Senate passes recycling, composting bills

The U.S. Senate unanimously has passed two bipartisan bills that seek to boost recycling and composting infrastructure in an effort to improve and expand recycling service and increase composting.

The Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act (S. 1189) was introduced by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia, in April of last year. It would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a pilot grant program to improve recycling accessibility in communities and allows the EPA to award grants to states, local governments, Indian tribes or public-private partnerships.

RELATED: Senate lawmakers reintroduce bipartisan recycling, composting legislation

According to the bill, the EPA should give priority to eligible entities planning projects in communities with no more than one material recovery facility (MRF) within a 75-mile radius of that community.

Grants would be available to projects that to improve recycling accessibility in communities, including in underserved communities, by increasing the number of transfer stations, expanding curbside recycling collection programs and leveraging public-private partnerships to reduce the costs associated with collecting and transporting recyclables in underserved communities.

Grants would range from $500,000 to $15 million.

Sen. Thomas R. Carper, a Democrat from Delaware, introduced the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act (S. 1194) last April. This bill establishes data collection and reporting requirements concerning composting and recycling programs, requiring the EPA to issue several reports related to composting and recycling, including a report on the capability of the United States to implement a national composting strategy to reduce contamination rates for recycling.

It also calls on the EPA to inventory certain facilities that recycle residential materials and describe the materials that the facilities can process; collect data related to curbside and drop-off recycling and composting programs to establish a comprehensive baseline for the U.S. recycling system; and develop and disseminate best practices that states, local governments and Indian tribes could use to enhance recycling and composting.

It also would require the Government Accountability Office to report on the recycling practices of federal agencies, while the EPA would be required to develop a metric for determining the proportion of recyclables in commercial and municipal waste streams that is being diverted from circular markets. After developing that metric, the EPA would be required to study the proportion of recyclables that were diverted from those markets in the prior 10 years.

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, says it is imperative for Congress to take action to reduce the amount of waste entering landfills, expand local capacity to improve the collection of recyclables and help make recycling and composting programs more effective and efficient.

“We can’t just toss cardboard, paper, plastic and bottles into the bin and call it a day,” he says. “We’ve got to invest in making recycling work better for people and communities. This is a smart step toward upgrading our recycling infrastructure and ensuring it is economically and environmentally sustainable and expanding opportunities for composting.

"These bipartisan bills will also help collect needed data to ensure recycling programs are working and develop a national composting strategy. And we’ve also got to do our part to reduce the amount of plastics we use in the first place, incentivize producers and manufacturers to be environmentally responsible and hold them accountable for their packaging.”

According to a study by the EPA, more than 681,000 jobs in the United States are associated with recycling and reuse activities.

The two bipartisan bills would help the U.S. toward its goal of increasing the national recycling rate to 50 percent by 2030, up from the current 32.1 percent. 

Both bills first were introduced in 2022 and received support from several industry groups, including the National Waste & Recycling Association, the Plastics Industry Association and the Solid Waste Association of North America. Senate lawmakers passed these bills in August 2022; however, the companion legislation introduced in the House did not proceed past a hearing in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change.

Companion legislation for the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act has been introduced in the House by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican from Iowa, and companion legislation for the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act has been introduced by Rep. Joe Neguse, a Democrat from Colorado. Whether they will pass the U.S. House of Representatives this year remains to be seen.