[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 175 (Tuesday, November 13, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H13548-H13549]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPPORTING THE GOAL AND MISSION OF AMERICA RECYCLES DAY
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 122) supporting the goal and
mission of America Recycles Day, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.
The text of the concurrent resolution is as follows:
H. Con. Res. 122
Whereas America Recycles Day is on November 15th of each
year;
Whereas America Recycles Day is an annual national
awareness event, the mission of which is promoting the
social, environmental, and economic benefits of recycling and
buying recycled-content products;
Whereas the goal of America Recycles Day is to increase the
purchase of recycled-content products and recycling
throughout America;
Whereas Americans have a long tradition of recycling;
Whereas in 1896, the first recycling center was established
in New York City, and, by 1989, the Environmental Protection
Agency had set a national waste reduction and recycling goal,
and 26 States had enacted laws making recycling an integral
part of their solid waste management plans;
Whereas in 2003, homes, businesses, and institutions in the
United States produced more than 236,000,000 tons of
municipal solid waste;
Whereas this amounts to approximately 4.5 pounds of waste
per person in the United States per day, and is almost triple
the amount of municipal solid waste generated in 1960;
Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency reports that 30
percent of municipal solid waste is recovered for recycling
or composting, 14 percent is incinerated, and the remaining
56 percent is discarded in landfills;
Whereas a significant amount of this disposed solid waste
can be recovered for recycling or composting through source
separation, mechanical separation, and community-based
recycling programs;
Whereas recycling saves energy, which in turn can reduce
American dependence on foreign oil and prevent pollution;
reduces the need for certain natural resources; can create
more jobs; can cost communities less than other waste
disposal options; supplies valuable raw materials to
industry; stimulates green technology development; and
reduces the need for new landfills and combustors;
Whereas over the past 10 years, many new markets for
recycled products have been created, including
remanufacturing plastic containers into other plastic
containers, fleece, carpet, car parts, strapping, stuffing,
bottles, pipe, lawn and garden products, injection molded
products, and plastic lumber;
Whereas while there are many new markets for recycled
products, community curbside pickup programs have decreased
and recycling rates for certain recyclable household
products, like plastic and aluminum containers, have
decreased or stayed the same;
Whereas Federal, State, and local governments should
encourage increased recycling of recyclable household
products; and
Whereas there remains significant opportunity to increase
recycling in the United States, and Americans should be
encouraged to participate in endeavors that promote waste
separation methods, community-based recycling programs, and
expanded utilization of recovered materials: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That Congress--
(1) supports the goal and mission of America Recycles Day;
and
(2) encourages all Americans to participate in promoting
the social, environmental, and economic benefits of recycling
and buying recycled-content products.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Wynn) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Maryland.
General Leave
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Maryland?
There was no objection.
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Today, I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 122, to support the
goal and mission of America Recycles Day.
A strong commitment to recycling is needed in this country. Recycling
saves energy consumption and can reduce our dependence on foreign oil,
prevent pollution, provide valuable raw materials, and, most
importantly, create more jobs. I think this is an excellent resolution,
and I urge my colleagues to support its passage.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the chief Republican
cosponsor of this resolution, Mr. Shays from Connecticut.
Mr. SHAYS. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 122, introduced by Jay Inslee of
Washington State, a resolution supporting the goal and mission of
America Recycles Day.
November 15, 2007, marks the 10th anniversary of this nationally
recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and buy
recycled products. This bill expresses support for this day of
recognition, and encourages all of us to participate in promoting the
social, environmental, and economic benefits of recycling and buying
recycled-content products.
{time} 1415
America Recycles Day informs millions of Americans about the
importance of daily recycling and asks us to commit ourselves to
increasing our recycling habits at home and at work.
Across the country, the National Recycling Coalition organizes
community awareness and education campaigns about the benefits of
recycling, and volunteers work with communities and schools to organize
recycling awareness events in conjunction with their local
municipalities.
Recycling is one of the easiest ways anyone can work to improve the
world we live in on a daily basis. Recycling saves energy and reduces
greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
The EPA estimates that recycling a ton of mixed recyclables avoids
emissions equivalent to 2.8 tons of carbon dioxide. Today there are
more than 10,000 curbside recycling programs in the United States,
which serve approximately half of the population.
These programs are also good for our economy. Recycling is a $236
billion a year industry, and more than 56,000 recycling and reuse
enterprises employ 1.1 million workers.
I believe we should increase our recycling for ourselves and future
generations because we simply will not have a world to live in if we
continue our neglectful ways. Recycling and buying recycled products
create demand for more recycled products, decreasing waste, protecting
our natural resources, and helping our environment and economy.
America Recycles Day asks that we pledge ourselves to recycle and
buying recycled products, and I strongly urge support of this
resolution and the recognition that this is not just a resolution about
nothing. It is about something very important. It's about getting us,
as human beings, to think about wasting less and economizing and
helping to save our planet in the process.
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, at this time I am pleased to yield to the
sponsor of this resolution, a leader on environmental matters in this
Congress, the distinguished gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee).
Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support passage of H. Con. Res.
122, a resolution to support America Recycles Day, the only nationally
recognized day dedicated to recycling.
And I want to thank the Chair, Chairman Al Wynn, for getting this to
the floor; and my cosponsor, Republican Chris Shays, who has been a
leader on so many environmental issues, for working on this issue.
You know, the economic ramifications of recycling are well known. It
creates 1.1 million jobs. It has annual sales of $236 billion gross
sales, and has $37 billion in annual payrolls.
But I want to focus my comments for the moment on why recycling is so
much even more important than it was
[[Page H13549]]
originally. We know it has been the most successful environmental
initiative in the country's history. It allows people to take
individual action to preserve the environment.
But now that global warming is upon us, the wisdom, prudence, and
genius of recycling is even more apparent. When 1 million square miles
of the arctic melted, the size of six Californias this summer, the need
for recycling has become even more apparent.
Because recycling substantially reduces carbon dioxide emissions when
it's associated with raw material extraction, with product manufacture,
with emissions from landfills or burning carbon based waste, when we
conserve material, we don't waste energy, and we don't put global
warming gases into the atmosphere.
In fact, the Environmental Protections Agency estimates that
recycling a ton of mixed recyclables saves 2.8 tons of carbon dioxide
from going into the atmosphere. If we simply increased our recycle
efforts from the current 30 percent level to 35 percent, we would
reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equal to the
average emissions from 4.6 million households. There is real savings
still available to us.
We also have a growing problem with electronic material waste. We
only have 1 percent of the 130 million phones currently owned by
consumers recycled. We're going to do something about that. I can
report in Seattle, at America Recycles Day, Dell, Microsoft and
InTechra will raise awareness for recycling of electronics at Safeco
Field, home of the Seattle Mariners.
Here on Capitol Hill, the Office of Greening has helped promote the
House America Recycling Day. So passage of this bill will certainly
support these ongoing efforts. We need to build on them.
It's time for Congress to recognize this important day. I urge my
colleagues to support this bill and find something to recycle, and
recycle it.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.
Again, I want to thank Mr. Inslee, Mr. Shays, Mr. Wynn, Mr. Barton,
Mr. Dingell as well.
Recycling is an important environmental concept that predates, by
decades, the first Earth Day and talk of global climate change. In
fact, according to the National Recycling Coalition, before the 1920s,
70 percent of U.S. cities ran programs to recycle certain materials.
And during World War II, 60 years ago, American industry reused and
recycled 25 percent of the waste system. Today we're recycling and
reusing about 33 percent of our Nation's waste.
Moreover, the need for serious recycling takes on an added dimension
when one considers the state of America's landfill capacity. According
to the EPA, since 1980 the total annual generation of municipal solid
waste, otherwise known as regular household trash, has increased by
more than 60 percent to its 2005 level of nearly 246 million tons every
year.
And further, according to the EPA, over the last 15 years, 9 percent
less, or about 9 million tons, of household garbage is going to our
Nation's landfills. That means that the increased recycling efforts
must step in to bridge the gap.
And while many folks may think that promoting recycling is confined
just to picking up a newspaper printed on recycled papers, or buying a
soft drink or beer in a recycled bottle, our domestic recycling
industry is even more sophisticated and diverse than those perceptions.
I've seen it firsthand in my district. In fact, domestic paper
recycling helps create everything from cereal boxes, Kelloggs in
Michigan, to furniture, recycled plastic soda bottles yield fibers that
produce T-shirts, recycled carpet forms the basic fill for ski jackets.
Recycling is not just a good environmental practice; it's also a great
way to help grow our economy.
So, Mr. Speaker, this resolution is simply not just a remind of the
virtue of a good stewardship. It's also a charge to every one of us
that taking time to recycle does indeed make a difference for the
world. And I would urge that my colleagues support this resolution
encouraging every American to participate in promoting the social,
environmental, and economic benefits of recycling and buying recycled-
content products.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, I don't believe I have any further speakers,
and we do have the right to close.
Mr. UPTON. I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would only say that I think we
have at force a very important, a very practical, and a very creative
bill encouraging all Americans to participate in recycling. This is a
wonderful bipartisan opportunity for all of us to do something good for
the environment. I urge the adoption of the resolution.
Mr. WYNN. I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Wynn) that the House suspend the rules and
agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 122, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution, as amended, was
agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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