U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Recycling Strategy: American Chemistry Council Comments

The American Chemistry Council (“ACC”) submitted December 3rd comments to the United States Environmental Protection Action (“EPA”) on the agency’s draft:

National Recycling Strategy (“Strategy”)

EPA released the Strategy for comment on October 5th.

The Strategy is described by EPA as identifying strategic objectives and actions needed to create a stronger, more resilient, and cost-effective United States municipal solid waste recycling system.

ACC states that its Plastics Division is “an industry leader in promoting innovative plastics recycling and recovery programs and is a proud sponsor of educational and outreach programs to improve plastics recycling nationwide.” The organization further cites the release of its documents titled:

• Guiding Principles for Eliminating Plastic Waste
• Roadmap to Reuse
• Plastics Solutions for America 2020 Report

Described as ACC’s “strategic recommendations” are the following:

1. Incorporate advanced recycling in all three of the strategy objectives, especially the role it will play in creating new markets for post-use plastics.
2. Add a new objective on increasing collection.
3. Develop a more harmonized federal approach on education and standards to align the recycling interests of diverse communities across the United States.
4. Update the EPA waste hierarchy to be inclusive of all recycling processes and collaborate with other key federal agencies, such as the Department of Energy.
5. Work with Congress on policies that will enable private sector funding for recycling infrastructure while developing a broader federal strategy.

ACC states that it supports EPA’s three strategic objectives with the following areas of focus:

• Objective 1: Reducing Contamination: Focusing efforts on consumer education and labelling will support not only reduced contamination, but also increased collection.
• Objective 2: Increase Processing Efficiency: Broadening the focus of this objective to prioritize innovation and investment that will deliver the feedstocks for both mechanical and advanced recycling will help build a more resilient and effective recycling system.
• Objective 3: Improve Markets: Developing the right recycled content and enabling policies to increase the demand of recycled materials will support innovation, jobs and better environmental outcomes.

A copy of the ACC comments can be downloaded here.