Recycling Product News Logo

The Recycling Partnership lauds EPA’s new recycling assessment

The Partnership hopes the new data will spur Congress to pass legislation that includes a recycling infrastructure tax credit

A line of blue recycling bins on a sidewalk
The Partnership’s mission is to build a recycling system that delivers the economic and environmental benefits communities and people who work throughout the recycling industry deserve. Pixabay

The Recycling Partnership (The Partnership) has expressed satisfaction at the release of the Environmental Protection Agency's first-ever Recycling Needs Survey and Assessment. The Partnership is calling on Congress to pass legislation that includes a recycling infrastructure investment tax credit which the organization believes will help further unlock the economic and environmental benefits of recycling and a circular economy.

"The needs assessment demonstrates that investing in domestic recycling can pay dividends for local communities and the American economy," says Keefe Harrison, CEO of The Recycling Partnership. "Our mission is to build a better recycling system, one that delivers the economic and environmental benefits our communities and the hundreds of thousands of people who work throughout the recycling industry deserve. This new data from the EPA makes clear the challenges ahead but also the opportunity for collective action to transform the way we use, reuse, and recycle materials."

Data to help build a better recycling system

The Partnership collaborated with congressional leadership to call for this report in the FY2021 appropriations process, delivering on a mission to build a better recycling system. To realize these economic benefits, The Partnership is advocating for the inclusion of a recycling infrastructure tax credit as Congress considers policy changes that will enable domestic manufacturing and resilient local economies.

To recycle the more than 40 million tons of packaging materials that are landfilled or incinerated every year, the EPA estimates that $22-28 billion in domestic investment is needed. The report also highlights that leveraging a combination of public and private investment is critical to protecting natural resources, bolstering local economies, and ensuring that everyone who wants to recycle can recycle.

The Partnership believes the Recycling Needs Survey and Assessment can serve as an important first step for Congress in strengthening the U.S. recycling system, helping to identify and prioritize investments and improvements to capture the full economic value of recycling.

The Recycling Partnership's 2021 Paying It Forward Report quantifies that access to recycling on par with trash service for everyone across the U.S. would provide $11 billion in new wages, $9.4 billion in landfill cost savings for municipalities and create approximately 200,000 new jobs. 

Implementing EPR to unlock economic and environmental benefits

"As we partner with states to implement Extended Producer Responsibility, we continue to realize the tremendous opportunity we have to advance our domestic recycling system," says Kate Davenport, chief policy officer at The Recycling Partnership. "This monumental data from EPA lays the framework for needed national investments, and we look forward to working with Congress and other key partners to continue to unlock the economic and environmental benefits of recycling and a circular economy."

A recycling infrastructure investment tax credit can transform the way businesses and private investors contribute to the circular economy, giving them the financial surety needed to bring a new wave of financing to needed programs. The Recycling Partnership is calling on NGOs and community and corporate partners to help advocate for effective policies that provide the needed investments required to fully unlock recycling's economic and environmental benefits.

Company info

125 Rowell Ct.
Falls Church, VA
US, 22046

Website:
recyclingpartnership.org

Read more

Related Articles