United States S 5030: UNITE for our Oceans Act of 2020

Bill Text

II
116TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION S. 5030
To provide for negotiations for the establishment or designation of a trust
fund administered by the international community for the prevention
and reduction of marine debris, including marine plastic pollution, and
for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
DECEMBER 16, 2020
Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. SULLIVAN, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Foreign Relations
A BILL
To provide for negotiations for the establishment or designa-
tion of a trust fund administered by the international
community for the prevention and reduction of marine
debris, including marine plastic pollution, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unify Nations In 4
Trash Elimination for our Oceans Act of 2020’’ or the 5
‘‘UNITE for our Oceans Act of 2020’’. 6
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•S 5030 IS
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
In this Act: 2
(1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON-3
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-4
gress’’ means— 5
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 6
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 7
Transportation, and the Committee on Finance 8
of the Senate; and 9
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 10
Committee on Financial Services, the Com-11
mittee on Natural Resources, and the Com-12
mittee on Ways and Means of the House of 13
Representatives. 14
(2) MARINE DEBRIS.—The term ‘‘marine de-15
bris’’ means any persistent solid material that is 16
manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, 17
intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or aban-18
doned into the marine environment or the Great 19
Lakes. 20
(3) MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION.—The term 21
‘‘marine plastic pollution’’ means any plastic mate-22
rial directly or indirectly discarded, disposed of, or 23
abandoned in the marine or coastal environment, in-24
cluding microplastics. 25
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•S 5030 IS
(4) MICROPLASTICS.—The term ‘‘microplastics’’ 1
means small particles or fragments of plastic meas-2
uring less than 5 millimeters in diameter. 3
(5) SECRETARY.—Except as otherwise specifi-4
cally provided, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec-5
retary of State. 6
SEC. 3. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 7
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-8
ings: 9
(1) A large portion of the world’s population 10
depends on oceans and marine environments for 11
food security and economic livelihoods. 12
(2) Marine debris, including marine plastic pol-13
lution, is a global problem that directly and indi-14
rectly threatens marine habitats and species, eco-15
nomic growth, and human health and safety. 16
(3) Each year, billions of pounds of trash and 17
other pollutants enter the ocean, a large proportion 18
of which is plastic. 19
(4) The increasing production, consumption, 20
and improper disposal of plastic products, including 21
single-use plastic products, contributes substantially 22
to the issue of marine debris. 23
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•S 5030 IS
(5) In 2016, the United States generated the 1
largest amount of plastic waste of any country in the 2
world. 3
(6) A significant portion of marine debris, in-4
cluding marine plastic pollution, originates from 5
land-based activities, and the movement of such de-6
bris has significant impacts on marine environments. 7
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-8
gress that— 9
(1) the United States must improve domestic 10
production, consumption, and end-of-life practices to 11
achieve a comprehensive and sustainable life-cycle 12
system for products; 13
(2) it is critical to support and enhance the ca-14
pacity of countries to manage their waste systems 15
and marine and coastal ecosystems sustainably; and 16
(3) international efforts to enhance the control 17
of the transboundary movements of plastic waste, in-18
cluding the Basel Convention on the Control of 19
Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes 20
and their Disposal, adopted by the United Nations 21
March 22, 1989, and ongoing discussions on poten-22
tial agreements relating to marine debris, provide 23
meaningful frameworks to reduce marine debris, in-24
cluding marine plastic pollution. 25
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•S 5030 IS
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OR DESIGNATION OF TRUST FUND 1
FOR MARINE DEBRIS AND PLASTIC POLLU-2
TION. 3
(a) IN GENERAL.—The