Even as awareness of the scale of the plastics crisis grows, the financial and economic impacts of that crisis on governments have received far less attention.

A new report released today by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) — Making Plastic Polluters Pay: How Cities and States Can Recoup the Rising Costs of Plastic Pollution— exposes how plastic pollution places ever-greater burdens on the resources, budgets, and economies of US cities and states alike, and equips state and local governments with legal tools to hold plastic producers accountable for their harms. 

“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,” said CIEL President Carroll Muffett. “This report not only highlights the key corporate drivers of that crisis, but equips governments with robust legal tools to seek remedies, recover costs, and hold polluters accountable.”

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