On Monday, November 15, coinciding with America Recycles Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its National Recycling Strategy. Nicholas Mallos, senior director of Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas® program, issued the following statement:

“We are thrilled to see President Biden’s Administration give our recycling system the attention it deserves. Recycling rates have remained stagnant for decades, and our ocean – and marginalized communities around the country – are bearing the costs.

“Some 11 million metric tons of plastics, nearly all made from greenhouse gas-emitting petrochemicals, enter the ocean every year, and research suggests the U.S. is a top contributor precisely because we have struggled to manage and recycle our waste right here at home. Plastic-to-plastic recycling is absolutely critical to solving the ocean plastics crisis. Ocean Conservancy has long supported the move toward a more circular economy and is eager to work with the EPA to further inform its strategy.”

###

About Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas® Program

Ocean Conservancy has led the fight for a clean, healthy ocean free of trash since 1986, when the U.S.-based nonprofit launched its annual International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). Since then, Ocean Conservancy has mobilized millions of ICC volunteers to remove trash from beaches and waterways around the world while pioneering upstream solutions to the growing ocean plastics crisis. Ocean Conservancy invests in cutting-edge scientific research, implements on-the-ground projects, and works with conservationists, scientists, governments, the private sector and members of the public to change the plastics paradigm. To learn more about our Trash Free Seas® program visit oceanconservancy.org/trashfreeseas, and follow Ocean Conservancy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.