Title 33 — Navigation and Navigable WatersRelease 119-73not60

§4262 Prioritization of Efforts and Assistance to Combat Marine Debris and Improve Plastic Waste Management

Title 33 › Chapter 55— SAVE OUR SEAS 2.0 › Subchapter II— ENHANCED GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT TO COMBAT MARINE DEBRIS › § 4262

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of State must lead and coordinate U.S. work overseas to fight marine debris and improve how plastic and other used materials are handled. Working with USAID and other officials, the Secretary must make plans and run programs that focus on working with foreign national and local governments, communities, and businesses to speed up help abroad. That work must: strengthen systems that collect, track, and manage waste after people use it; set clear, nationwide ways to monitor how well those systems work; find and fix operational problems; remove things that encourage bad disposal of plastics; run public awareness campaigns; involve towns and industries in cutting, collecting, reusing, and recycling waste; help investors and local institutions create business solutions that reach more people and businesses, improve industry practices, make marine debris tracking more transparent, stop incentives that cause leakage, build countries’ ability to reduce, monitor, regulate, and manage waste (including imported plastic waste), encourage private investment and markets for recycled and reusable products, promote safe reusable alternatives, and find ways to collect damaged fishing gear. The officials who must help include: (1) the U.S. Trade Representative; (2) the Under Secretary; (3) the EPA Administrator; (4) the Director of the Trade and Development Agency; (5) the President and Board of OPIC or the CEO and Board of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, as appropriate; (6) the CEO and Board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation; (7) the Commandant of the Coast Guard for ship pollution; and (8) other agency heads the Secretary picks. They must focus first on countries with (1) rapidly developing economies and (2) rivers and coasts that are the biggest sources of marine debris, as shown by the best available science. Progress must be measured with clear, accountable, metric-based targets. Nothing here lets anyone change or limit an agency’s existing investment portfolio.

Full Legal Text

Title 33, §4262

Navigation and Navigable Waters — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of State shall, in coordination with the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, as appropriate, and the officials specified in subsection (b)—

(1)lead and coordinate efforts to implement the policy described in section 4261 of this title; and

(2)develop strategies and implement programs that prioritize engagement and cooperation with foreign governments, subnational and local stakeholders, and the private sector to expedite efforts and assistance in foreign countries—

(A)to partner with, encourage, advise and facilitate national and subnational governments on the development and execution, where practicable, of national projects, programs and initiatives to—

(i)improve the capacity, security, and standards of operations of post-consumer materials management systems;

(ii)monitor and track how well post-consumer materials management systems are functioning nationwide, based on uniform and transparent standards developed in cooperation with municipal, industrial, and civil society stakeholders;

(iii)identify the operational challenges of post-consumer materials management systems and develop policy and programmatic solutions;

(iv)end intentional or unintentional incentives for municipalities, industries, and individuals to improperly dispose of plastic waste; and

(v)conduct outreach campaigns to raise public awareness of the importance of proper waste disposal and the reduction of plastic waste;

(B)to facilitate the involvement of municipalities and industries in improving solid waste reduction, collection, disposal, and reuse and recycling projects, programs, and initiatives;

(C)to partner with and provide technical assistance to investors, and national and local institutions, including private sector actors, to develop new business opportunities and solutions to specifically reduce plastic waste and expand solid waste and post-consumer materials management best practices in foreign countries by—

(i)maximizing the number of people and businesses, in both rural and urban communities, receiving reliable solid waste and post-consumer materials management services;

(ii)improving and expanding the capacity of foreign industries to responsibly employ post-consumer materials management practices;

(iii)improving and expanding the capacity and transparency of tracking mechanisms for marine debris to reduce the impacts on the marine environment;

(iv)eliminating incentives that undermine responsible post-consumer materials management practices and lead to improper waste disposal practices and leakage;

(v)building the capacity of countries—

(I)to reduce, monitor, regulate, and manage waste, post-consumer materials and plastic waste, and pollution appropriately and transparently, including imports of plastic waste from the United States and other countries;

(II)to encourage private investment in post-consumer materials management and reduction; and

(III)to encourage private investment, grow opportunities, and develop markets for recyclable, reusable, and repurposed plastic waste and post-consumer materials, and products with high levels of recycled plastic content, at both national and local levels; and

(vi)promoting safe and affordable reusable alternatives to disposable plastic products, to the extent practicable; and

(D)to research, identify, and facilitate opportunities to promote collection and proper disposal of damaged or derelict fishing gear.

(b)The officials specified in this subsection are the following:

(1)The United States Trade Representative.

(2)The Under Secretary.

(3)The EPA Administrator.

(4)The Director of the Trade and Development Agency.

(5)The President and the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation or the Chief Executive Officer and the Board of Directors of the United States International Development Finance Corporation, as appropriate.

(6)The Chief Executive Officer and the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

(7)The Commandant of the Coast Guard, with respect to pollution from ships.

(8)The heads of such other agencies as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

(c)In carrying out subsection (a), the officials specified in subsection (b) shall prioritize assistance to countries with, and regional organizations in regions with—

(1)rapidly developing economies; and

(2)rivers and coastal areas that are the most severe sources of marine debris, as identified by the best available science.

(d)In prioritizing and expediting efforts and assistance under this section, the officials specified in subsection (b) shall use clear, accountable, and metric-based targets to measure the effectiveness of guarantees and assistance in achieving the policy described in section 4261 of this title.

(e)Nothing in this section may be construed to authorize the modification of or the imposition of limits on the portfolios of any agency or institution led by an official specified in subsection (b).

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

33 U.S.C. § 4262

Title 33 — Navigation and Navigable Waters

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60