Bills to enhance recycling and composting pass the Senate

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - A pair of bills to enhance recycling and composting programs passed the Senate earlier this month.

More recycling and composting opportunities could be coming if the House of Representatives passes the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act, which would try to gather more information about recycling, nationwide.

“There’s really not a lot of data out there regarding what recycling is doing. So this is an effort to get more information, to glean that information from the people that are recycling now and then talk to them, see how we can help them using this information as we go forward,” said Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), one of the bill’s sponsors and Senate Recycling Caucus co-chair.

The senator has been pushing for years to get the bill through Congress to try to improve recycling and composting programs.

Sen Boozman’s Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act also passed the Senate.

The bills require the EPA to collect data on recycling and composting rates across the country and would also create a pilot recycling program to improve access to recycling systems in rural and underserved communities.

“Most of our small communities are very underfunded. They just don’t have a lot of resources and yet they have a lot of need,” said Sen. Boozman. “The want is there, but they just haven’t set it up and it takes a lot of work... So there’s a number of different reasons, and that’s why this bill that collects information is so important to really understand the problems that they have.”

With the legislation comes not only a possibility of a greener future but also more jobs and the chance to help out small rural communities that have a harder time recycling.

Fayetteville, Arkansas Waste Reduction Manager Brian Pugh says he was happy to see the bills and believes they could be a good for other communities across the state and elsewhere in the country.

“It’s very encouraging to see that we have somebody in our corner like Senator Bozeman, that’s really pushing for this nationally,” he said. “And having that access expanded to the cities and counties that don’t have that and access would be very important.”

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