ISRI)submitted comments to the EPA regarding the Agency’s draft National Recycling Goals. The National Recycling Goals are being developed to align with the EPA’s National Recycling Strategy which identifies objectives and actions that would further strengthen the U.S. recycling system. In its comments, ISRI focuses on ensuring the goals and metrics developed by EPA are clear and consistent with the current structure of the recycling industry, so that recyclers may achieve economic development and job creation through enhanced manufacturer demand for recycled materials that come from a strengthened recycling system.
Excerpts of ISRI’s comments follow (full text of comments)
… The following is our recommended version of the overview as an explanation of the purpose of the National Recycling Goals. …
… Progress made in recycling will support further economic opportunity for manufacturers that rely on critical feedstock from the recycling supply chain, leading to growth in manufacturer demand for recycled materials. The result will be direct job creation in the recycling industry expanding to meet that demand growth and indirect job creation in manufacturing and supportive industries that will continue to consume recycled materials.
… I. SYSTEM-WIDE RECYCLING MEASURES TO ASSESS RECYCLING PERFORMANCE
… Knowing that materials successfully pass through recycling AND are consumed by manufacturers is the most effective measurement for the recycling system’s resiliency.
… II. REDUCING CONTAMINATION IN THE RECYCLING STREAM …
… ISRI believes that an EPA-directed, nationwide education and awareness campaign would be the most effective means to improving consumer understanding of the steps they can take to enhance recycling through lower contamination in their recycling bins. …
… III. INCREASING MATERIALS PROCESSING EFFICIENCY
… we can best learn [recycling] efficiency through the amount that successfully passed through the operation, correlating with a decline in materials sent to landfill.
… IV. STRENGTHENING MARKETS FOR RECYCLED MATERIALS
…Recycled Content … is the strongest for monitoring changes in market demand for recycled materials through changes in the amount of recycled materials that are incorporated into new products …