Kickstart: Plastics top litter in national parks ‘trash blitz'

For the second year in a row, a litter cleanup survey from U.S. national parks says single-use plastics make up the majority of items found.

The Plastics-Free Parks Trash Blitz, organized by The 5 Gyres Institute over an eight-month stretch, said food wrappers, cigarette butts, wipes, bottles and bottle caps, film and bags were in the top 10 littered items. And it said the top brands it could trace products back to were Marlboro, Camel, Gatorade, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Starbucks and Budweiser.

It did note a possible drop in plastics in the parks, with plastics from packaging making up 66 percent of the material recorded in last year's cleanup data, down from 81 percent in 2022.

But it wasn't sure how to interpret that: It could reflect that some parks, like Yosemite, have cut back on sales of single-use plastic like water bottles, but the report also said the data could be limited.

One thing is sure, though: The report will feed into the ongoing debate in Washington over how the National Park Service should approach plastics and packaging.

In November, House Republicans attached language to a larger budget proposal that would forbid the park service from banning single-use plastic straws.

Last year, the Interior Department announced that NPS and other agencies it oversees had finalized plans to cut back on single-use plastics on public lands. As well, the Biden administration is pulling other procurement strings, floating a plan in December for voluntary cutbacks in single-use plastic buying across all government agencies.

Following up President Joe Biden's "bold goal" announcement last year that the United States should replace 90 percent of fossil-based plastics with bio-based alternatives over 20 years, the American Chemistry Council is releasing a set of principles it says should guide government thinking around bioplastics.

The policy principles have many components. For example, they argue that government policy should provide a level playing field with incentives for other biogenic products and that Washington should set goals for bioplastics that coordinate with other plastics policies.

We haven't heard too much follow-up from the Biden administration on details of how to get to that 90 percent target, but ACC says renewable feedstocks like bioplastics are getting more attention in Washington.

"Moving to more recycled and renewable materials for plastic production is gaining traction among product manufacturers, brands and retailers, and with policymakers on Capitol Hill," said Ross Eisenberg, president of the ACC unit America's Plastic Makers, which released the policy statement.

Those looking for more information on bioplastics trends can tune in Feb. 6 when my colleagues Karen Laird and Don Loepp devote this month's episode of our Sustainable Plastics Live webinar to the topic.

Bioplastics policy is also being debated internationally, at the global plastics treaty talks.

We caught up with bioplastics industry representatives at the last round of talks in Kenya, where they outlined their goals and where they did face some confusion and skepticism from diplomats and environmental groups about how to think about bioplastics. The potential for bioplastics is a complex topic, with plenty of new research.

Plastic pipe maker and recycler Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. is giving $1 million to a university in Minnesota to support more research on repurposing plastic waste.

ADS said the gift from its foundation to the University of Minnesota Duluth will span four years, giving $65,000 annually in scholarships, as well as $125,000 in research funding. It will also set up an endowment that will provide $10,000 in scholarships in perpetuity.

"At ADS, our reason is water, and the ADS Foundation has a vision to lead the way in preserving clean water, promoting recycling and advancing overall quality of life," said Kevin Talley, president of the ADS Foundation.

ADS said it recycles a half-billion pounds of plastic annually. Work at the university's Advanced Materials Center can help grow that, the company said.

"The AMC, through research and exploration, is equipping future scientists and engineers with the skills and knowledge they need to continue to solve for this important challenge and identify more ways to repurpose plastic waste into different formats," Talley said.