PLASTIC POLICY

Our plastic research focuses on how local, state, and federal policy can effectively address the climate, health, and other environmental impacts created across the plastics supply chain. We focus on the structural challenges of recycling and the environmental justice implications of plastic-related exposures. A central theme of this research is to identify opportunities for policymakers to reduce overreliance on single-use plastics and assess the effectiveness and co-benefits of policies to reduce plastic waste.

Credit: luoman (iStock)

CURRENT PROJECT(S)

What Defines a Plastic-Burdened Community? Part—III

Researcher(s): Veronica Herrera and Daniel Coffee
Funder: Resources Legacy Fund

Building on the Three-Part Framework for Identifying Plastic-Burdened Communities, UCLA researchers are identifying the footprint of plastic manufacturing activity in California. The researchers are mapping plastic manufacturing sites and estimating relative exposure risks to Californian communities. They are also identifying how those risks align with historic environmental justice concerns, and building a tool to compare plastic-related exposure risks facing Californians across the entire supply chain.

PUBLISHED RESEARCH

Researcher(s): Veronica Herrera, Paula Muñoz Chirinos, and Isaí Silva Zárate

Read the journal article

Plastic, Fossil Fuels, and Inequitable Site-Based Exposure Risks

Author(s): Veronica Herrera and Daniel Coffee
Funder: Resources Legacy Fund

Building on the Three-Part Framework for Identifying Plastic-Burdened Communities, UCLA researchers expanded their assessment of site-based exposure risks from plastic supply chain infrastructure. The research focuses on integrating health and environmental risks to Californian communities from sites and facilities that produce precursor raw materials for plastic manufacturing: oil and gas wells and refineries.

Read the report

Author(s): Veronica Herrera and Daniel Coffee
Funder: Resources Legacy Fund

Building on the Three-Part Framework for Identifying Plastic-Burdened Communities, UCLA researchers are expanding their assessment of site-based exposure risks from plastic supply chain infrastructure. The research focuses on integrating health and environmental risks to Californian communities from sites and facilities that produce precursor raw materials for plastic manufacturing: oil and gas wells and refineries.

Read the brief

Researcher(s): Veronica Herrera and Daniel Coffee
Funder: Resources Legacy Fund

A policy brief on an environmental justice framework for identifying plastic pollution exposure disparities and informing mitigation investment. The brief includes information about plastic pollution exposure, the opportunity with SB 54 mitigation funds, and guidance on how agencies should use the EJ framework to better target investments to address exposure risks equitably.

Read the policy brief

An environmental justice framework for identifying exposure disparities and informing mitigation investment

Researcher(s): Veronica Herrera and Daniel Coffee
Funder: Resources Legacy Fund

The researchers created an environmental justice-centered Three-Part Framework for Identifying Plastic-Burdened Communities to facilitate a data-driven approach for targeting plastic mitigation investments equitably. This paper, policy brief, and interactive map develop one of the framework’s parts to demonstrate that plastic exposure risks are highest in California’s lower-income communities and communities of color.

Read the report

Tracking Environmental, Climate, and Human Impacts of Plastic Production, Use and Disposal

Author(s): Daniel Coffee and Richard Diaz

This report provides an overview of how plastic is manufactured, used, and disposed of – its “life cycle” – and identifies the environmental, health, and economic harms created in the pre-use, use, and post-use stages. The multifaceted nature of plastic impacts highlights the need for large-scale, systemic policy interventions to mitigate harms and move away from the throwaway economy model.

Read the report

Prepared for the Los Angeles County Chief Sustainability Office

Author(s): Daniel Coffee, Maggie Faigen, Jinny Lee Milani, and Candice Richardson
Funder: LA County Chief Sustainability Office

This report builds on our previous publication, Plastic Waste in L.A. County, to identify lessons learned and best practices for the implementation of new plastic regulatory policies. We find that the evidence in support of reducing single-use plastic, especially in food service contexts, is overwhelming and that plastic reduction policy strategies in other jurisdictions have been generally successful with no negative economic impacts.

Read the report

Impacts, Recyclability, and the Potential for Alternatives in the Food Service Sector

Author(s): Daniel Coffee, Maggie Faigen, Jinny Lee Milani, and Candice Richardson
Funder: LA County Chief Sustainability Office

To inform LA County’s efforts to craft an ordinance addressing plastic waste, the LA County Chief Sustainability Office commissioned this report to study the impact of plastic waste on the County, examine the current state of recycling viability, and identify potential alternatives to single-use plastic. The researchers identify multiple adverse impacts associated with plastic production and waste, which current recycling practices can do little to lessen, but find that shifts to more sustainable materials will likely be beneficial in particular sectors.

Read the report