In September 2024, HR 9676 was entered into the Congress falsely posed as policy that would advance the circular economy for plastics and reduce plastic pollution by supporting chemical recycling and disadvantaging or restricting traditional recycling and other effective policy measures. As legislation around the world begins to embrace this controversial technology, it’s crucial that we understand the risks and take a stand against it. We must urge policymakers to focus on real solutions, not temporary fixes, by opposing legislation that encourages the expansion of chemical recycling facilities and weakens our move away from harmful single-use plastics.
The voices of youth leaders, and support of youth-led and youth-serving organizations is critical to seeing legislative solutions for a true circular system for plastics come into fruition. Please show your support by signing on to this letter as an individual young person and/or as a representative of a youth-led or youth-serving organization.
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Dear Members of US Congress,
We, the XX youth-led and youth serving organizations and the XX young ocean advocates signing this letter, are writing to express our deep concern regarding the passage of H.R. 9676, the "Accelerating a Circular Economy for Plastics and Recycling Innovation Act." While the bill claims to support a more sustainable future, we believe it promotes harmful practices that will worsen our planet's environmental crisis and disproportionately affect communities across the globe.
Chemical recycling, also called pyrolysis/gasification and/or advanced recycling, as endorsed in this legislation, is not a true solution to our plastic waste problem. Rather than reducing plastic production or addressing its long-term environmental impact, chemical recycling often results in increased pollution, toxic emissions, and the continuation of the “throwaway culture” that is at the root of the crisis. The bill also aims to overturn existing – and prevent any new -- state and local laws addressing the plastic crisis including restrictions on single use plastics, polystyrene and other packaging. Overall it provides a false sense of progress, distracting from the need to invest in real, lasting solutions—such as reducing plastic consumption and shifting towards reusable materials and true circular economies.
In addition to blocking a true transition to a circular economy for plastics, the bill would carve out dangerous exemptions to existing law so that plastics incinerators can operate without meeting the environmental and health protections of the Clean Air Act and other environmental laws. This legislation will put our most vulnerable communities at risk by changing the legal definition of incineration and waste so that chemical companies can burn plastic and hazardous waste in historically marginalized communities without controlling the toxic pollution they emit is environmental injustice.
As young people who will inherit the world you help shape, we cannot afford to let short-term fixes dictate our future. The long-term health of our planet, communities, and the ecosystems we depend on is at risk. We are asking you, as our representative, to instead support legislation that prioritizes environmental justice, reduces plastic production, and invests in sustainable systems that will protect future generations.
We stand united in calling for bold action and hope that you will stand with us to reject chemical recycling and champion a true circular economy.
Thank you for your attention to this critical issue. We look forward to seeing your leadership in protecting our planet for generations to come.
