Sponsors (11)
The bill standardizes definitions and creates data, reporting, and modest multi‑year funding to expand and improve recycling and composting programs and markets, but those benefits come with new reporting and compliance costs, some regulatory uncertainty, potential transparency tradeoffs, and reliance on future appropriations.
State, local governments, Tribes, and communities get standardized data, technical assistance, mapping of facilities, and federal reporting that together improve recycling and composting program design, expand access, and strengthen markets for recovered materials and compost.
Governments, compost producers, farmers, and recyclers gain clear, standardized statutory definitions for composting, recycling, and 'specification‑grade' materials that can raise product quality, improve soil benefits, and make recycled feedstocks more marketable.
The bill authorizes predictable federal funding ($4,000,000 per year for FY2025–2029), giving agencies a multi‑year resource baseline to implement data, reporting, and program support activities without immediate funding gaps.
Small composters, recyclers, and some manufacturers may face higher compliance and processing costs to meet specification‑grade, thermal/pathogen, or packaging scrutiny requirements, squeezing margins or forcing operational changes.
Collecting, analyzing, and reporting program and market data will impose recurring administrative burdens and costs on EPA, GAO, federal agencies, states, localities, and Tribes—costs that ultimately fall on taxpayers or require reallocated staff time.
The bill authorizes up to $20 million over five years but does not guarantee appropriation; if Congress does not fund the authorization, programs could be underfunded or delayed despite the law's requirements.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Requires EPA and GAO studies, new metrics, and federal reporting on recycling and composting infrastructure and recycled/compostable procurement; authorizes $4M/year (FY2025–29).
Official title: 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.
Introduced June 24, 2025 by Joseph Neguse · Last progress June 24, 2025
Creates new EPA reporting, studies, and metrics to measure and improve recycling and composting systems across the United States, defines key terms for composting and recycling, and authorizes modest funding to carry out those activities. The bill directs the EPA to inventory composting and materials‑recovery capacity, study how recyclable materials are lost from circular markets, and requires the Government Accountability Office to report on federal recycling and composting performance and procurement. The Act includes definitions for compostable and recyclable materials, protects certain confidential data, bars imposing unfunded mandates on states or tribes, and authorizes $4 million per year for fiscal years 2025–2029 to implement the new tasks.