S. 984 · 117th Congress

Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021

Introduced on Mar 25, 2021 by Jeff Merkley (D-OR). 14 cosponsors, all from the sponsor's party. Latest action (Mar 25, 2021): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Mar 25, 2021
Cosponsors
14
0 from the other party
Policy area
Environmental Protection
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

A bill to amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to reduce the production and use of certain single-use plastic products and packaging, to improve the responsibility of producers in the design, collection, reuse, recycling, and disposal of their consumer products and packaging, to prevent pollution from consumer products and packaging from entering into animal and human food chains and waterways, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Accounting and auditing
  • Administrative law and regulatory procedures
  • Advanced technology and technological innovations
  • Advisory bodies
  • Air quality
  • Alcoholic beverages
  • Alternative and renewable resources
  • Aquatic ecology
  • Business records
  • Child health
  • Civil actions and liability
  • Climate change and greenhouse gases
  • Congressional oversight
  • Consumer affairs
  • Drug, alcohol, tobacco use
  • Ecology
  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  • Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
  • Environmental education
  • Environmental health
  • Environmental regulatory procedures
  • Environmental technology
  • Food industry and services
  • Food supply, safety, and labeling
  • Government information and archives
  • Government studies and investigations
  • Government trust funds
  • Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
  • Indian lands and resources rights
  • Industrial facilities
  • Inflation and prices
  • Intergovernmental relations
  • International organizations and cooperation
  • Licensing and registrations
  • Manufacturing
  • Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
  • Marine pollution
  • Marketing and advertising
  • Materials
  • Navigation, waterways, harbors
  • Oil and gas
  • Performance measurement
  • Pollution liability
  • Public-private cooperation
  • Racial and ethnic relations
  • Retail and wholesale trades
  • Sales and excise taxes
  • Social work, volunteer service, charitable organizations
  • Solid waste and recycling
  • State and local government operations
  • State and local taxation
  • Tax-exempt organizations
  • Trade restrictions
  • User charges and fees
  • Water quality
  • Water use and supply
  • Worker safety and health

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in Senate, Mar 25, 2021). Public domain.

Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021

This bill sets forth requirements and incentives to reduce the production of a variety of products and materials, including plastics, and increase efforts to collect, recycle, or compost products and materials.

The bill makes certain producers of products (e.g., packaging, paper, single-use products, beverage containers, or food service products) fiscally responsible for collecting, managing, and recycling or composting the products after consumer use. In addition, the bill establishes (1) minimum percentages of products that must be reused, recycled, or composted; and (2) an increasing percentage of recycled content that must be contained in beverage containers.

Beginning on January 1, 2023, the bill phases out a variety of single-use products, such as plastic utensils. The bill also sets forth provisions to encourage the reduction of single-use products, including by establishing programs to refund consumers for returning beverage containers and by establishing a tax on carryout bags.

The bill creates a temporary moratorium on new or expanded permits for certain facilities that manufacture plastics until regulations are updated to address pollution from the facilities.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must publish guidelines for a national standardized labeling system for recycling and composting receptacles. Producers must include labels on their products that are easy to read and indicate whether the products are recyclable, compostable, or reusable. The EPA must also ensure that certain clothes washers have filtration units as required by this bill.

Finally, the bill establishes limitations on the export of plastic waste to other countries.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Jeff MerkleyD-ORSponsor

Democrats · 13

Independents · 1

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Mar 25, 2021Introduced in Senate
  2. Mar 25, 2021 · SenateRead twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. INTERNATIONAL PAPER12 reports
    $14.7M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: INTERNATIONAL PAPER COMPANYAI match · 100%
  2. AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY5 reports
    $187.5K reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2023, 2024, 2025.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.