U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee and co-chair of the Senate Recycling Caucus, called for a national composting strategy to help reduce food waste in landfills. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an estimated 58 percent of methane emissions from municipal solid waste landfills come from food waste.
“If we are going to achieve a national recycling rate of about 50 percent by 2030 — that’s our goal — there’s more we can and must do,” said Senator Carper. “I’m particularly excited about the idea of developing a national composting strategy. Doing so could help us reduce food waste, which is responsible for some 58 percent of planet-warming methane emissions that come from landfills.”
Earlier this year, Senator Carper, along with Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.), introduced two bills: the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act, which would improve EPA’s ability to gather data on our nation’s recycling systems and explore opportunities for implementing a national composting strategy, and the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act of 2023, which would allow EPA to create a pilot program to improve recycling services in underserved areas. In April 2023, the EPW Committee advanced both pieces of bipartisan legislation with unanimous support.