I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4636 

To authorize the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United 

States Agency for International Development to prioritize and advance 

efforts to improve waste management systems and prevent and reduce 

plastic waste and marine debris, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 11, 2019 

Mr. MCCAUL (for himself and Mr. ENGEL) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of State and the Administrator 

of the United States Agency for International Development to prioritize and advance efforts to improve waste 

management systems and prevent and reduce plastic 

waste and marine debris, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Partnering and 

5 Leveraging Assistance to Stop Trash for International 

6 Cleaner Seas Act’’ or the ‘‘PLASTICS Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Eight million metric tons of plastic enter 

4 the ocean every year. Marine debris damages the 

5 health of marine life, impedes local economic devel6 opment, and threatens health systems. Ten river sys7 tems carry an estimated 90 percent of the plastic 

8 waste that ends up in the ocean. 

9 (2) Mismanaged plastic waste has the highest 

10 risk of contaminating rivers and oceans. China con11 tributes the largest share of this mismanaged waste, 

12 followed by Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, 

13 Thailand, Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa. The 

14 United States is the world’s second-largest producer 

15 and consumer of plastics products, and the top ex16 porter of plastic scrap. 

17 (3) Most marine debris, particularly plastics, 

18 enters the oceans from land-based sources, mainly in 

19 developing countries, that lack the capacity to ade20 quately manage waste and prevent dumping. 

21 (4) During the Our Ocean Conference in Octo22 ber 2018, the United States announced assistance to 

23 prevent marine debris from entering the ocean 

24 through development of waste management systems 

25 and reduce plastics in marine protected areas in the 

26 Indo-Pacific. 


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1 (5) During the June 2019 G20 Summit in 

2 Osaka, Japan, the United States joined other G20 

3 members in endorsing the ‘‘Osaka Blue Ocean Vi4 sion’’ to reduce additional pollution by marine plas5 tic litter to zero by 2050 and the G20 Implementa6 tion Framework for Actions on Marine Plastic Lit7 ter, which outlines a commitment to prevent and re8 duce plastic debris in the oceans through waste man9 agement and clean-up efforts to remove marine plas10 tic debris and prioritizes efforts to advance innova11 tive solutions and international cooperation to sup12 port such initiatives. 

13 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

14 It is the policy of the United States to consult, part15 ner, and coordinate with the governments of foreign coun16 tries, international organizations, private and civil society 

17 entities, and other stakeholders in a concerted effort to— 

18 (1) prevent and reduce marine debris and plas19 tic waste, including through reduced consumption, 

20 greater transparency in global trade of plastic waste, 

21 and support for integrated waste management sys22 tems in developing countries; 

23 (2) advance innovative market-based solutions 

24 and catalyze private capital to prevent and reduce 

25 marine debris and plastic waste, support integrated 


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1 waste management systems, and improve market de2 mand for recycled material; 

3 (3) build the capacity of national and sub4 national governments in other countries to develop 

5 and implement integrated waste management sys6 tems, measure and report progress in reducing plas7 tic waste, and prevent plastic waste from entering 

8 rivers and oceans; 

9 (4) support local economic development through 

10 programs that assist community members, particu11 larly women, youth, and marginalized populations, to 

12 derive economic benefit from waste products and 

13 participation in waste management systems; and 

14 (5) engage in international and regional co15 operation to prevent and reduce marine debris and 

16 plastic waste, share best practices, and empower na17 tional and subnational governments, local commu18 nities, civil society, and the private sector to engage 

19 in such efforts. 

20 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

21 It is the sense of Congress that, in pursuing the pol22 icy described in section 3, the President should direct 

23 United States representatives to appropriate international 

24 bodies to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 

25 States to advocate support for the following: 


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1 (1) Efforts to improve transparency in global 

2 trade of plastic waste, improve plastic waste regula3 tion to ensure the safety of humans and the environ4 ment, strengthen integrated waste management sys5 tems, and prevent, reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic 

6 waste, to the extent practical. 

7 (2) Collaborative approaches to establish meas8 urable targets and objectives, with related action 

9 plans, for reducing marine debris and plastic waste 

10 from all sources and sharing best practices in waste 

11 prevention and management systems to prevent plas12 tic waste. 

13 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES SUPPORT TO IMPROVE WASTE 

14 MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND PREVENT AND 

15 REDUCE MARINE DEBRIS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State and the 

17 Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter18 national Development, in coordination with the heads of 

19 relevant Federal departments and agencies, are authorized 

20 to prioritize and advance ongoing global efforts to— 

21 (1) prevent and reduce marine debris and plas22 tic waste, including through reduced consumption, 

23 greater transparency in global trade of plastic waste, 

24 and support for integrated waste management sys25 tems in developing countries; 


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1 (2) advance innovative market-based solutions 

2 and catalyze private capital to prevent and reduce 

3 marine debris and plastic waste, support integrated 

4 waste management systems, and improve market de5 mand for recycled material; 

6 (3) build the capacity of national and sub7 national governments in other countries to develop 

8 and implement integrated waste management sys9 tems, measure and report progress in reducing plas10 tic waste, and prevent plastic waste from entering 

11 rivers and oceans; and 

12 (4) support local economic development through 

13 programs that assist community members, particu14 larly women, youth, and marginalized populations, to 

15 derive economic benefit from waste products and 

16 participation in waste management systems. 

17 (b) COORDINATION WITH PRIVATE SECTOR.—The 

18 Secretary and the Administrator, in coordination with the 

19 Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Development Finance 

20 Corporation and the Chief Executive Officer of the Millen21 nium Challenge Corporation and in consultation with the 

22 heads of relevant Federal departments and agencies, are 

23 authorized and encouraged to work with entities in the 

24 private sector and with nongovernmental organizations to 

25 leverage sources of public and private capital to comVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Oct 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4636.IH H4636

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1 plement the efforts described in subsection (a), including 

2 by financing infrastructure investments, supporting capac3 ity-building activities, and entering into cost-sharing, cost4 matching, and other cooperative agreements to support 

5 and finance such efforts. 

6 (c) MONITORING AND EVALUATION.—The Secretary 

7 and the Administrator shall establish monitoring and eval8 uation mechanisms, including measurable goals, objec9 tives, and benchmarks, to ensure the effective use of 

10 United States foreign assistance to achieve the objectives 

11 described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection (a). 

12 (d) DOMESTIC RESOURCE MOBILIZATION.—In car13 rying out the authority under subsection (a), the Secretary 

14 and the Administrator, in coordination with the heads of 

15 relevant Federal departments and agencies, shall seek to 

16 provide technical assistance to mobilize the domestic re17 sources of recipient countries in order to increase cost18 sharing, self-reliance, and host country ownership of waste 

19 prevention and management programs. 

20 (e) COST LIMITATION.—No additional funds are au21 thorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act. 

22 (f) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

23 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Ad24 ministrator, in consultation with the heads of relevant 

25 Federal departments and agencies, shall jointly submit to 


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1 the appropriate congressional committees a report on on2 going programs and monitoring and evaluation mecha3 nisms to carry out the authority under subsection (a) that 

4 includes a description of— 

5 (1) the monitoring and evaluation plans and in6 dicators used to measure performance of assistance 

7 programs, in accordance with subsection (d); 

8 (2) best practices and lessons learned in imple9 menting the efforts authorized under subsection (a); 

10 (3) the extent to which recipient countries have 

11 demonstrated a commitment and willingness to co12 operate to advance the efforts described in sub13 section (a) and to dedicate resources to support 

14 waste prevention and management initiatives; 

15 (4) the extent to which host country govern16 ments and other governments in the region are in17 vesting resources to advance initiatives to prevent or 

18 reduce marine debris and plastic waste and develop 

19 integrated waste management systems; and 

20 (5) the extent to which other funding sources, 

21 including through private sector investment, have 

22 been identified to advance waste prevention and 

23 management initiatives. 


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1 (g) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

2 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con3 gressional committees’’ means— 

4 (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

5 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep6 resentatives; and 

7 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

8 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 

Æ 


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