ABOUT

"Jennie believes that because of plastic bags’ wastefulness and the damage they do to the environment, humans will eventually use a lot fewer of them. New York’s acceptance of this change is only a matter of time. For the city to have come so far and so quickly toward rejection of the single-use disposable plastic bag, when ten years ago nobody in government was even talking about it, is partly because of her."

— Ian Frazier, for The New Yorker

Jennie Romer, Esq. is a lawyer, policy advisor, and sustainability expert with deep expertise in waste reduction and single-use plastics policy. She is currently the Policy Director for North America at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, where she leads work at the intersection of circular economy, sustainable materials, and public policy across the U.S. and Canada.

Previously, Jennie served as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pollution Prevention at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she oversaw Pollution Prevention (P2) Grants and national initiatives focused on sustainable purchasing, safer chemicals, and low embodied carbon construction materials. She also played a key role in representing the United States during the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) process to develop a global agreement on plastic pollution.

Before joining EPA, Jennie was a Legal Associate at the Surfrider Foundation, where she led the Plastic Pollution Initiative. She is the author of Can I Recycle This? and the founder of PlasticBagLaws.org, and has been instrumental in shaping plastic bag and packaging legislation in San Francisco, New York, and jurisdictions across the country. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Politico, and other major media outlets.

Jennie holds a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law and bachelor’s degrees in Zoology, Environmental Studies, and Black Studies from UC Santa Barbara. She is admitted to the California and New York State Bars and is based in New York City.