By Megan Quinn Waste Dive
UPDATE: April 7, 2022: The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works voted favorably to report the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act (S.3742) and the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act (S.3743) on Thursday. The first bill in particular has seen widespread recycling industry support.
“I think they’re a product of the best of our committee’s tradition of working together on conservation and sustainability issues,” said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who chairs the committee.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said she hopes the legislation could help make recycling “more effective,” as, in her opinion, “the opportunities for recycling kind of ebb and flow because, economically, it hasn’t been a winner for our counties or our states or our cities.”
Dive Brief:
- Feb. 3: The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works previewed two bills meant to expand on broad national recycling and waste reduction goals at a hearing Wednesday.
- The draft Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act, led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., would direct the U.S. EPA to provide grants between $1 million and $15 million each for projects that make recycling programs more accessible to rural and disadvantaged communities, specifically hub-and-spoke recycling systems featuring transfer stations, and those that leverage public-private partnerships.
- The draft Recycling and Composting Accountability Act, led by Sens. Tom Carper, D-Del., and John Boozman, R-Ark., would direct EPA to collect a wide array of recycling and composting data, including inventories of MRFs and curbside collection programs, and “explore opportunities” for implementing a national composting strategy.
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