[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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