33 U.S.C. § 4263 (NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS)
§ 4263. United States leadership in international FORA
In implementing the policy described in section 4261 of this title, the President shall direct the United States representatives to appropriate international bodies and conferences (including the United Nations Environment Programme, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Group of 7, the Group of 20, the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), and the Our Ocean Conference) to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States, consistent with the broad foreign policy goals of the United States, to advocate that each such body—
(1) commit to significantly increasing efforts to promote investment in well-designed post-consumer materials management and plastic waste elimination and mitigation projects and services that increase access to safe post-consumer materials management and mitigation services, in partnership with the private sector and consistent with the constraints of other countries;
(2) address the post-consumer materials management needs of individuals and communities where access to municipal post-consumer materials management services is historically impractical or cost-prohibitive;
(3) enhance coordination with the private sector—
(A) to increase access to solid waste and post-consumer materials management services;
(B) to utilize safe and affordable alternatives to disposable plastic products, to the extent practicable;
(C) to encourage and incentivize the use of recycled content; and
(D) to grow economic opportunities and develop markets for recyclable, compostable, reusable, and repurposed plastic waste materials and post-consumer materials and other efforts that support the circular economy;
(4) provide technical assistance to foreign regulatory authorities and governments to remove unnecessary barriers to investment in otherwise commercially-viable projects related to—
(A) post-consumer materials management;
(B) the use of safe and affordable alternatives to disposable plastic products; or
(C) beneficial reuse of solid waste, plastic waste, post-consumer materials, plastic products, and refuse;
(5) use clear, accountable, and metric-based targets to measure the effectiveness of such projects; and
(6) engage international partners in an existing multilateral forum (or, if necessary, establish through an international agreement a new multilateral forum) to improve global cooperation on—
(A) creating tangible metrics for evaluating efforts to reduce plastic waste and marine debris;
(B) developing and implementing best practices at the national and subnational levels of foreign countries, particularly countries with little to no solid waste or post-consumer materials management systems, facilities, or policies in place for—
(i) collecting, disposing, recycling, and reusing plastic waste and post-consumer materials, including building capacity for improving post-consumer materials management; and
(ii) integrating alternatives to disposable plastic products, to the extent practicable;
(C) encouraging the development of standards and practices, and increasing recycled content percentage requirements for disposable plastic products;
(D) integrating tracking and monitoring systems into post-consumer materials management systems;
(E) fostering research to improve scientific understanding of—
(i) how microfibers and microplastics may affect marine ecosystems, human health and safety, and maritime activities;
(ii) changes in the amount and regional concentrations of plastic waste in the ocean, based on scientific modeling and forecasting;
(iii) the role rivers, streams, and other inland waterways play in serving as conduits for mismanaged waste traveling from land to the ocean;
(iv) effective means to eliminate present and future leakages of plastic waste into the environment; and
(v) other related areas of research the United States representatives deem necessary;
(F) encouraging the World Bank and other international finance organizations to prioritize efforts to reduce plastic waste and combat marine debris;
(G) collaborating on technological advances in post-consumer materials management and recycled plastics;
(H) growing economic opportunities and developing markets for recyclable, compostable, reusable, and repurposed plastic waste and post-consumer materials and other efforts that support the circular economy; and
(I) advising foreign countries, at both the national and subnational levels, on the development and execution of regulatory policies, services, including recycling and reuse of plastic, and laws pertaining to reducing the creation and the collection and safe management of—
(i) solid waste;
(ii) post-consumer materials;
(iii) plastic waste; and
(iv) marine debris.
(Pub. L. 116–224, title II, § 203, Dec. 18, 2020, 134 Stat. 1089.)