Sponsors (11)
The bill provides stronger federal data, definitions, accountability, and limited multi‑year funding to expand and standardize recycling and composting programs—likely improving access and market clarity—while imposing new reporting, compliance, and administrative costs (especially for small operators and taxpayers) and creating some regulatory and transparency trade‑offs.
State, local governments, and Tribes (and the communities they serve) will get standardized data, mapping, technical assistance, and recurring metrics that enable better-designed recycling and composting programs, reduce contamination, and expand access to services.
Compost producers, farmers, recyclers, and manufacturers benefit from clearer statutory definitions tying composting and recycling to pathogen-reduction, carbon-stabilization, and specification‑grade commodities, improving compost quality and the marketability of recycled feedstocks.
Federal agencies and taxpayers gain greater accountability and potential market demand because GAO and EPA reporting/metrics can increase recycled‑content procurement and provide objective evidence for congressional policy and funding decisions.
Small composters, recyclers, and other small businesses (and some local programs) will face higher compliance and operating costs to meet specification‑grade, thermal/pathogen, permitting, and related requirements.
Taxpayers and federal budgets will bear administrative and implementation costs for EPA, GAO, and other agencies to collect, analyze, and publish mapping, metrics, and reports — and the bill authorizes up to $20,000,000 over five years if appropriated.
EPA's discretionary authority to add compostable materials and the emphasis on 'specification‑grade' recyclables could create regulatory uncertainty for businesses and may exclude lower‑quality waste streams from recycling markets, reducing options for some communities.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Directs EPA and GAO studies and reporting on national recycling and composting capacity, creates definitions and a metric for diverted recyclables, and authorizes $4M/year for FY2025–2029.
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
Requires the EPA to define terms for composting and recycling, study national composting and materials-recovery capacity, develop a metric for recyclable materials diverted from circular markets, and report findings to Congress. Directs the Government Accountability Office to publish biennial federal recycling and composting performance reports through 2033 and authorizes modest appropriations to support these activities. The law focuses on data, inventories, and analysis rather than new regulatory mandates. It funds EPA studies and reporting ($4 million per year, FY2025–FY2029), protects certain collected data from disclosure, and bars imposing unfunded mandates on states, localities, or tribes under the Act.