[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 126 (Thursday, July 28, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3752-S3755]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING ACCOUNTABILITY ACT

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I rise, along with Senator Capito, today 
to say a few words on behalf of S. 3742, Recycling Infrastructure and 
Accessibility Act of 2022, and S. 3743, the Recycling Composting 
Accountability Act.
  Senator Capito and I have the pleasure of leading the Senate 
Environment and Public Works Committee. With the legislation that we 
are about to discuss here, along with Senator Boozman--Senator Boozman 
is on his way. We are all a part of the Recycling Caucus in the U.S. 
Senate. We work with our

[[Page S3753]]

staffs and others outside of this body in order to make possible this 
legislation, to debate it, to report it. And if I am not mistaken, 
Senator Capito reported it unanimously out of our committee, as we do 
with so much legislation.
  These bills were introduced by Senator Capito and myself and Senator 
Boozman. As an avid recycler and composter, for a long time I have long 
believed in environmental stewardship. After all, we have a moral duty 
to leave behind a cleaner, healthier planet for our children.
  Senator Capito and I are both born in West Virginia. My sister and I 
grew up along Beaver Creek, right outside of Beckley. My dad used to 
take me and my grandfather fishing and hunting, even at a young age, 
along the New River and other parts of Raleigh County. One of the 
things that my dad and my grandfather always made clear to me was that 
if we are out in a boat and there was trash or something in the water 
or there was something that could be recycled, to pull it out of the 
water and to put it in something we were carrying and take it home. The 
idea was to try to leave our State--West Virginia then--better, better 
than we found it. So from a very early age in West Virginia, I really 
had those values instilled in me. And they still are. We instilled them 
in our sons too.
  But we have a moral obligation to leave behind a cleaner, healthier 
planet for our children. There are many ways to meet that moral 
obligation. One of those is to make sure that the products that can be 
recycled, we recycle them. We don't have to landfill them. We can 
actually address the climate change in a very positive way but 
especially with respect to aluminum cans and things like that that we 
recycle.
  I wish I could stand here today to say our recycling rate in Delaware 
is 100 percent, West Virginia is 100 percent, or the country is 100 
percent; it is not. The recycling rate in our country is something like 
35 percent. It is like getting a grade in school. If you get a 35 on a 
paper or test, that is a failing grade. With respect to recycling, 
unfortunately, we are racking up failing grades year after year after 
year, and we ought to do something about it. As it turns out, we can. 
Part of that doing something about it is the legislation before us 
today.
  We have to do more when it comes to improving our Nation's recycling 
and our composting efforts. These bills would take action to address 
several of the challenges facing America's recycling efforts.
  One of the challenges that we face is the availability of good data. 
That might sound strange, but it is true. This past November, for 
example, the Environmental Protection Agency, though, released its 
first-ever National Recycling Strategy. Now, that is kind of late to 
the game, but it is better to be late to the game than not to be there 
at all. It turns out it is a good document. It is a document that 
reflects input that we provided, our staffs provided, others on our 
committee, and across the country provided. And to the EPA's credit, 
they accepted that input, and they actually did something with it. So 
it is reflected in the National Recycling Strategy that was 
promulgated.
  The document offers a transformative vision for shrinking our 
Nation's waste management efforts, and it also highlights the need for 
greater standardization around data collection.

  To address this, Senator Boozman and I developed the Recycling and 
Composting Accountability Act. Senator Boozman, myself, Senator Capito, 
and others are part of the Recycling Caucus here in the Senate, a 
bipartisan group that focuses on how do we promote and encourage 
recycling, not just on Capitol Hill, not just in the District of 
Columbia, not just on the east coast, not just in West Virginia but 
across the country from coast to coast.
  Our legislation, the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act, 
would improve EPA's ability to gather data on our Nation's recycling 
systems and explore opportunities for implementing a national 
composting strategy.
  Another area where we can improve is by increasing access to 
recycling. Many Americans in disadvantaged communities want to recycle, 
they want to compost, but they are unable to do so. That is because 
they live in neighborhoods that lack curbside pickup, bottle return, 
and other necessary recycling infrastructure.
  Senator Capito's Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act would 
help address this by creating a pilot program at EPA to improve 
recycling services in underserved areas. This legislation would bring 
many communities into the recycling world, including those in urban and 
suburban areas, while also protecting our environment.
  I commend Senator Capito for her work and her leadership on this 
bill. I want to commend her staff and my staff, led by Mary Frances 
Repko, who is our staff director, and Adam on the other side of the 
aisle. Members don't do this by themselves, as we know, and we are 
really blessed with terrific staff who help us put these provisions 
together.
  I commend Senator Capito heartily for her work and her leadership on 
this legislation, her support of the legislation Senator Boozman and I 
have offered.
  I want to work with her to make sure that this bill helps jump-start 
recycling in communities with the greatest need, especially those who 
have been historically left behind, and there are too many of those.
  Both of these bills that we will have an opportunity to consider here 
today are the result of a true collaboration and reflect a substantial 
amount of bipartisan efforts dedicated to explore our Nation's 
recycling and composting challenges.
  I know a lot of people, if you watch the news, whether it is the 
television or on the radio, newspapers, you read online, they think all 
we do here is fight with one another; that we never find anything like 
common ground on important issues like the one we are talking about 
right now. The committee that Senator Capito and I are privileged to 
lead actually reports out important legislation, including bipartisan 
infrastructure legislation, all kinds of issues that enjoy bipartisan 
support, unanimous bipartisan support.


                                S. 3743

  Mr. CARPER. So with that, as if in legislative session, I ask 
unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of Calendar No. 358, S. 3743.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 3743) to require the Administrator of the 
     Environmental Protection Agency to carry out certain 
     activities to improve recycling and composting programs in 
     the United States, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill, 
which had been reported from the Committee on Environment and Public 
Works, with an amendment to strike all after the enacting clause and 
insert in lieu thereof the following:

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Recycling and Composting 
     Accountability Act''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       (a) In General.--In this Act:
       (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
     Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
       (2) Circular market.--The term ``circular market'' means a 
     market that utilizes industrial processes and economic 
     activities to enable post-industrial and post-consumer 
     materials used in those processes and activities to maintain 
     their highest values for as long as possible.
       (3) Compost.--The term ``compost'' means a product that--
       (A) is manufactured through the controlled aerobic, 
     biological decomposition of biodegradable materials;
       (B) has been subjected to medium and high temperature 
     organisms, which--
       (i) significantly reduce the viability of pathogens and 
     weed seeds; and
       (ii) stabilize carbon in the product such that the product 
     is beneficial to plant growth; and
       (C) is typically used as a soil amendment, but may also 
     contribute plant nutrients.
       (4) Compostable material.--The term ``compostable 
     material'' means material that is a feedstock for creating 
     compost, including--
       (A) wood;
       (B) agricultural crops;
       (C) paper;
       (D) certified compostable products associated with organic 
     waste;
       (E) other organic plant material;
       (F) marine products;
       (G) organic waste, including food waste and yard waste; and
       (H) such other material that is composed of biomass that 
     can be continually replenished or renewed, as determined by 
     the Administrator.
       (5) Composting facility.--The term ``composting facility'' 
     means a location, structure, or device that transforms 
     compostable materials into compost.
       (6) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian Tribe'' has the 
     meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-
     Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).

[[Page S3754]]

       (7) Materials recovery facility.--
       (A) In general.--The term ``materials recovery facility'' 
     means a dedicated facility where primarily residential 
     recyclable materials, which are diverted from disposal by the 
     generator and collected separately from municipal solid 
     waste, are mechanically or manually sorted into commodities 
     for further processing into specification-grade commodities 
     for sale to end users.
       (B) Exclusion.--The term ``materials recovery facility'' 
     does not include a solid waste management facility that may 
     process municipal solid waste to remove recyclable materials.
       (8) Recyclable material.--The term ``recyclable material'' 
     means a material that is obsolete, previously used, off-
     specification, surplus, or incidentally produced for 
     processing into a specification-grade commodity for which a 
     circular market currently exists or is being developed.
       (9) Recycling.--The term ``recycling'' means the series of 
     activities--
       (A) during which recyclable materials are processed into 
     specification-grade commodities, and consumed as raw-material 
     feedstock, in lieu of virgin materials, in the manufacturing 
     of new products;
       (B) that may include sorting, collection, processing, and 
     brokering; and
       (C) that result in subsequent consumption by a materials 
     manufacturer, including for the manufacturing of new 
     products.
       (10) State.--The term ``State'' has the meaning given the 
     term in section 1004 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 
     U.S.C. 6903).
       (b) Definition of Processing.--In paragraphs (7), (8), and 
     (9) of subsection (a), the term ``processing'' means any 
     mechanical, manual, or other method that--
       (1) transforms a recyclable material into a specification-
     grade commodity; and
       (2) may occur in multiple steps, with different steps, 
     including sorting, occurring at different locations.

     SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

       It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) recycling and composting conserve resources, protect 
     the environment, and are important to the United States 
     economy;
       (2) the United States recycling and composting 
     infrastructure encompass each of the entities that collect, 
     process, broker, and consume recyclable materials and 
     compostable materials sourced from commercial, industrial, 
     institutional, and residential sources;
       (3) the residential segment of the United States recycling 
     and composting infrastructure is facing challenges from--
       (A) confusion over what materials are recyclable materials 
     or compostable materials;
       (B) reduced export markets;
       (C) growing, but still limited, domestic end markets; and
       (D) an ever-changing and heterogeneous supply stream;
       (4) in some areas, recycling and composting infrastructure 
     is in need of revitalization; and
       (5) in an effort to address those challenges, the United 
     States must use a combination of tactics to improve recycling 
     and composting in the United States.

     SEC. 4. REPORT ON COMPOSTING INFRASTRUCTURE CAPABILITIES.

       The Administrator, in consultation with States, units of 
     local government, and Indian Tribes, shall--
       (1) prepare a report describing the capability of the 
     United States to implement a national composting strategy for 
     compostable materials for the purposes of reducing 
     contamination rates for recycling, including--
       (A) an evaluation of existing Federal, State, and local 
     laws that may present barriers to implementation of a 
     national composting strategy;
       (B)(i) an evaluation of existing composting programs of 
     States, units of local government, and Indian Tribes; and
       (ii) a description of best practices based on those 
     programs;
       (C) an evaluation of existing composting infrastructure in 
     States, units of local government, and Indian Tribes for the 
     purposes of estimating cost and approximate land needed to 
     expand composting programs; and
       (D) a study of the practices of manufacturers and companies 
     that are moving to using compostable packaging and food 
     service ware for the purpose of making the composting process 
     the end-of-life use of those products; and
       (2) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
     this Act, submit the report prepared under paragraph (1) to 
     Congress.

     SEC. 5. REPORT ON FEDERAL AGENCY RECYCLING PRACTICES.

       Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 
     Act, and annually thereafter, the Comptroller General of the 
     United States, in consultation with the Administrator, shall 
     make publicly available a report describing--
       (1) the total annual recycling and composting rates 
     reported by all Federal agencies;
       (2) the total annual percentage of products containing 
     recyclable material, compostable material, or recovered 
     materials purchased by all Federal agencies, including--
       (A) the total quantity of procured products containing 
     recyclable material or recovered materials listed in the 
     comprehensive procurement guidelines published under section 
     6002(e) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6962(e)); 
     and
       (B) the total quantity of compostable material purchased;
       (3) recommendations for updating--
       (A) the comprehensive procurement guidelines published 
     under section 6002(e) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 
     U.S.C. 6962(e)); and
       (B) the environmentally preferable purchasing program 
     established under section 6604(b)(11) of the Pollution 
     Prevention Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 13103(b)(11)); and
       (4) the activities of each Federal agency that promote 
     recycling or composting.

     SEC. 6. IMPROVING DATA AND REPORTING.

       (a) Inventory of Materials Recovery Facilities.--Not later 
     than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and 
     biannually thereafter, the Administrator, in consultation 
     with States, units of local government, and Indian Tribes, 
     shall--
       (1) prepare an inventory of public and private materials 
     recovery facilities in the United States, including--
       (A) the number of materials recovery facilities in each 
     unit of local government in each State; and
       (B) a description of the materials that each materials 
     recovery facility can process, including--
       (i) in the case of plastic, a description of--

       (I) the types of accepted resin, if applicable; and
       (II) the packaging or product format, such as a jug, a 
     carton, or film;

       (ii) food packaging and service ware, such as a bottle, 
     cutlery, or a cup;
       (iii) paper;
       (iv) aluminum, such as an aluminum beverage can, food can, 
     aerosol can, or foil;
       (v) steel, such as a steel food or aerosol can;
       (vi) other scrap metal;
       (vii) glass; or
       (viii) any other material not described in any of clauses 
     (i) through (vii) that a materials recovery facility can 
     process; and
       (2) submit the inventory prepared under paragraph (1) to 
     Congress.
       (b) Establishment of a Comprehensive Baseline of Data for 
     the United States Recycling System.--The Administrator, in 
     consultation with States, units of local government, and 
     Indian Tribes, shall determine, with respect to the United 
     States--
       (1) the number of community curbside recycling and 
     composting programs;
       (2) the number of community drop-off recycling and 
     composting programs;
       (3) the types and forms of materials accepted by each 
     community curbside recycling, drop-off recycling, or 
     composting program;
       (4) the number of individuals with access to recycling and 
     composting services to at least the extent of access to 
     disposal services;
       (5) the number of individuals with barriers to accessing 
     recycling and composting services to at least the extent of 
     access to disposal services;
       (6) the inbound contamination and capture rates of 
     community curbside recycling, drop-off recycling, or 
     composting programs;
       (7) where applicable, other available recycling or 
     composting programs within a community, including store drop-
     offs; and
       (8) the average cost to States, units of local government, 
     and Indian Tribes of recycling and composting programs.
       (c) Standardization of Recycling Reporting Rates.--
       (1) Collection of rates.--
       (A) In general.--The Administrator may use amounts made 
     available under section 9 to biannually collect from each 
     State the nationally standardized rate of recyclable 
     materials in that State that have been successfully diverted 
     from the waste stream and brought to a materials recovery 
     facility or composting facility.
       (B) Confidential or proprietary business information.--
     Information collected under subparagraph (A) shall not 
     include any confidential or proprietary business information, 
     as determined by the Administrator.
       (2) Use.--Using amounts made available under section 9, the 
     Administrator may use the rates collected under paragraph (1) 
     to further assist States, units of local government, and 
     Indian Tribes--
       (A) to reduce the overall waste produced by the States and 
     units of local government; and
       (B) to increase recycling and composting rates.
       (d) Report on End Markets.--
       (1) In general.--The Administrator, in consultation with 
     States, units of local government, and Indian Tribes, shall--
       (A) provide an update to the report submitted under section 
     306 of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act (Public Law 116-224; 134 
     Stat. 1096) to include an addendum on the end-market sale of 
     all recyclable materials, in addition to recycled plastics as 
     described in that section, from materials recovery facilities 
     that process recyclable materials collected from households 
     and publicly available recyclable materials drop-off centers, 
     including--
       (i) the total, in dollars per ton, domestic sales of bales 
     of recyclable materials; and
       (ii) the total, in dollars per ton, international sales of 
     bales of recyclable materials;
       (B) prepare a report on the end-market sale of compost from 
     all compostable materials collected from households and 
     publicly available compost drop-off centers, including the 
     total, in dollars per ton, of domestic sales of compostable 
     materials; and
       (C) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
     this Act, submit to Congress the update to the report 
     prepared under subparagraph (A) and the report prepared under 
     subparagraph (B).
       (2) Confidential or proprietary business information.--
     Information collected under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 
     paragraph (1) shall not include any confidential or 
     proprietary business information, as determined by the 
     Administrator.

     SEC. 7. STUDY ON THE DIVERSION OF RECYCLABLE MATERIALS FROM A 
                   CIRCULAR MARKET.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall develop a 
     metric for determining the proportion of recyclable materials 
     in commercial and municipal waste streams that are being 
     diverted from a circular market.

[[Page S3755]]

       (b) Study; Report.--Not later than 1 year after the 
     development of a metric under subsection (a), the 
     Administrator shall conduct a study of, and submit to 
     Congress a report on, the proportion of recyclable materials 
     in commercial and municipal waste streams that, during each 
     of the 10 calendar years preceding the year of submission of 
     the report, were diverted from a circular market.
       (c) Data.--The report under subsection (b) shall provide 
     data on specific recyclable materials, including aluminum, 
     plastics, paper and paperboard, textiles, and glass, that 
     were prevented from remaining in a circular market through 
     disposal or elimination, and to what use those specific 
     recyclable materials were lost.
       (d) Evaluation.--The report under subsection (b) shall 
     include an evaluation of whether the establishment or 
     improvement of recycling programs would--
       (1) improve recycling rates; or
       (2) reduce the quantity of recyclable materials being 
     unutilized in a circular market.

     SEC. 8. VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES.

       The Administrator shall--
       (1) in consultation with States, units of local government, 
     and Indian Tribes, develop, based on the results of the 
     studies, reports, inventory, and data determined under 
     sections 4 through 7, and provide to States, units of local 
     government, and Indian Tribes best practices that the States, 
     units of local government, and Indian Tribes may use to 
     enhance recycling and composting, including--
       (A) labeling techniques for containers of waste, 
     compostable materials, and recycling, with the goal of 
     creating consistent, readily available, and understandable 
     labeling across jurisdictions;
       (B) pamphlets or other literature readily available to 
     constituents;
       (C) primary and secondary school educational resources on 
     recycling;
       (D) web and media-based campaigns; and
       (E) guidance for the labeling of recyclable materials and 
     compostable materials that minimizes contamination and 
     diversion of those materials from waste streams toward 
     recycling and composting systems; and
       (2) not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of 
     this Act, submit to Congress a report describing the best 
     practices developed under paragraph (1).

     SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There are authorized to be appropriated to the 
     Administrator such sums as are necessary to carry out this 
     Act for each fiscal year.

  Mr. CARPER. I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported 
substitute amendment be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as 
amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the 
motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The committee-reported amendment in the nature of a substitute was 
agreed to.
  The bill (S. 3743), as amended, was ordered to be engrossed for a 
third reading, was read the third time, and passed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.

                          ____________________