_By Jake Thomas, Resource Recycling_
A congressional panel recently held a hearing on potential legislation meant to produce better data on how the United States' recycling system is working. The hearing, held last week, attracted high-level testimony from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Aluminum Association, the Glass Packaging Institute and many other experts highlighting problems and recommendations relating to material recovery, end-use and the future of recycling.
On June 27, the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy [held a hearing][1] on the bill, which included testimony from several trade associations as well as an official from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"Despite all that has been accomplished in the collection of recyclables, there is concern among several recyclers that a considerable amount of quality feedstock materials are not ultimately being processed and reused," said subcommittee chairman Rep. John Shimkus (R – Illinois) during his opening remarks. "Many recyclers believe by asking smarter questions and collecting better data will lead us to solutions to this problem."
The [legislation][2], which has yet to be introduced and is currently in draft form, is intended to improve how the EPA collects information on recycling in the U.S. The bill would allow the agency to look into not only what materials are recovered, but how they're recovered and what end use they are directed to. The bill would also direct the EPA to look into how much materials are dumped due to contamination.
"Today, there are limited aggregate data to evaluate the success of recycling programs at the local, state, regional or national level," said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant EPA administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, in his testimony.
Stanislaus noted that most states do not have the data necessary to provide accurate information on recovery rates. Additionally, more information on business-to-business recycling would fill a large information gap, he said, along with data from other sources, such as construction and demolition.
Charles Johnson, the Aluminum Association's vice president for environment health and safety, said in his testimony that getting better data would help facilitate an increase in recycling. Calling the legislation "critical," he said that recycling contributes to private-sector green jobs, energy efficiency and industry waste-reduction goals.
"The aluminum industry's position in favor of recycling is not green washing; it's green business for us," said Johnson.
Lynn Bragg, the president of the Glass Packaging Institute, told the committee that when glass plants use recycled glass they reduce furnace temperatures, resulting in lower energy use and fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Being more efficient, she explained, helps the industry compete internationally.
She also explained current EPA data counts recovered glass used for roadbed aggregate toward the recycling rate. But having data that distinguishes between one-time uses and using glass to manufacture products (which can be continuously recycled) would be useful to her industry, she said, and this bill could help.
Jonathan Gold, senior vice president of the Newark Group's Recovery and Recycling Division, speaking on behalf of the Paper Recycling Coalition, echoed several points made earlier in the testimony. He also noted that contamination of recovered material is an issue at his company's plant. Up to 15 to 18 percent of the paper is contaminated by other recyclables as well as "other unmentionables," he said.
"To a large extent this is caused by single-stream collection, a curbside collection process that allows for all material to be collected in one bin versus separating paper from all other collected material," he said. "This material is still counted by the Commonwealth [of Massachusetts] as 'recycled.' What is too contaminated for us to recycle in our mills ends up at the landfill, casting serious question on the 'true' recycling rate. Improved data would help us get a better handle on this problem in order to identify solutions."
Although the hearing called attention to long-standing industry problems and how the bill could begin to address them, some still expressed concerns about the legislation's potential shortcomings.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, said early in the hearing that the current House of Representatives is probably the most anti-environment in the nation's history and that the bill "appears likely to accomplish very little."
The EPA's Stanislaus said that because the data collected under the bill would be voluntary, he worried that it would paint an incomplete picture. He also said that the two-year time frame to conduct the study wouldn't be long enough.
John Skinner, the executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America, echoed these concerns during his testimony. He also added that the $400,000 appropriation called for in the bill to collect the data might not be enough.
But getting these potential problems reconciled in the bill might lead to conflict. Shimkus, who is also co-chair of the House Recycling Caucus, asked the industry representatives present at the hearing if the bill should mandate anything. Their answer: no.
Rep. Greg Harper (R-Mississippi), another committee member, also asked why the EPA couldn't do this study using its existing budget.
Stanislaus responded that the EPA does collect similar data for its recurring Waste Characterization Report, however additional data is both welcome and necessary.
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[1]: http://energycommerce.house.gov/hearings/hearingdetail.aspx?NewsID=9616
[2]: http://republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/Media/file/Hearings/Environment/20120627/BILLS-112hr-PIH-IncreasingManufacturingThroughImprovedRecycling.pdf
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