JOHN YANG: Tonight on "PBS News Weekend," the plastic problem and the United Nations plans to try to fix it.

WOMAN: We produce about 430 million tons of plastic a year just the 9 percent ends up being recycled.

Recycling is not the only answer.

We need to rethink the entire system of plastic production.

JOHN YANG: Then with us maternal mortality rates on the rise, we look at the health services available for expectant and new mothers.

And the growing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is fighting in the Civil War intensifies.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

There's no holiday weekend for negotiators on Capitol Hill.

They're trying to reach a budget deal that would clear the way for Congress to raise the nation's debt limit and prevent the Treasury from running out of cash and defaulting on its debt.

That could come as early as June 5.

Both Biden administration officials and House Republicans are indicating that a deal is within reach.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy sounded optimistic today when he spoke with reporters.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, Speaker of the House: Now is everything I want?

No.

It has to pass the Senate and get signed by the President to fill each day I feel closer and better.

JOHN YANG: The negotiators are closing in on a two-year deal that would push the need to next raise the debt limit until after the 2024 elections.

A big sticking point remains the Republicans proposal for new work requirements for recipients of Federal Food Aid.

Many Democratic lawmakers oppose that.

Vice President Kamala Harris gave the commencement address at West Point today the first woman to do that and the military Academy's 221 year history.

At the ceremony were about 950 graduating cadets became army second lieutenants.

Harris saluted the military for breaking barriers and becoming more inclusive.

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. Vice President: This year you celebrate the 75th anniversary of the integration of women in the military, as well as the desegregation of our military.

These milestones are met the reminder of a fundamental truth.

Our military is strongest when it fully reflects the people of America.

JOHN YANG: West Point's first female cadets enrolled in 1976 following an act of Congress.

And on this Memorial Day weekend, AAA estimates that around 42 million Americans will be traveling at least 50 miles from home.

About 37 million will go by car that's about 6 percent more than last year.

Gas prices average about $1 per gallon cheaper than last year.

At airports, federal officials say the number of air travelers has already hit a pandemic era high.

AAA projects that this coming summer travel season could break records especially for air travel.

Still to come on "PBS News Weekend," how to fix the global plastic problem and what the federal government is doing to help new and expectant mothers.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Plastic waste is piling up in the world's landfills, sewer systems and in the ocean.

As William Brangham reports, the United Nations has set a goal of sharply reducing plastic pollution by 2040.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Lodged at the bottom of the sea or floating on top of it, many of the world's waterways are clogged with plastic.

This manmade non-biodegradable substance is hurting wildlife.

And it's showing up almost everywhere we look.

Researchers in Brazil recently discovered plastic melted into rocks on a remote island, it's circulating in the air we breathe, it's made its way into our very bloodstream.

The plastic problem is not new, but its reach seems to have no limits.

430 metric tons of plastic is produced each year, two-thirds of which almost instantly after being used becomes garbage.

Plastic production is set to triple by 2060 to try and limit this flow of waste.

ESPEN BARTH EIDE, UNEA President: I see no objections.

It is so decided.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Last year in Nairobi, Kenya, 193 nations agreed the world must get the plastic problem under control.

INGER ANDERSEN, Executive Director, U.N.

Environment Program: And we will have a strong global international and comprehensive framework on plastic pollution.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The U.N. also recently released this report laying out the concrete steps needed to do it, "Turning off the Tap: How the world can end plastic pollution and create a circular economy."

It aims to slash plastic pollution by 80 percent by 2040.

How to realize that goal is the task of global delegates meeting in Paris next week to work on a legally binding agreement.

The head of the United Nations Environment Program Inger Andersen will lead the negotiations.

I spoke with her recently.

Inger Andersen, thank you so much for being here.

Before we get to the solutions that you're talking about, I wonder if we could just talk a little bit about the problem.

I mean, here especially in the U.S., but worldwide we have heard this phrase, reduce, reuse and recycle for what feels like a generation.

And yet we still haven't gotten our hands around this problem.

Why is that?

INGER ANDERSEN: Well, I guess it is fairly hard.

This recycle story is not as simple as it sounds when I put my plastic toothpaste to that is now empty in my recycling bin.

It doesn't always make its way.

In fact, globally, we produce about 430 million tons of plastic a year, globally speaking and 9 percent of that just percent % ends up being recycled.

So, it's clearly something that we need to deal with.

And recycling is not the only answer.

We need to rethink the entire system of plastic production.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Walk me through some of the details there.

How do we then try to divert this tide to a more productive and healthy stream?

INGER ANDERSEN: Let's think about it, we liquefy a lot of stuff that in just 20 years ago was not liquid, let's take soap for laundry detergent, it's largely liquid, certainly in the U.S. market, it used to be powder, and therefore it could be transported in a carton box.

Let's think about soap that we wash our hands with it used to be in a bar.

And now we need the convenience of one pump.

We have to ask ourselves if all that is worth it, when we understand that that liquid application of the product for our convenience, yes, but it is very, very inconvenient for the environment.

So, we need to rethink and redesign the products themselves.

We need to make sure that we minimize that wasteful single use plastic bag that we're going to be using for 10 minutes as we carry five tomatoes home from the store.

And then thereafter, depending on the kind of polymer it could be between 100 and 1,000 years in the landfill.

That's just not very efficient use of a scarce resource.

But I think that there are certainly industry leaders that are saying, look, this is actually something that if we don't get it right, it detracts from our shareholder value.

And it detracts from the pride that our workers have in this product if it's fobbing out around in the in the ocean.

This is not good for business, it's not good for the brand.

So let's find solutions to it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Some of what your report is calling for is the creation of a circular economy around plastics.

Is that possible when we know though the plastic as you're describing keeps breaking down in the environment?

Are those things compatible?

INGER ANDERSEN: So I think that there are many things that are ready now we can just exit but no circularity is not the solution, but it's one of the elements of a solution.

And that means that take back schemes, whether it's extended producer responsibility or whether it's municipal take back schemes.

There are many, many things that we've seen across different countries.

In Chile, for example, which is a poor country than the U.S. of course, you buy a bottle and that is yours for keeps and it has an electronic little gadgets so that when you go to the machine, the machine knows that it's your bottle, and you put in the money that you want, and you get the detergent from the machine that you want.

And if you can only afford this much, that's what you get.

And if you can afford more, you can buy more.

So, we feel schemes are very interesting.

So I think that it we have to think across the entire chain, but circularity will be part of it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: When you look at these upcoming negotiations on this issue, what stands out to you as the potential biggest roadblocks to this type of change that you're talking about?

INGER ANDERSEN: I think that any systems change in this size is one that is difficult.

So my concern will be that there may be in some locations and some member states and desire to just focus on the Waste Management.

But we need to look at the whole thing.

But the good thing is that I think across the political spectrum from left to right, and across the world, there is a desire to find solution.

And that's unique.

It's very much similar to the ozone negotiations that we had back in the late 70s and early 80s, where it was clear that we needed to exit CFCs chlorofluorocarbons, these chemicals that degraded the ozone layers, and were opening human health to cancers and ourselves to runaway climate change and impacts.

At the time, it was said it's impossible.

How can you change the freons that are enabling our cooling systems and our air conditioners and our fire retardants and our spray cans and then we did it so it is difficult but when we do it right, we can do this and it is exactly the same on the plastic side.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Inger Andersen of the United Nations Environment Program.

Thank you so much for being here.

INGER ANDERSEN: Thank you for having me.

JOHN YANG: Pregnancy in the early weeks of parenthood can be a difficult and stressful time and getting access to mental health care can be an additional challenge.

Ali Rogin tells us what the federal government is doing to help.

ALI ROGIN: There are grim statistics surrounding American motherhood, the U.S. maternal mortality rate continues to steadily increase.

2021 was one of the worst years on record, and U.S. maternal deaths far exceed that of many other developed countries.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, one of the leading causes of pregnancy related deaths is mental health conditions, including those that lead to death by suicide.

Last year, the United States launched the National Maternal Mental Health hotline, a 24/7 resource where new and expectant parents can talk to counselors, it received almost 12,000 calls in its first year.

To discuss these challenges I'm joined by Carole Johnson, head of the Health Resources and Services Administration, which is an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Carole, thank you so much for joining us.

CAROLE JOHNSON, Administrator, Health Resources and Services Administration: Thank you so much for having me.

And thank you for calling attention to this issue.

It is a critical need across the country.

And we in addition to hearing the volume of calls that we've received, we also get incredible feedback from stakeholders, meaning clinicians and community based organizations that work with pregnant moms about how important it is to have a resource like this have a safe space for pregnant moms and new moms to have a conversation with a counselor and be able to get their concerns heard.

ALI ROGIN: And Carole about a quarter of pregnancy related deaths are related to mental health, which is of course extremely important.

And the national hotline seems like a very well applied solution to help address that problem.

But if you look at the numbers, a plurality appear to be related to physical ailments, including hemorrhage, heart complications, infection, or those types of root causes those physical things harder to treat on a national level.

CAROLE JOHNSON: The maternal mental health hotline is part of our larger strategy across the Biden-Harris administration to tackle this crisis.

So we are investing not only in this critical resource, our maternal mental health Hotline at 833-TLC-MAMA, but also improving the way care is delivered, both in terms of improving access to prenatal care, improving access to postnatal care.

Too often new moms were dropped off and Medicaid relatively quickly after delivery.

We're making sure that states are expanding access to Medicaid.

We're doing better data collection collaborating more with states, we're building the workforce more certified nurse midwives more community based doulas to make sure that the healthcare system is centered around hearings women's voices and concerns because we know that's going to make a real meaningful difference in this work.

ALI ROGIN: I know you recently announced a 65 million award package to health centers across the country to address the more maternal mortality crisis, is what you just mentioned part of the package of services you're intending to bolster with that money?

CAROLE JOHNSON: It absolutely is we at the Health Resources and Services Administration fund 1,400 health centers around the country health centers see patients regardless of their ability to pay.

And so health centers are in underserved communities in rural communities across the country.

And our investment of $65 million is about helping health centers meet the needs of the pregnant women and post postpartum women in their communities, including, you know, expanding access to mental health services, integrating mental health services into OB services, really focused on getting those community health workers who can be that critical linkage and support to help connect pregnant women to community social services.

That being part of the solution as well.

ALI ROGIN: Carole, as you well know, the rate of maternal mortality varies greatly on racial lines, black and indigenous women are two to three times more likely to die of pregnancy related causes than white women.

Why this disparity?

And what is the administration doing to address it?

CAROLE JOHNSON: Your unacceptable disparities in maternal health outcomes and that is why the administration has launched our blueprint for maternal health.

This is really led by the President's commitment, and in particular, the Vice President's commitment to addressing those disparities.

She has been a leader on this issue since she was in the Senate.

And she has really called us all together across the administration to tackle this issue.

In fact, I got to participate in her convening the first Cabinet meeting around maternal mental health, which really put us in the Department of Health and Human Services around the table with our colleagues from the Department of Labor, and housing, and really recognizing that transportation.

All of these issues are part of the solution here.

ALI ROGIN: When you disaggregate the CDC data on maternal health, mental health issues are the underlying cause of most of the deaths for white and Hispanic mothers.

But in fact, Black and Asian mothers suffered much more from heart conditions and hemorrhaging.

So, is it harder again, to address these, these challenges when the root causes seem to vary so much by race?

CAROLE JOHNSON: Well, you know, that's why we have to invest in all of the above.

And so here at HRSA, we're also investing in helping hospitals prepare for hemorrhage and helping them be ready and OB ready to respond to those crisis moments, and also moving further upstream and better managing hypertension, and gestational diabetes in women during the prenatal period, which is why it's so important that we get people connected to prenatal care earlier.

And so we hope that these efforts will help us address some of these critical disparities.

ALI ROGIN: Carole Johnson, Head of the Health Resources and Services Administration, thank you so much for your time.

CAROLE JOHNSON: Thank you.

Really appreciate it.

JOHN YANG: The Civil War in Myanmar intensified this week as resistance fighters attack the governing military hunta's forces.

The United Nations estimates that nearly 18 million people need humanitarian aid as a result of the fighting, which is now entering its third year.

It follows a 2021 coup that returned the Southeast Asian nation to military rule, that was followed by a brutal crackdown on dissent, relentless attacks on civilians and an exodus of people to neighboring countries.

The turmoil has also led to a rush to exploit Myanmar's natural resources.

Gold, jade, luxury wood and other commodities are reaching the international market despite U.S. sanctions.

Earlier, I spoke with Aye Min Thant, a Burmese American journalist and Jonathan Head, Southeast Asia correspondent for the BBC.

I asked Jonathan, what led to what's going on now?

JONATHAN HEAD, Southeast Asia Correspondent, BBC: Well, I think you've got to look at the painful history that Myanmar has had pretty much since World War II, it's mostly been under military rule.

There were protests all the way through that periods, periodic protests, big ones in 1988 that were crushed very violently.

And that's when we first saw the appearance of Aung San Suu Kyi, this figure who was enormously popular, the daughter of a hero of the independence movement, but the first election -- the first free election in in decades was held in 2015.

And perhaps the military didn't expect this but Aung San Suu Kyi did incredibly well.

But when the second election came around in 2020, she did even better.

Her party want to resounding majority and that seems to have been too much for the generals.

They felt they were losing too much control.

Her relationship with the top general Min Aung Hlaing wasn't good.

And just as she was about to summon parliament to start her second term of office, he launched this coup.

And when the military did it, you saw massive protests.

And the military has just used the most incredible levels of force to put them down.

And we've now ended up in a situation where that protest movement because it's been forced underground has kind of evolved into a full scale civil war.

JOHN YANG: And Aye, the resistance or the insurgents who are opposing the military regime?

Who's in that and what do they want AYE MIN THANT, Burmese-American Journalist: So there's quite a number of different groups when you're talking about opposition to the Myanmar military.

So you have the armed ethnic, the armed groups from those largely ethnic minority populations that have been resisting against the federal government for a long time.

So those groups have been resisting and are now teaming up with new armed groups that have been enough since the coup, some of them are in coalition with one another.

But many of them are also operating independently.

And many of them are in sort of collaboration with the civilian government, the national unity government, but also are largely coordinating a lot of the armed resistance.

JOHN YANG: Jonathan, you're in Myanmar, I think, last month, what was it like?

What did you see and what was life like for the average citizen, the average person?

JONATHAN HEAD: John, I have to qualify that by saying, and we were allowed in for the first time since the coup and under quite strict conditions, but actually talking to people there.

They're extremely concerned.

And it turns out, there have actually been, the fighting has spread local people, particularly young people who are very frustrated by this coup, and by the terrible economic consequence of the coup, the economies more or less collapse.

So what I -- the impression I got was real misery.

People were terrified that the conflict was going to spread to their areas.

They were terrified of the retribution that would come to them if their own young people took up arms.

And they were absolutely devastated by the economic impact.

JOHN YANG: And Jonathan sort of described the repression for people, you said, you told our producers that you left because you felt unsafe, could you talk about the threat you felt?

AYE MIN THANT: So you know, I used to work at Reuters and my colleagues were put in prison for over 500 days, simply for trying to cover story about the range of genocide.

And after the coup, the repression against journalists really ramped up, in addition to what was already happening.

My own apartment was sort of entered into by my landlord and the local administrative departments, and it was rated as well.

And, you know, a number of my friends and colleagues had been arrested by that point.

And I felt that in order for me to continue doing my job in order to not be imprisoned, essentially, I needed to leave the country.

JOHN YANG: And on that point, Jonathan, I'm going to ask, Aye, I'm going to ask you the same question.

Where do you think this is going?

Can you see how this might end?

JONATHAN HEAD: I can't see it, John, at the moment, because you've got to try and get inside the mindset of these generals who launched this coup, they obviously miscalculated catastrophically.

They never saw this incredible popular resistance.

But they do see themselves and they talk about it this way.

Still, as the core institution, the country is the essential institution, they think they have a right to do what they've done.

They're very embattled.

They've committed dreadful crimes against humanity.

I think for the leaders, they must be thinking either we're going to be torn to pieces by the population, or we'll end up at an international war crimes court.

So, it's almost like they've got nowhere to go.

They are not talking to anyone, there's literally no dialogue.

I mean, I think there should be a diplomatic way out, because the human suffering is immense inside there.

And it's going to get worse.

But you know, U.S. influence is not that big in this region anymore.

European influence isn't that big.

And the other countries are kind of pursuing their own interests.

JOHN YANG: Aye, the same question, do you do you see a pathway to descending, AYE MIN THANT: There isn't really a place for the military to go, given the path that it's going on right now.

It can't really back down in a way that would spell any kind of success for them.

And for the resistance -- beside of the resistance.

People have lost so much in the last two years.

All of the benefits that liberalization that democratization in the last decade has brought have been rolled back.

And so I think it's much harder to repress a population that has tasted freedom as opposed to one that was fighting for something that they had never really experienced.

JOHN YANG: Burmese American journalist, Aye Min Thant and Jonathan Head of the BBC, thank you both very much.

JONATHAN HEAD: Thank you, John.

AYE MIN THANT: Thank you.

JOHN YANG: Remember, there's more online including a taste of revered chef and author editor Edna Lewis' cooking that shines a light on the rich tradition of black American cuisine.

All that and more is on our website pbs.org/newshour.

And that is "PBS News Weekend" for this Saturday.

I'm John Yang.

For all of my colleagues.

thanks for joining us.

See you tomorrow.