers established two ambitious circular economy
goals. By 2030, 100 percent of U.S. plastic packaging will be
recyclable or recoverable, and by 2040 100 percent of U.S.
plastic packaging will be re-used, recycled, or recovered. Last
year we released our road map to re-use, which outlined a
vision, and a set of actions to mobilize the entire plastics
value chain to achieve these goals. Our industry has worked to
grow the circular economy for all plastics by implementing our
road map.
Since July of 2017 our industry has invested nearly $6
billion to grow plastics recycling in the United States, most
of it in advanced recycling technologies. While traditional
recycling processes will continue to play an important role in
plastics recycling, they do face some important limitations.
Newer, cutting edge technologies known as advanced recycling
complement these traditional systems by picking up where they
leave off, and enabling communities to recycle significantly
more types, and greater quantities, of plastics. Advanced
recycling technologies are innovative manufacturing processes
that fundamentally transform the chemical structure of post-use
plastic back to their basic chemical building blocks. These
building blocks are the raw materials used for making virgin
quality plastic and other valuable products. They enable more
types of plastics to become resources for new manufacturing,
conserving natural resources, and helping grow local jobs and
economies.
Momentum for advanced recycling is accelerating across the
United States, and the Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling
Research Act will help sustain that momentum. Globally
recognized corporations and mature recycling enterprises are
making significant commitments, and building infrastructure at
a commercial scale. Technology has evolved and created new
opportunities and tremendous breakthroughs that can create
virgin-quality packaging critical for demanding applications,
such as food-grade and pharmaceutical packaging. There is a
significant and growing market for recycled products driven by
company commitments and consumer demand for using more recycled
plastic in products. 14 States have enacted legislation to
update their existing laws so companies are more appropriately
regulated in their deployment of advanced recycling
technologies, and a first wave of advanced recycling
enterprises is achieving third party validation through
international certification. We believe, with the right
approaches and commitment, the challenge of plastic waste in
the environment is solvable, and collective actions by
government, industry, nonprofits, and NGO's (non-governmental
organizations) will make America more sustainable.
The stakes are high. Plastics are critical to a modern
society, from light-weighting vehicles to reduce carbon
emissions, to sealing and insulating our homes and buildings,
to delivering essential health care, preserving food, and
preventing food waste, and contributing to an overall higher
quality of life. Again, I want to thank the Subcommittee for
holding this important hearing today. We appreciate the
opportunity to collaborate on this legislation, and future
legislation, and I yield my back--my time back to the
Chairwoman.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Baca follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Stevens. Great. Thank you so much, Mr. Baca.
And as you can all tell, we've got a great group here, and this
is making for a--just a very exciting hearing, so at this point
we're going to move to our first round of questions, and the
Chair is going to recognize herself for 5 minutes of
questioning.
A recent Federal study found that contamination of
recyclables is a major cross-cutting challenge to the U.S.
recycling system. I've seen this in my own district in
Southeastern Michigan, when I talk to my municipal leaders, or
others in industry. Contamination of recyclables can occur when
non-recyclables, such as plastic bags, are not sorted from
recyclables, or when food residue on recyclable plastic
materials makes them non-recyclable. Ms. Harrison, what steps
can we take to ensure businesses and consumers know the quality
of plastic feed stock that they are acquiring for making new
products?
Ms. Harrison. So I love this question, because it's really
about how do we make sure that recycled content is competing
with virgin, right? It's--recycling is all about manufacturing,
and it has to compete on price, on quality, and on volume.
Manufacturers need to know that they can depend on recycled
feed stock to be there when they need it. So contamination, I
think, can be put into two buckets. One, a misstep in the
design of a product. I mentioned labels, adhesives. We need
thought that goes into how packaging is designed, and I would
encourage the Committee to look at plasticiq.com. It's a new
tool, a free tool, that we just designed with support and--from
Walmart to help suppliers align around common design challenges
so that we know, as consumers, when we get something off the
shelf, it is in prime recycling condition.
And then the second thing--the second bucket of where
contamination comes in is really in the household. That
challenge is when--we can sometimes call this wish-cycling,
when people hope that something is recyclable, and so they put
it into the bin. They're confused, not really knowing what it's
about, doesn't have the arrows on it. So that part--point of
what--how do we engage the public is a really important one,
because it's not just awareness. We know the public is aware of
recycling. What we need to get to is how do we engage them in
the correct behavior of what to recycle on which day?
Education has been woefully underfunded in this country.
Consumers are concerned and confused, and I think that if we
marry how things are designed for the system with how we
leverage that public will, we'll find a better outcome. We're
doing work in communities right now. We have a program called
Feet on the Street, where we partner with communities to make
sure that we are addressing the key challenge to contamination
for that city, and that program uses oops tags on carts to
really trigger the problem that an individual household is
making. You know, the No. 1 challenge to recycling that many
people make is they're trying their best, and they put all
those recyclables in a plastic bag. When they tie them up in a
plastic bag, in most places, that renders them unrecyclable by
the facilities. That's the No. 1 thing that we go after,
Chairwoman. So I put it in design and consumer behavior.
Chairwoman Stevens. All right. Well, we're educating the
public here today. And also, you know, just wondering how
plastics in today's waste streams changed since the development
of the resin identification codes from 30 years ago, which are
commonly identified on plastic packaging by a No. 1 through
seven in a triangle. So one of the things that we're looking at
here today is what additional research is needed for better
plastic characterization, and how could that research yield new
standards in identification codes? And, you know, Ms. Harrison,
if you have anything to contribute on that, I'd love to hear
from you, as well as Dr. Keoleian, whose research was also
speaking to this.
Ms. Harrison. Well, quickly, I'd say that those resin
identification codes determine the--or indicate the material's
past, not the material's future. They do not automatically
determine that something is recyclable, even if it has a one.
It doesn't automatically mean--so if--better research into how
we communicate to the public with confidence that, yes, this
was designed for the solution, and--for the system, and that
the system meets it in the middle, the system can take this, I
think would be much--a much needed solution. But I'll turn it
over to Dr. Keoleian.
Dr. Keoleian. Yeah, I would agree. Identification is
critical to help with sorting, but I think that other systems
are necessary to facilitate the sorting, and we should really
also look at transferability of models that are successful. As
you know, in the State of Michigan we have a bottle bill, and
so we have very high quality in terms of our recycled
containers due to the redemption rates that we have here
compared to other states that don't have those bottle bills. So
we have to really look holistically at our solutions.
Chairwoman Stevens. Yeah, which is part of what we're also
symbolizing here today, with the great panelists. So I'm out of
time. I now going to recognize the gentleman from the nice
State of Florida, who is right, those beaches--you know, us
Michiganders, not maybe this time of year we're racing to, but
there are certainly points of time in the year where my
constituents are either in Florida, or looking to get to
Florida, so----
Mr. Waltz. See you in January.
Chairwoman Stevens. Yeah. So with that, Mr. Waltz.
Mr. Waltz. Yeah. No, thank you so much, Chairwoman. Dr.
Hillmyer, I mentioned during my opening statement my visit to
the Loggerhead Marine Life Center, I saw the, you know, the
damaging impacts of microplastics in our environment and in our
food supply. Do you think that biodegradable plastics would be
beneficial? Seems to me, you know, it could be a bit of a game
changer in addressing the challenge of microplastics. And if
so, what challenges to adopting more biodegradable plastics do
you see?
Dr. Hillmyer. Congressman, thank you for the question.
This is a challenging question because of definitions of
biodegradable that are present. Biodegradable over what
timeframe and under what conditions? I firmly believe that
biodegradable plastics will be a piece of the plastics puzzle,
in that development of materials that can be assimilated by
microorganisms in either engineered environments, such as
industrial composting, and places like that, or, if escaped
into the environment indiscriminately, they could end up then
biodegrading over some time frame. The issue is--how do we
really understand the fundamental processes of biodegradation
over what time scale, and under what conditions that
biodegradation takes place. I think we want to be careful about
plastics that are labeled as biodegradable as maybe
incentivizing, you know, leaving them in the environment.
That's one thing we have to be careful about.
But I do think that with proper, for example, compost
infrastructure, and proper understanding and education around
this issue, is that biodegradable plastics will play a role in
the future sustainable polymers. One example would be, as we
spoke about before, in food contaminated plastics. So, for
example, if those plastics were compostable, they could go in
compostable food waste, provided the infrastructure was
available. So the answer is a little more complicated and
nuanced, but I will end by saying yes, that it is a piece of
the plastics puzzle, and how we will solve it. Biodegradable
polymers will play a role.
Mr. Waltz. Yeah, thank you, and the answers always seem to
be much more complex than most people, including this
Committee, fully appreciates. Mr. Baca, we discussed that China
has banned the import of plastic recycling for processing from
the United States and many other countries. The claim is that
it's due to the poor quality of the plastic bundles being
imported. Do you agree? One, do you agree, and do you believe
that China has other ambitions behind the recent ban? If so,
what do you think they are? And I just have to ask more
broadly, what would it mean for the U.S. if we were to
completely cede leadership to China in advanced recycling?
Mr. Baca. Congressman, thank you so much for that
question, and I 100 percent agree with you. We should not be
ceding leadership on the issue of advanced recycling to any
country right now. I think when you get to the issue of
contamination, the biggest challenge we have right now is
really a fragmented system, where you have 9,000 jurisdictions
across the United States doing 9,000 different things. I think
there's a very appropriate role for Congress here to develop a
set of minimum standards that work to improve recycling access,
recycling education, recycling outreach, and recycling
collection. That will definitely streamline the processes to
getting more plastics, and all material, frankly, into the
system.
I think when it comes to the issue of advanced recycling,
the good news that I want to share with this Committee is that
advanced recycling is actually being built at a commercial
scale. The fundamentals that have guided the market development
of advanced recycling continue to change, and there have been
tremendous breakthroughs in advanced recycling that allow us to
capture all plastic materials, turn them into virgin quality
plastics, and re-use them again, and again, and again. You
know, there's a couple of examples that I would give you. You
know, a pouch, something that you use to get your food, that's
now recyclable because of breakthroughs in advanced recycling.
Foam food containers is another great example of what that
breakthrough is.
The point is is technology is not static. It evolves over
time, and the work that this Committee is doing in laying the
foundation to ensure our global leadership is one I highly
commend you work toward.
Mr. Waltz. No, thank you for that, and I agree, I think
that is an appropriate role for Congress, but then also that
education piece--I can tell you, my own family we get confused
on what is recyclable, what is not. I'm an avid recycler. I
hate the waste, but it is difficult to figure out, even going
back and forth from D.C. and various places in Florida, so I
think those are absolutely appropriate roles, and I look
forward to working with this Committee to move the ball
forward. I yield my time.
Chairwoman Stevens. And with that, we're going to
recognize our next Member for 5 minutes of questioning. It
looks like we might be moving to Mr. Beyer for 5 minutes of
questioning. You are now recognized. OK, wait, pardon me, Mr.
Tonko's sitting right here. Sorry, we're on the screen. We're
going to--Don, we're going to hold on you, and we're going to
recognize my good friend from the great State of New York, Mr.
Paul Tonko.
Mr. Tonko. Thank you, Madam Chair, and, first things
first, happy birthday, and great to see your mom in the
audience, in the--not the virtual setting, but the real
setting, since she had a major role to play in the celebration,
the annual celebration. We say thank you to her for delivering
a great Member of Congress.
So I thank you for holding today's hearing, and for your
efforts to advance solutions to address our growing plastic
waste problem. Today America's recycling systems face
exponentially greater volumes of plastic waste, with more
complex and multi-layered plastic products than it was ever
designed to handle. Even as the U.S. recycling market has grown
more broadly, our plastic recycling systems have not kept pace,
and, when these systems are overwhelmed, we risk environmental
damage, hard to clean pollution, and, most importantly, grave
danger to human health. We need swift and bold action at both
ends of this problem, making investments in recycling R&D, with
strong oversight of those programs, while also focusing
individually as a society, and as a government, on the urgent
need to reduce the amount of plastic waste that we do indeed
generate in the first place.
So when it comes to R&D, several Federal agencies carry
out R&D and standards development programs related to plastics
recycling, material substitutes, and data gathering. However, I
was astonished to learn that there is currently no coordinated
effort to facilitate multi-agency collaboration to reduce
plastic waste and improve recycling R&D. So, Dr. Keoleian, what
do you think the role of the Federal Government should be in
supporting cross-cutting R&D and innovation necessary to
address our plastic waste reduction and recycling challenges?
Dr. Keoleian. That is an excellent question, and clearly
there needs to be coordination, in terms of this R&D, through
the Federal Government so that we can most efficiently use our
R&D resources to target the most significant challenges and
bottlenecks in our system. And I really recommend--we developed
this first characterization--you may have seen the spaghetti
diagram of the flow of plastics through the economy, from
production, to use markets, to end of life, but it is--some of
the areas are incomplete. We don't have data in certain areas
to understand what resins are going into what systems, so I
first recommend that we really do a more in-depth
characterization of the different resins, and uses, and end of
life management strategies so we understand fully the problem.
And then the solutions really need to be looked at so that
we can develop infrastructure that's going to deal with, you
know, long-lived products like buildings and automobiles versus
packaging. So I think that we, through a characterization of
the streams, can then decide which types of materials we want
to go after, and what end-use products. And so coordination is
definitely key, and I think that starting out with an overall
accounting of the problem will facilitate better use of
resources.
Mr. Tonko. Thank you. And Dr. Hillmyer, I'm very concerned
about the climate impacts of plastic production, which are
primarily caused by the use of fossil fuel feed stocks. What
environmental benefits, such as lower emissions from
production, are associated with your work in developing
alternatives to fossil fuel-based plastics?
Dr. Hillmyer. Congressman, thank you for the question.
It's pretty clear that turning to renewable resources for
plastics will ultimately be the future in the long run, and the
research associated with how to efficiently convert those
materials from annually renewable resources like plants, that
sequester CO2, is really of high priority. The
bottom line is that the ability to convert sugars from plants
to chemicals that we can ultimately use in the manufacture of
plastics, requires fundamental research to support new
technologies that stem from that, because you're competing with
an industry that is very efficient, and has many efficiencies
associated with the conversion of fossil resources. So we work
on this in the center, in trying to understand how to use
renewable resources, how to convert them efficiently, into
molecules that have utility in the polymer and plastics arena.
The basic research is coming along, and--but more effort is
needed to make it both technologically and economically
competitive with petrochemically derived materials.
Mr. Tonko. Thank you so much. And, with that, I say
welcome Maria Marcotte, and thank you, Chair Stevens. I yield
back.
Chairwoman Stevens. Well, thank you so much. You really
are the sweetest friend, Mr. Tonko. And with that, allow me to
recognize my colleague from Ohio, who's just been a really
great collaborator on this work, Mr. Gonzalez.
Mr. Gonzalez. Thank you, Madam Chair, happy birthday. And
thank you to our witnesses for being here today, and for your
expertise. I agree, Congress must get to work on ways to
accelerate innovation in plastics and battery recycling, reduce
the environmental impact of their consumption, and increase the
economic value and security of domestic resources and supply
chains. Recycling, and innovations in recycling, need to be a
key part of addressing the climate challenge, as Mr. Hillmyer
just discussed. It is of critical importance that we consider a
comprehensive government approach to spur innovations through
R&D and coordination across relevant Federal agencies on the
work. That's why I was proud to join the Chairwoman in
introducing the Plastics Waste Reduction and Recycling Research
Act this Congress, and applaud her leadership on this issue.
It's also importance to recognize the unique role of the
Department of Energy (DOE), and its National Labs, in enabling
next generation research in plastics optimization and advanced
recycling.
Mr. Baca, I want to start with you. In your prepared
remarks you describe ACC's work with DOE and its National Labs.
So my question is, how is the Department of Energy's Office of
Science uniquely positioned to conduct research to solve
challenges in this space?
Mr. Baca. Congressman, thank you so much for that
question. Let me start off by saying this, all in regard to the
comments about the climate challenge, first off. Plastics
overall have a much lower carbon footprint than any other
material. They've been critical, as I mentioned in my
statement, to light-weighting vehicles and insulating our
homes, and some of the work that we're doing with the
Department of Energy and our National Labs is really focused on
that ability to understand the lifecycle of plastic materials,
and ensure that we understand its impact on the environment.
That work is currently happening. We've been working with a
variety of the National Laboratories, Argonne National
Laboratory, for instance. We work with the Department of Energy
on their Plastics Innovation Challenge.
The key thing is that this work is happening right now.
We're working with some of the leading scientists in the world
to examine and research the best ways to recover, reuse, and
recycle more of our plastic materials. So I commend the work
the Committee is doing. Our industry is happy to be working
with this. There's a critical role for the Department of
Energy. There's also a critical role for the National Labs to
ensuring that we study the best uses for plastic recycling
going forward.
Mr. Gonzalez. Thank you. And then, as a follow-up, is
there anything that should be done to facilitate more effective
use of DOE's work by other stakeholders or other agencies, and
are there mechanisms needed to promote more public/private
partnerships through these programs?
Mr. Baca. Absolutely. We could always be doing more to
promote more public/private partnerships. Many of us on this
meeting today, our organization collaborates very often with
groups like The Recycling Partnership, The Alliance to End
Plastic Waste, Closed Loop Partners, to name a few, to create a
circular system here. That private/public partnership is an
excellent model, in the sense that we are able to capture more
plastic and collaborate on a solution. The work being done by
the DOE and the National Labs, for instance, those findings
should further inform the work we're doing. So, yes, I think
we--part of the work I think this Committee can do is connect
those dots to bring the stakeholders together.
To solve the problem of plastic waste, it's going to
require a tremendous amount of collaboration. Not one industry
is going to solve it. It's going require collaboration across
the entire plastics value chain. It's going to require
collaboration with scientists and engineers, the National Labs,
government, NGO's. And so, yes, connecting those dots I think
would be a very critical first step for that work.
Mr. Gonzalez. Great. And then my final question for you,
so there's sometimes some false narratives about advanced
recycling. Could you discuss how important advanced recycling
and innovative technologies will be to addressing the climate
challenge?
Mr. Baca. 100 percent. Advanced recycling is a critical
component to solving the plastic waste challenge. We are
developing advanced recycling technology at a commercial scale.
One of our member companies, Eastman Chemical, is building a
plastic to plastic facility in Tennessee that's going to cost
about $250 million. It's critical because what advanced
recycling does is it takes very difficult, hard to recycle
plastic--think, for instance, a pouch that is manufactured
today to keep your food fresh. That is light, it requires less
water produced, it's easy to transport from a carbon
perspective, but is very difficult to recycle from a mechanical
perspective. Advanced recycling takes those types of items,
breaks them down to their chemical building blocks, and creates
virgin quality plastic that allows it to go into very demanding
applications, like food contact, pharmaceutical, and medical.
And advanced recycling is going to be key as part of that
comprehensive strategy that the Congresswoman from Texas
mentioned, that all of the above strategy we need to solve the
plastic waste problem.
Mr. Gonzalez. Fantastic. Well, thank you for that. Thank
you to our witnesses again, and to Madam Chair, and I yield
back.
Chairwoman Stevens. And with that we'll now recognize Mr.
Beyer, from the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Mr. Beyer. Thank you, Madam Chair, very much, and I want
to thank your mother for doing the hard work 29 years ago and
giving birth to you, so I'm glad she's here with you today on
your birthday.
I want to say that I am very supportive of this Act, and
I'm all in on more research and development, and I do believe
that there's better living through chemistry, but I also think
the elephant in the room is why not less plastics? We seem to
spend an awful lot of time talking about recycling, and putting
plastics together, but our colleague Alan Lowenthal from Long
Beach has a banning single use plastics bill. There are now 69
countries that have banned plastic bags. There are at least
dozen that banned microbeads, including the United States and
the U.K. Dr. Keoleian, I know you're all about sustainability.
Is there not--are we not missing a big piece of this just by
thinking about better ways to use less plastics?
Dr. Keoleian. Yes. You make a very good point and
observation. We really need to look holistically at solving our
problems, in terms of providing goods and services economically
and sustainably. And yes, plastics do afford benefits of light-
weighting and safety, you know, protecting products, but there
is--you know, we really do need to look at--what we do in life
cycle assessment is look at the impacts in production, use, and
retirement, and evaluate the total energy, greenhouse gas
emissions, and waste. And there are definitely opportunities
today where we could substitute materials, use more durable
solutions, and reduce, you know, the use of plastics.
Plastics clearly have a critical role in our society, but
I think we could be smarter with substitutions, and--because if
we just focus on recycling, we could actually increase the
proliferation of plastics, and actually make recycling more
challenging, and the volumes could go up, which means more
resources. So, as you know, we are in a climate crisis. We need
a different calculus about how we look at sustainable systems
and solutions, and so I think it's really critical that, when
we evaluate innovations in recycling infrastructure, we look
from a life cycle lens.
And, you know, plastics are carbon intensive. There are
other materials that are less carbon intensive, but they are--
you know, they do offer advantages. But you get these tradeoffs
that occur, and it's important to use a systems approach to
address it.
Mr. Beyer. Yeah, sometimes even just little things--like,
you see on Capitol Hill, many Members will carry around the
big, you know, 32 ounce or 64 ounce water bottles, which is a
huge improvement over buying yet another water bottle, you
know, a dozen at a time.
Ms. Harrison, you have a background in ocean plastics,
among other things, and--which is--just scares the dickens out
of me. You know, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the
size of Texas, and that's one of only five major garbage
patches in the world. I mean, I just read we have up to two
million tons of plastics per year entering the ocean through
our rivers. What are we going to do to address this?
Ms. Harrison. Well, I think it gets back to your first
question. I agree that recycling will not solve this. Recycling
is part of a circular economy, but it is not the solution.
Recycling is a reaction. Recycling only happens when there's a
big enough pile that someone can turn into something new. If we
wait for that pile to accumulate in the ocean, we have missed
our opportunity to prevent it from happening in the first
place.
Yeah, I started off by studying turtles, and a couple
years ago I was on a research ship that took corporate execs
and, actually, my biologist--my lead biologist instructor from
college, she joined me on this trip, because I said, don't you
want to join corporate executives in the middle of the ocean to
see the plastics up front in the Sargasso Sea? And we jumped in
the middle of the water. We jumped in the Atlantic Ocean 50
kilometers east of Bermuda, and we saw the microplastics, but
we also macro. We saw fishing gear, we saw toilet seats, we saw
sporks. If we wait for sporks to be in the middle of the
Sargasso Sea, we have waited too long. We have to talk about a
system solution that takes into concepts--that takes R&D
concepts and marries them to economics. I love this
conversation about cross-agency collaboration. We must think
about it from a system point of view so we prevent the problem,
not just cleanup the problem.
Mr. Beyer. Thank you very much, and I yield back, Madam
Chair.
Chairwoman Stevens. Great. And, with that, allow me to
recognize my friend and colleague Dr. Baird for 5 minutes of
questioning.
Mr. Baird. Thank you, Madam Chair, and, again, happy
birthday. Ranking Member Waltz and our witnesses, we really
appreciate all of you being here. And I really appreciate Ms.
Harrison mentioning Polywood of Indiana, that makes outdoor
furnitures out of detergent bottles. And then just last week I
spoke to the ERI, which is the Electronic Recyclers
International, a company located in my district which
specializes in electronics recycling. And while, yes, this
hearing pertains to and focuses on the plastics recycling, I
believe that some of the themes remain the same when we view
recycling at a global level. And this is an issue that you
mentioned in your testimony, Dr. Keoleian.
The United States exports waste to developing countries,
which includes both plastics and electronics waste. I'd discuss
the national security and the counterfeiting which occurs from
exporting electronics waste, but that is but one issue. And as
such countries also present severe environmental harm by
improperly disposing of these materials, that being plastics as
well as the electronics. Realistically what's happening when
such countries import these plastics, and is there anything
that we can be doing to help in the disposal and make sure it's
handled properly? Dr. Keoleian?
Dr. Keoleian. Yeah. So one thing--just focusing on
electronic waste, I know the GAO (Government Accountability
Office) did a study and showed that there is a lot of illegal
activity of exporting waste, hazardous waste, and so one
activity that the Congress could do is strengthen the auditing
and, you know, crack down more on this illegal activity,
because that is posing problems in terms of, you know,
hazardous waste, and how they're managed improperly in
developing countries. So--and then we've talked about, you
know, setting up the infrastructure here so we're not
exporting. I think we need to take responsibility--total
producer responsibility in terms of how our products are
managed at end of life, and we can't rely on exporting. And I
think that there's a recognition that we also want to have
leadership in setting up a system to be able to properly manage
products like electronics to reduce risk. So I think, one,
accountability in terms of enforcement of the current
regulations that we have on electronics waste would go a long
ways.
Mr. Baird. Thank you for that. Dr. Hillmyer, in your
testimony you suggest bio-based fuels--I'm changing direction
here a little bit. You suggest that bio-based products would
make for promising materials to use in place of some of the
traditional manufacturing materials, and so, with my ag
background, I'm interested in how agriculture might play a role
in solving some of these issues, and provide the raw materials
for making alternative materials that would function for the
same purpose. So do you have any comments in that regard?
Dr. Hillmyer. Congressman, thank you, absolutely. There's
really--I spoke about in my testimony bio-based products, the
idea that you would use annually renewable crops to generate
not only new chemicals, Congressman, but actually incumbent
chemicals that could be drop-in replacements for petroleum-
based materials I think is an active and important area of
research. One area that is, I think, important now is the
ability to use non-nutritive biomass, you know, you can imagine
grasses and woody biomass, so that there's no disruption of the
food chain. But, of course, it turns out that it's a lot easier
to process things like corn, and sugar beets, and other
materials that have sugars that are more readily accessible to
fermentation processes, for example. That basic research, and
that fundamental understanding of how to convert those bio-
based resources, into both new chemicals and drop-in
replacements is in need of more effort and more research to
make these processes technologically viable. In the fullness of
time, using, like I said, non-nutritive biomass I think is a
really important goal for the industry.
Mr. Baird. Thank you, and I see I'm out of time, so I
yield back, Madam Chair.
Chairwoman Stevens. Perfectly on time. And, with that, the
Chair is going to recognize Dr. Bill Foster for 5 minutes of
questioning.
Mr. Foster. Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, Mr. Baca, first
off, thank you for your shoutout to Argonne National Lab, not
only because I represent Argonne, but it's really a perfect
example, you know, the research you cited, of why this
Committee is committed on a bipartisan basis to doubling DOE's
budget across the full range of its mission. It's just one
small but important part.
So my question to anyone that wants to try, what do you do
with high performance plastics? You know, how do you deal with
plastics that have, you know, glass fibers for structural
strength, or colorance, or carbon-black? You know, are there
classes of really high performance plastics, you know, high
temperature thermosets, like, you know, polyimides, like
Kapton, the epoxies and so on, for which there really is not
going to be a realistic recycling scenario, or--maybe short of
pyrolyzing them? You know, what fraction of the current and
potential market is this? Should we just focus on the generic
plastics, and acknowledge that there's a--some classes of
hopefully low volume plastics that are just going to be really
tough, and we should, at least for now, give up on them? Anyone
want to take a stab at----
Dr. Hillmyer. Congressman, I don't mind taking at stab, at
least at the--some aspect of it. I think you have an important
point, in that high performance materials, for example,
composite materials, certainly have challenges associated with
how to recycle them, but the contemporary research in this
arena, in the thermoset arena, let me just address one of them,
is actually going on at the Center for Sustainable Polymers, is
that--how do you--able to reprocess these materials?
Thermosets, as you may know, are typically viewed as
unreprocessable, but current research in dynamic exchange of
covalent bonds allows for these materials to be reprocessed in
ways that were not available before. So while recycling,
biodegradation, and other aspects of solving this plastic waste
dilemma are important, I do think reuse, and repurposing, and
reprocessing of materials could play a role, and they may very
well come along with composite materials, and, as you say,
fiberglass that's in there.
I'll end by saying that, yes, these are a smaller portion
of our plastics waste dilemma. I do not think we should ignore
it, but I think there are more pressing issues in, for example,
the more common and ubiquitous plastic packaging.
Mr. Foster. Does anyone want to say--yeah, how do you view
of the future of this? Is it going--are we going to go more and
more to solvent-type recycling, or, you know, what are the
future technologies? Or just do a really good job with
mechanical separation with robotics and--you know, what are the
technologies that are going to end up being important to this?
Anyone?
Mr. Baca. Well, Congressman, I'll take a shot at that. I
mean, I think some of the work that I talked about, in regards
to advanced recycling, right now is largely focused on plastic
packaging, but there's no doubt that we can learn from some of
those breakthroughs to see how we scale it across a variety of
other industries. We, as a plastics industry, represent a
variety of companies that do a variety of things in this space.
One key area that our companies are really focused in on is
helping create a low carbon future by light-weighting vehicles
and making them more energy efficient.
We have been working--we've already outlined a roadmap
that deals with the issue of circularity in the automotive
space, and it's going to require a lot more effort by work on
this Committee, and by government agencies, to really think
about that R&D aspect of that, because what we're doing right
now is we're solving an issue from a carbon perspective, but we
now need to think about how we make these materials more
sustainable, and reutilize them over and over and over again.
I was speaking to a sustainability fellow at Ford, and,
you know, even thinking about their vision a little bit, with
the electrification of cars and autonomous vehicles, for
instance, you know, those parts are valuable. They have high
value that could be used again and again, so there's no doubt
that more work needs to be done. My hope would be that some of
the work and the breakthroughs on things like advanced
recycling could eventually extend into some of these other
applications.
Mr. Foster. You know, so it's--I think it's in Germany
where they're--actually have very serious requirements on
recyclability for cars they're manufacturing. Is that a correct
remembrance of some story I've seen? You know, I guess, you
know, you're talking about the dream of having, you know, cars
that are assembled by robots at the factories, and then at the
end of their life they drive back to the factory, then the same
robots that put them together take them apart, and separate
them--melt down the plastic parts and cast them into new
pieces, you know, that--sort of as an ultimate endpoint. But
the Germans I thought were actually making some requirements
already on cars.
Mr. Baca. I don't know off the top of my head,
Congressman. We could definitely get that submitted for the
record. But I think your point is spot on, just what you said.
If you think of a futuristic world here, and the manufacturing
of vehicles, that vision you outlined is one that I think we
wholeheartedly subscribe to. The material is super valuable. It
adds tremendous value. It's not waste. And if we could capture
that material, break it down to its building blocks and re-use
it again, that's not just good for the environment. It's a
sustainable product, it reduces our reliance on natural
resources, and it's going to create circularity and
sustainability across a variety of industries.
Mr. Foster. Yeah. And all the leftover parts won't have
motor oil sprayed all over it. I guess my time is up, so I'll
yield back.
Chairwoman Stevens. OK.
Mr. Baca. Thank you, Congressman.
Chairwoman Stevens. Thanks. And now the Chair will
recognize the Congressman from Michigan, Peter Meijer, for 5
minutes of questioning.
Mr. Meijer. Thank you, Madam Chair, and once again, on
behalf of a fellow Member of the Michigan delegation, happy
birthday. Just wanted to again thank both our Ranking Member
and our Chair for hosting this Subcommittee hearing, and I
think it's an incredibly important topic, and one that, in West
Michigan, we care deeply about. We have two landfills in our
largest county, Kent County, one of which is nearing the end of
its lifecycle, and I'm proud to say that our county and local
officials are looking at ways of turning it into a sustainable
business park in order to recapture the value stream that right
now is being disposed of. And I want to also appreciate the
Ranking Member's remarks on the idea of a circular economy, and
what we can do to really close down some of those waste
streams. And obviously single use plastics is a main one. The
plastics that are not getting recycled that are recyclable are
also incredibly significant, but ever since the 2018 National
Sword policy by China, we lost one of our most valuable output
mechanisms and sorting mechanisms for dealing with that
comingled, but recyclable, waste.
We also have a very strong plastics industry in our Third
District that supports thousands of jobs, and the chemical
industry, and auto manufacturing, and even in the packaging of
breakfast cereals. I have Battle Creek in my district, Cereal
City U.S.A., so plastics plays a vital role. I guess one of my
questions, first for Mr. Baca, as we're thinking about single
use plastics and compostable plastics coming on board, and I
know we've spoken about some of the difficulties of-- or just
the contamination that can occur when compostable or
biodegradable plastics are introduced into a recyclable plastic
stream, what are the opportunities to be shifting those single
use applications into a biodegradable or compostable
alternative?
Mr. Baca. Well, Congressman, thank you for that question,
and I think both of those are part of that all of the above
solution that the Congresswoman from Texas mentioned here. I
think the key point that I would mention regarding this, and
this kind of cuts across a variety of comments that were
already made today, innovation is going to be what wins the day
on solving this problem, not bans, and not more regulation.
Innovation on how we deal with compostability, innovation on
how we deal with deal with biodegradability, innovation on how
we create a circular economy for plastics, where we're using
valuable material over and over again, that is what circularity
is. What that will ultimately create is a low carbon future
that all of us want, because it would require us using less
natural resources to create these products.
So to your--to the specific point of your question, I
think this goes back to the overarching theme of what this
Committee is talking about today. More work is needed. We need
to think and leverage the best of what we have, whether it's
the Department of Energy, whether it's our National Labs,
whether it's the Commerce Department. All of these agencies
play a very critical role in connecting the research dots to
ensure that science guides the expansion of things like
biodegradability, research guides the things like
compostability, and collaboration continues to guide the work
around circularity.
Mr. Meijer. Thank you, Mr. Baca. And, Dr. Keoleian, I
really enjoyed reading your testimony, and it's good to welcome
a witness from the Great Lakes State. I should note that your
professorship at the University of Michigan is named for Peter
Wege, who is a son of West Michigan, and directed much of his
energy and philanthropy into environmental causes. He coined
the term economicology, combining economy and ecology, so very
much a believer that we need to be caring for the environment,
but doing so in a way that is economically ultimately
beneficial, which I believe conservatism--or, sorry,
conservationism, but also conservatism, are. You know, using
Peter Wege's lens, how should Congress be approaching that life
cycle of plastic materials to have maximum benefit for the
economy?
Dr. Keoleian. Well, in addition to looking at life cycle
assessment of energy and greenhouse gas emissions, we also look
at life cycle cost. And, you know, one example, we did a study
on--for the State of Oregon on bottled water versus reusable
systems. And clearly there's--you know, using tap water and
filling a container is going to be much more economical than
using a disposable bottle. And, you know, this--and the energy
savings, and the waste is significantly different. So we need
to be smart and really look at--when we look at solutions, we
do need to look at the economics, and I believe we also need to
look at certain regulations and standards, because it's not
just going to be innovation. I think it's critical that we take
an interdisciplinary approach, and bring together the
economics, policy, technology, and behavior.
Mr. Meijer. Thank you, Madam Chair. My time has expired,
and I yield back.
Chairwoman Stevens. Great questions. And, with that, the
Chair is now going to recognize the Congresswoman from the nice
State of North Carolina, Congresswoman Ross.
Ms. Ross. Well, thank you very much, Chairwoman Stevens,
and I hope this is a very, very happy birthday for you. I also
want to thank our witnesses for joining us today on this
extremely important issue that affects people's everyday lives.
In my home State of North Carolina, we're one of the top
plastic producers in the country. As of 2019 we were ranked in
the top 10 in the country in terms of number of employees in
the plastics industry, with over 38,000 employees.
But we've also played an important role in plastic waste
reduction and recycling innovation. In 2009, when I served in
the North Carolina State Legislature, we were facing serious
issues with litter and sea turtle deaths along the Outer Banks,
one of the most pristine parts of our State. In response we
passed a law that banned single use plastic bags in six
counties along the Outer Banks. While this law was generally
supported in those communities, it was repealed in 2017. In
addition, we have researchers at North Carolina State
University in my district who have been involved in plastic
waste reduction and recycling research. In addition to the
company previously mentioned, one graduate of NC State's
College of Textiles, Bill Johnston, went on to found a
sustainable clothing company that converts plastic bottles into
fiber that is spun into yarn, knitted into fabric, and sewn
into clothing. And I focus a lot in my questions about the next
generation because we're such a STEM- (science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics-) focused area of the country.
And so, to all the witnesses, I want to ask you how we
inspire the next generation to get involved in STEM fields, to
be excited about recycling, and not using plastics in the first
place. We've seen so much leadership from the next generation
about climate issues, and about things like recycling. Beyond
teaching kids in schools, how can we better encourage them to
pursue education and careers like you all have?
Ms. Harrison. I would be happy to jump in, and, as a
graduate of a North Carolina university, UNCG ( University of
North Carolina--Greensboro), I'm happy to practice this
research. I--my degree was in Human Ecology and Natural
Resources, how we put this all together, and what's what I want
to look for as I'm inspiring young people, and young diverse
people, to be involved.
When we think of how we engage kids into this space, I
think we often think about campaigns. We've all seen those.
What we really need is to spark the innovation of our youth
into looking to the system solution that we keep talking about.
We can't just R&D our way. We can't just look for a singular
technology. We have to really think about pivoting from how do
we respond to the problem to how do we prevent it from the
first place? How do we know, from the very concept of design,
whether it's an advanced plastic material, like we were just
talking about, or packaging? We know whether it's going to be
linear, a landfill, or circular, that it can become something
else. That is the work that The Recycling Partnership is doing
to advance diversity in this space to bring young minds to
think about it holistically.
Ms. Ross. I think I'm going to move on to my next question
so that I can get another one in, but somebody wants to
amplify, please do so. So this one's for Dr. Hillmyer. Last
month the Department of Energy announced investments of up to
14.5 million dollars for R&D to cut waste and reduce energy use
to recycle single use plastics. How does your research group,
and others working on chemical recycling technology, integrate
a sustainable chemistry or green approach with your research in
order to design ways to minimize or neutralize any potential
harmful byproducts of the chemical recycling process?
Dr. Hillmyer. Thank you, Congresswoman. We work hard on
this--we'll call it advanced recycling in the subset of
chemical recycling, and really trying to understand the
fundamentals of how you can take established plastics and ones
that we design on purpose to be efficiently chemically recycled
in--let's--and we commented on--about use of solvent or in
green chemistry ways that don't require solvent, that require
stimuli such as temperature or light, that allow you to turn
plastics that are useful in their everyday application
efficiently back to the molecules from which they came using
the principles of green chemistry. If we can do that, those
molecules can then be--can generate virgin plastic that has the
same benefit.
Ms. Ross. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I yield back.
Chairwoman Stevens. Great. And, with that, we're going to
recognize Mr. Conor Lamb, Congressman from the nice State of
Pennsylvania, for 5 minutes of questioning.
Mr. Lamb. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we are nice. So
nice, in fact, that we, on behalf of the whole State, we'd like
to wish you a happy birthday today as well. To our witnesses,
thank you for hanging on this long. Dr. Hillmyer, I kind of
wanted to pick up where I think you were leaving off, which
is--of course, our jurisdiction on this Committee really is to
try to move forward the Nation's research agenda, and help
answer kind of unanswered questions, particularly ones of a
longer term nature that individual businesses might find
profitable to answer on their own. So would you mind just kind
of summarizing, or commenting on, the state of knowledge about
where we're going in composting, and the breakdown of, you
know, so-called biodegradable recyclables and plastics, and
maybe give me a little bit more specific insight into, you
know, if there's two or three big questions that we can really
help answer, say, in the next decade, what are they?
Dr. Hillmyer. Thank you, Congressman. This is an area that
I'm quite passionate about, and very interested in, and I'll
reiterate what I said earlier is this word biodegradation, over
what timeframe, and under what conditions? And I think this is
where the basic research plays a key role, is understanding
exactly what happens, let's say in industrial compost, at high
temperature and high humidity, as opposed to maybe backyard
compost, or in the environment? And how to differentiate the
chemistries, and differentiate the fundamental processes that
go on in those different environments so you can understand and
predict the lifetimes of these materials in the environment.
The second piece that's important, I think, is what do
they break down to, and how do we understand we're not just
generating, for example, smaller shards of plastic that are
recalcitrant? And so, following it all the way through the
breakdown process, and understanding both the physical
phenomena and the chemical phenomena are critically important,
and we have research in the center on this, really trying to
understand those fundamental processes. How do microorganisms
break down what ultimately results from, let's say, the
hydrolysis or biodegradation of compostable plastics?
I view this, again, as a piece of the solution to plastic
waste, but it will come with infrastructure and clear education
and understanding of what is meant by compostable, and how the
processes actually take place. I think this is a really
important contemporary area of research. More research is
needed to understand the design factors, what you might build
into the plastic to have it break down under certain conditions
in efficient ways. And I love the idea of a systems approach,
where it's design of molecules, evaluate performance, and
understanding end of life scenarios that allow a complete
lifecycle to be understood at a very fundamental level.
Mr. Lamb. Well, I very much appreciate that, and I think
the Chairwoman's bill will certainly help us advance toward
that goal. Do any of our other witnesses want to answer my
question in the minute 50 I have remaining, just kind of
clarifying the specific question that you would like to see us
help answer in the next decade or so?
Ms. Harrison. I'll say quickly that I would encourage this
Committee to--when they think about composting, I very often
hear people thinking about composting because recycling--the
to-do list for recycling seems hard. When we get--when we begin
to pivot to what else, we have to ask ourselves, is the to-do
list for making plastics compostable even longer? Currently 4
percent of the U.S. population has access to that commercial
composting. That's significantly less than who has access to
traditional recycling, so I want to make sure that we're not
pivoting to something because the current problem seems hard,
but instead pulling back and saying, how do we, from the very
concept of the idea, make sure that we have a good solution?
Dr. Keoleian?
Dr. Keoleian. Yeah, I would just add that, you know, we
think of composting as very positive. You know, backyard
compost--or I compost at my house, I put that compost into my
garden. It's a soil amendment. But what we're talking about
here is really dealing with litter, avoiding the litter, and
it's really a lost resource. You know, this is plastic that
has, you know, embodied energy in it, and we're just
dissipating it into the environment to deal with a litter
problem. So I really think we've got to look critically at what
we want to make compostable. Again, it's back to holistic
solutions.
Mr. Lamb. OK. Well, I really appreciate the [inaudible] we
can get the Chairwoman's bill passed, it will certainly move us
down the road to answering some of that. So, appreciate your
presence and your insights, and, Madam Chairwoman, I yield
back.
Chairwoman Stevens. Well, thank you, and what a nice note
to begin to close the hearing out on, because it's true, we've
got a tremendous piece of legislation, and this hearing was the
kickoff for this legislative session to really make sure that
we're on the right track. And, hearing from stakeholders from
across the spectrum, you know, with Mr. Baca being from the
American Chemistry Council, that, if you heard in his
testimony, and I'll repeat it again, is very dedicated to the,
you know, all hands on deck approach, and also bringing in the
expertise that we need to hear from, to Keefe Harrison, who,
you know, just has her finger on the pulse of what's going on
across the country, and Dr. Marc Hillmyer, who I feel like I
could--you know, along with Dr. Keoleian, your just wealth of
knowledge and dedication, both with Dr. Keoleian with the Wege
Professorship, who, as Mr. Meijer referenced, is, you know,
just was an American hero, and so dedicated to our State of
Michigan, both sides of the State of Michigan. And, you know,
Dr. Hillmyer, sometimes people confuse Michigan and Minnesota,
but we know you're on the other side of the lake, you know, a
couple of other sides of the lake, so--and then we can debate
who really is the land of many, many lakes. But we really are
grateful for your dedicated research, and your time today.
And where we find ourselves in this legislative session,
is, you know, really at I think the tipping point of something
tremendous. We call today's hearing moving from staggering
statistics, if you recall hearing me share that just 9 percent
of our recycling, it--nine percent of our plastics is recycled.
How do we increase that? I mean, how do we even begin to think
about doubling to sustainable systems? And the systems
component, right, moving from staggering statistics to
sustainable systems, is so important because we hear about, you
know, the individual enthusiasm, and the consumer enthusiasm.
And even as Ms. Ross was referencing in her questions, and what
she's seeing in her district in North Carolina with individual
entrepreneurs and business leaders, but we really do need a
systems approach, and this also comes as a unique time as the
United States is charting a path forward on our broader
infrastructure as well.
And--OK, it does look like, as I was filibustering here, a
colleague from--another colleague from the nice State of
Pennsylvania, Congresswoman Susan Wild has come in for
questions, so allow me to pause on my preamble, and recognize
her for 5 minutes of questioning.
Ms. Wild. Well, thank----
Chairwoman Stevens. Ms. Wild?
Ms. Wild. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I'm sorry to come in
late. I'm juggling three Committees this morning, so we all
know how that goes, and so I'm just going to keep it short. But
I've been listening to as much of this hearing as I possibly
could because it's an interest of great--it's a topic of great
personal interest to me. And so what I'd really just--I'll just
throw this out there to Dr. Keoleian. A recent study concluded
that large amounts of plastic would accumulate in the
environment even if we used every currently feasible effort to
achieve an 80 percent reduction in plastic pollution by 2040.
You and other experts agree that designing materials for
recyclability will be key to sustainable plastic waste
reduction. What steps do we need to take to ensure coordination
between product design and options for end of life plastic
management? And that's going to be my only question, because I
know it's kind of a big, far-ranging question.
Dr. Keoleian. So one of the things I recommended that we
emphasize, in terms of the R&D, in terms of the investment
there, and the research, is that we have industry participate
with the scientists, with government, to look at what kinds of
policies could help make innovations more implementable, or
accelerate the implementation, and also to work with community
partners. So we really need to look at co-creation of
solutions. I think that will be really beneficial in terms of
ensuring that we're going to coordinate between product design
and end of life. So we need to bring the OEM (original
equipment manufacturer) to make automobiles in with Marc's
group, and also involve, you know, those that are responsible
for end of life recycling infrastructure. So I think that
interdisciplinary approach, and co-creation of solutions is
important.
And then the other is we really need to look at--you know,
Europe really helped push, you know, reducing the amount of
waste in automobiles with their guideline. It was mentioned
about Germany. Well, Europe--the--Europe set guidelines on
automobiles to reduce the amount of auto shredder residue, the
amount of waste. And those kinds of policies can also help
accelerate, you know, solutions that are technological, and so
I think that's important as well.
Ms. Wild. Thank you. I have to say, and I--this comes
somewhat from--well, this--I had a personal experience not too
long ago where I was on an island in the Caribbean--I know,
that--right--play me a violin, right? That sounds so sad. But
anyway, one of the things--and it was a very rustic island, and
one of the things that really struck me--of course, there are a
lot of places in the world that just have a tremendous amount
of trouble moving their trash, quite honestly, because of being
ocean-locked, and I understand those concerns. As a result, I
saw little to no effort to recycle, because they're--they just
had trouble getting plain old trash off the island, let alone
dealing with plastics recycling. But it was tragic because here
I was, in a beautiful place with just an abundance of plastic
waste all over the place.
And so I think we're going to have to get to a point where
the manufacturers are looking at that end of life solution,
that end of plastic life management, where, you know, there's
some way other than just--because this is such a global
problem. And if we don't look at global solutions, we're just
never going to solve it. So thank you very much for your input.
Thank you all. This has been really very helpful. For--the
parts that I was able to participate in and listen to, I really
enjoyed. Thank you. Madam Chair, I yield back.
Chairwoman Stevens. Excellent. Well, congratulations to my
colleague for her three hearings, and managing to make it in
for this one, because your voice and viewpoints are very
important to us. And, look, we are going to bring the hearing
to a close. We don't have any more questions. I do want to
thank our Science Committee staff on both sides of the aisle
here in the Committee Room, and it is absolutely set up
expertly, with great professionalism. We were able to do this
in a hybrid format, as we, you know, start to kind of come back
to the way things were, and that's never a light switch, as
we've been learning in this pandemic, but we were able to
achieve the success and goal of this hearing. And, frankly,
we're in a nice springboard, as I was saying, to what's next,
and we're going to continue to leave the record open for 2
weeks for additional statements from Members, or additional
questions that the--that Members may have of the witnesses. I
know we are going to continue to draw down on the expertise of
this just great panel of witnesses. And so, at this time, the
witnesses are going to be virtually excused. They're going to
be excused, and the hearing is now adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:43 a.m., the Subcommittee was
adjourned.]
Appendix
----------
Additional Material for the Record
Letters submitted by Representative Haley Stevens
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[all]