How US cities and states can recoup costs of plastic pollution

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) provides US state and local governments with the legal tools to hold companies accountable for plastic pollution.

The report, Making Plastic Polluters Pay: How Cities and States Can Recoup the Rising Costs of Plastic Pollution, offers a detailed analysis of the legal avenues available to initiate litigation against those responsible for the proliferation of plastic waste.

This includes actionable insights into how government attorneys can leverage laws related to nuisance, products liability and consumer protection against plastic resin producers and fast-moving consumer goods companies.

The report is billed as a 'call to action'.

'States and cities are on the frontlines of the growing plastics crisis and the mounting costs it imposes on governments and economies.

'From increased waste management and infrastructure costs, to lost revenues for tourism and fisheries, as well as rapidly growing health costs from pervasive plastic pollution, states and communities are sacrificing budgets, resources and revenues to the plastics crisis,' says CIEL President Carroll Muffett.