IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4636 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 30, 2020 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Leveraging Assistance to Stop Trash for International 

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

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) Eight million metric tons of plastic enter 

8 the ocean every year. Marine debris damages the 

9 health of marine life, impedes local economic devel10 opment, and threatens health systems. Ten river sys11 tems carry an estimated 90 percent of the river12 based plastic waste that ends up in the ocean. 

13 (2) Mismanaged plastic waste has the highest 

14 risk of contaminating rivers and oceans. China con15 tributes the largest share of this mismanaged waste, 

16 followed by Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, 

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

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

19 and consumer of plastics products, and the top ex20 porter of plastic scrap. 

21 (3) Most marine debris, particularly plastics, 

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

23 developing countries, that lack the capacity to ade24 quately manage waste and prevent dumping. 

25 (4) During the Our Ocean Conference in Octo26 ber 2018, the United States announced assistance to 


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1 prevent marine debris from entering the ocean 

2 through development of waste management systems 

3 and reduce plastics in marine protected areas in the 

4 Indo-Pacific. 

5 (5) During the June 2019 G20 Summit in 

6 Osaka, Japan, the United States joined other G20 

7 members in endorsing the ‘‘Osaka Blue Ocean Vi8 sion’’ to reduce additional pollution by marine plas9 tic litter to zero by 2050 and the G20 Implementa10 tion Framework for Actions on Marine Plastic Lit11 ter, which outlines a commitment to prevent and re12 duce plastic debris in the oceans through waste man13 agement and clean-up efforts to remove marine plas14 tic debris and prioritizes efforts to advance innova15 tive solutions and international cooperation to sup16 port such initiatives. 

17 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

18 It is the policy of the United States to consult, part19 ner, and coordinate with the governments of foreign coun20 tries, international organizations, private and civil society 

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

22 (1) prevent and reduce marine debris and plas23 tic waste, including through reduced consumption, 

24 greater transparency in global trade of plastic waste, 


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1 and support for integrated waste management sys2 tems in developing countries; 

3 (2) advance innovative market-based solutions 

4 and catalyze private capital to prevent and reduce 

5 marine debris and plastic waste, support integrated 

6 waste management systems, and improve market de7 mand for recycled material; 

8 (3) build the capacity of national and sub9 national governments in other countries to develop 

10 and implement integrated waste management sys11 tems, measure and report progress in reducing plas12 tic waste, and prevent plastic waste from entering 

13 rivers and oceans; 

14 (4) support local economic development through 

15 programs that assist community members, particu16 larly women, youth, and marginalized populations, to 

17 derive economic benefit from waste products and 

18 participation in waste management systems; and 

19 (5) engage in international and regional co20 operation to prevent and reduce marine debris and 

21 plastic waste, share best practices, and empower na22 tional and subnational governments, local commu23 nities, civil society, and the private sector to engage 

24 in such efforts. 


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1 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that, in pursuing the pol3 icy described in section 3, the President should direct 

4 United States representatives to appropriate international 

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

6 States to advocate support for the following: 

7 (1) Efforts to improve transparency in global 

8 trade of plastic waste, improve plastic waste regula9 tion to ensure the safety of humans and the environ10 ment, strengthen integrated waste management sys11 tems, and prevent, reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic 

12 waste, to the extent practical. 

13 (2) Collaborative approaches to establish meas14 urable targets and objectives, with related action 

15 plans, for reducing marine debris and plastic waste 

16 from all sources and sharing best practices in waste 

17 prevention and management systems to prevent plas18 tic waste. 

19 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES SUPPORT TO IMPROVE WASTE 

20 MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND PREVENT AND 

21 REDUCE MARINE DEBRIS. 

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

23 Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter24 national Development, in coordination with the heads of 

25 relevant Federal departments and agencies, are authorized 

26 to prioritize and advance ongoing global efforts to— 


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1 (1) prevent and reduce marine debris and plas2 tic waste, including through reduced consumption, 

3 greater transparency in global trade of plastic waste, 

4 and support for integrated waste management sys5 tems in developing countries; 

6 (2) advance innovative market-based solutions 

7 and catalyze private capital to prevent and reduce 

8 marine debris and plastic waste, support integrated 

9 waste management systems, and improve market de10 mand for recycled material; 

11 (3) build the capacity of national and sub12 national governments in other countries to develop 

13 and implement integrated waste management sys14 tems, measure and report progress in reducing plas15 tic waste, and prevent plastic waste from entering 

16 rivers and oceans; and 

17 (4) support local economic development through 

18 programs that assist community members, particu19 larly women, youth, and marginalized populations, to 

20 derive economic benefit from waste products and 

21 participation in waste management systems. 

22 (b) COORDINATION WITH PRIVATE SECTOR.—The 

23 Secretary and the Administrator, in coordination with the 

24 Chief Executive Officer of the United States International 

25 Development Finance Corporation and the Chief ExecuVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4636.RFS H4636

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1 tive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation and 

2 in consultation with the heads of relevant Federal depart3 ments and agencies, are authorized and encouraged to 

4 work with entities in the private sector and with non5 governmental organizations to leverage sources of public 

6 and private capital to complement the efforts described in 

7 subsection (a), including by financing infrastructure in8 vestments, supporting capacity-building activities, and en9 tering into cost-sharing, cost-matching, and other coopera10 tive agreements to support and finance such efforts. 

11 (c) MONITORING AND EVALUATION.—The Secretary 

12 and the Administrator shall establish monitoring and eval13 uation mechanisms, including measurable goals, objec14 tives, and benchmarks, to ensure the effective use of 

15 United States foreign assistance to achieve the objectives 

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

17 (d) DOMESTIC RESOURCE MOBILIZATION.—In car18 rying out the authority under subsection (a), the Secretary 

19 and the Administrator, in coordination with the heads of 

20 relevant Federal departments and agencies, shall seek to 

21 provide technical assistance to mobilize the domestic re22 sources of recipient countries in order to increase cost23 sharing, self-reliance, and host country ownership of waste 

24 prevention and management programs. 


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1 (e) COST LIMITATION.—No additional funds are au2 thorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act. 

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

4 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Ad5 ministrator, in consultation with the heads of relevant 

6 Federal departments and agencies, shall jointly submit to 

7 the appropriate congressional committees a report on on8 going programs and monitoring and evaluation mecha9 nisms to carry out the authority under subsection (a) that 

10 includes a description of— 

11 (1) the monitoring and evaluation plans and in12 dicators used to measure performance of assistance 

13 programs, in accordance with subsection (d); 

14 (2) best practices and lessons learned in imple15 menting the efforts authorized under subsection (a); 

16 (3) the extent to which recipient countries have 

17 demonstrated a commitment and willingness to co18 operate to advance the efforts described in sub19 section (a) and to dedicate resources to support 

20 waste prevention and management initiatives; 

21 (4) the extent to which host country govern22 ments and other governments in the region are in23 vesting resources to advance initiatives to prevent or 

24 reduce marine debris and plastic waste and develop 

25 integrated waste management systems; and 


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

2 including through private sector investment, have 

3 been identified to advance waste prevention and 

4 management initiatives. 

5 (g) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

6 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con7 gressional committees’’ means— 

8 (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

9 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep10 resentatives; and 

11 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

12 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 

13 SEC. 6. PLASTIC WASTE REDUCTION INITIATIVE. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Executive Officer of the 

15 United States International Development Finance Cor16 poration is authorized to establish, in coordination with 

17 relevant Federal departments and agencies and incor18 porating any existing programs of the Corporation for 

19 such purposes, an initiative to pursue investment opportu20 nities to address plastic waste pollution and support im21 proved, integrated waste management systems in devel22 oping countries, including by catalyzing global public and 

23 private-sector investments to prevent and reduce marine 

24 debris and plastic waste in such countries. 


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1 (b) REFERENCE.—The initiative established under 

2 subsection (a) may be referred to as the ‘‘Plastic Waste 

3 Reduction Initiative’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 18, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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