The ubiquity of plastic in the modern economy has created a global crisis. Plastic pollution is now found everywhere in the world, and increasingly poses grave risks to human health and the environment. However, while this plastic burden is widespread, lower-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately exposed. Recycling has proven ineffective as a strategy to address the plastic crisis, with only a small fraction of global plastic ever being recycled. California’s Senate Bill 54 is the most ambitious domestic policy effort to address the plastic crisis to date. It establishes a state investment fund to address plastic-related impacts within communities.

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

The framework characterizes overall exposure risk by focusing on the three general types: 1) site-based (impacts related to industrial sites and waste facilities), 2) dietary (inadvertent consumption of plastic or related contaminants via food and drink), and 3) consumer goods (dermal contact with products, services, and packaging containing or using plastic). The authors recommend that decision-makers use the framework to target investments to equitably address exposure risks with efficacy and transparency.