Recycle that plastic bottle. Drink from a reusable water bottle. Stop eating from foam takeout containers.

Solutions to the plastic waste problem are often described in terms of what consumers can do to help. But federal legislation, set to be introduced by two Democrats in Congress on Tuesday, would shift responsibility to the industries producing the plastic encircling the globe.

The bill, being introduced by Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico and Representative Alan Lowenthal of California, is one of the most aggressive, sweeping attempts to hold the plastics industry, beverage makers and other companies financially responsible for dealing with the waste they create.

The so-called Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act is a long shot, with no Republican co-sponsors and several provisions that seem sure to be nonstarters in an election year. But the legislative effort at the federal level, even if a politically unrealistic one, shows the growing sway of environmental groups that have pushed to stem the flow of plastic waste into the ocean.