Roadmap To Better Recycling
EPA Rolls Out Nationwide Plan: 50 Percent By 2030
By Mark Kuhl
For the GPHN
The Environmental Protection Agency established a program in 2018 called America Recycles and their goal is to collaborate with organizations (290 so far) that have pledged to improve the recycling of municipal waste.
Their goal is a rate of 50 percent recycling in the U.S. by 2030 — versus around 30 percent today. Good progress was made in our country between 1980 (10 percent) and 2000 (29 percent) but it’s been stagnant for the last 20 years — hence this initiative.
They created a national framework for recycling with three key objectives:
1. Reduce contamination. People normally want to recycle but are sometimes unsure of what’s accepted so they inadvertently dilute the recycling stream with contaminants. The plan is to establish national standards and educate people on how to better recycle.
2. Improve efficiency of material recovery facilities. They’ll do this by supporting research and development, designing products to be recyclable, and establishing national standards so we’re all speaking the same language when discussing the U.S. recycling system
3. Improve markets. They’ll share materials data broadly and aim to use recycled materials locally while increasing national demand for these materials.
In 2021 the EPA will finalize a roadmap and kick the program in to high gear. As a result we may notice national recycling campaigns encouraging us to recycle more and better. Denver Municipal Waste already does this, so hopefully the national efforts reinforce the local message.
Much of this program’s effort will be out of sight of the public as it’s focused on the recovery facilities and markets — so wish them luck so we can start to see our national recycling numbers grow again.
Next month we will help unravel the mystery of where your recycles go, and what they end up becoming in their next life.
Mark Kuhl is an environmental advocate who lives in Park Hill with his family. His handy tips and news about recycling household items appear every month in these pages. A directory of his past columns for recycling everything from paint to Styrofoam to shoes is at greaterparkhill.org/sustainability/recycling-directory/.