The American Chemistry Council is sharply critical of the decision by President Joe Biden's administration to support limiting virgin plastics production as part of ongoing talks for a United Nations-based plastics treaty.
Chris Jahn, the president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council, said in an Aug. 14 statement that the new U.S. stance risks outsourcing manufacturing jobs and would make it harder to get votes needed to adopt the treaty.
"With today's shift in position to support plastic production caps and regulate chemicals via the U.N. Plastics Agreement, the White House has signaled it is willing to betray U.S. manufacturing and the hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports," Jahn said.
"The cost of goods is likely to rise globally, impacting those least able to afford it," he said. "And the U.S. negotiators' influence at the next round of negotiations will be significantly diminished since other countries know such drastic positions are unlikely to secure the 67 votes needed in the Senate to join the agreement."
ACC's statement was a response to the U.S. shifting its position in the plastics treaty talks, calling for the agreement to include global targets limiting virgin plastics production.
The new U.S. stance was praised by environmental groups, with Greenpeace saying it will help “ensure that the treaty will have the teeth needed to protect families and ecosystems.”
The shift, first reported Aug. 14 by Reuters, was confirmed by a White House official.
The official declined further comment and gave no details on how the U.S. would back reducing production. The Reuters story said Washington favors global targets, rather than letting countries set individual goals.
The major position change comes three months before the fifth and final planned round of talks in Busan, South Korea, in November.
The shift in the U.S. negotiating position could be seen as echoing comments in a White House report on plastics policy, released July 19.
In that 83-page report, two top environmental aides to Biden, including the head of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality, wrote that the administration had a goal to "reduce the global production and consumption of virgin plastics" as part of its agenda.
The report was the most extensive plastics policy statement by the Biden administration.
At the last round of treaty talks, held in Canada in April, a top U.S. diplomat suggested the U.S. wanted to push for an agreement that could win broad support globally.
In an Aug. 14 statement, Greenpeace welcomed the U.S. shift and said Washington should join the Bridge to Busan, a group of 34 countries and the European Union pushing for limits on plastics production in the treaty.
"The United States' decision to back a global reduction in plastic production is a watershed moment in the fight against plastic pollution," said John Hocevar, Greenpeace USA's oceans campaign director.
"This move puts the US on the right side of history, standing with countries that recognize that we cannot recycle our way out of this crisis," Hocevar said.
Reuters also reported that the U.S. supports including a global list of chemicals on which to develop obligations in the treaty, as well as having global criteria to identify "avoidable plastic products."
Previously, the U.S. has said it wanted to stake out a middle ground in the talks and avoid "factions," as the talks have at times deeply split between countries seeking limits on resin production and those that are major producers of oil and petrochemicals, who instead prefer downstream measures like recycling and waste management.
