mr. baca, i want to start with you. in your prepared remarks, you describe a.c.c.'s work with d.o.e. and its national labs. so the question is, how is the department of energy's office of science uniquely positioned to conduct research to solve challenges in this space? mr. baca: congressman, thank you so much for that question. let me start off by saying, all in regard to the comments about the climate challenge, first off, plastics overall have a much lower carbon footprint than any other material. they have been critical, as i mentioned in my statement, to vehicles and insulating our homes and some of the work we're doing with the department of energy and our national labs is focusing on that to understand the life cycle of plastic materials and ensure we understand its impacts on the environment. that work is currently happening. we've been working with a variety of the national laboratories, argon national laboratory, for instance, we worked with the department of energy under the plastic

mr. baca. >> in morning let me first start off by thanking the subcommittee for holding this important hearing today. i want to commend the chairwoman for michigan for her leadership on this issue her pragmatic approach and driving actions in her collaborative style in bringing stakeholders together to solve big challenges that we face in the nation. the american chemistry council c plastic division is pleased to provide testimony to the subcommittee, are members of the leading producers of modern plastic materials used to make countless consumer and durable goods used in a variety of applications and innovations that improve the quality of our lives, our environment and our economy. acc encourages passage of the bipartisan plastic waste reduction and recycling research act if passed, this legislation would direct federal government resources to improve the global competitiveness of u.s. plastic recycling and ensure u.s. leadership and plastic waste reduction and recyclingec research. it would

mr. baca, we discussed that china has banned the import of recycling and many other countries. the claim is that it's due to the poor quality of plastic bundles being reported. do you agree? one, agree and test do you a great and do you -- do you agree and do you think china has greater ambitions? what would it mean? >> congressman, thank you so much for the question and i agree with you that we should not be -- leadership. i think when you get to the issue of contamination, the biggest challenge is a fragmented system review have 9000 jurisdictions across the united states doing 9000 different things. i think there is a very appropriate role for congress to develop a set of minimum standards that work to improve recycling access, recycling education, and recycling collection that will definitely streamline the processes to getting more plastics and all material into the system. i think when it comes to advanced recycling, the good news i want to share with this committee is that advanced recy

mr. joshua baca. he is the vice president of the plastics division at the american chemistry council. he viscerally oversees strategic programs to advance a science -based policy agenda, touched national outreach and sustainability on behalf of america's leading plastic makers. he also leads industry initiatives and fosters multi- stakeholder dialogue around helping and plastic waste by creating a more circular economy. as our witnesses should know, you will each have five minutes for your spoken testimony, your written testimony will be included in the record for the hearing. when you have all completed your spoken testimony we will begin with questions. each member willem have five minutes to question the panel. we will start with ms. harrison's opening testimony. >> madame chairwoman and hemembers of the committee, thank you for the opportunity t to speak with you about this important topic. as you know i'm the ceo of the recycling partnership and we are a national nonprofit that works with companies, communities and policies to strengthen the u.s. recycling system but you may reme