Conclusion: Delivering the Needs of the System
Imagine a fully built-out U.S. recycling system with complete equitable access added for more than 40 million underserved households. Then imagine all 120 million households across the country fully understanding what to recycle and when, in a manner that is relevant to them, while receiving tailored feedback to improve their recycling behavior. These households deliver 17 million new tons of recyclables annually to 375 upgraded and 57 new MRFs. We avoid an estimated $9.4 billion in landfill costs over the next ten years, preventing long-term environmental damage, creating an estimated $8.8 billion in new recyclable commodity value, and supporting 200,000 new jobs.
We solve tough recycling challenges like packaging that is not yet recyclable at scale, and we create the confidence in supply that will generate new feedstocks for brands and predictable material flow for new end markets and technologies to thrive. And, critically, we start building consumer confidence in recycling, and we meet consumer expectations that companies create sustainable products, paper, and packaging that have a circular post-consumer story. The $17 billion investment to deliver this reality will take policy. No one organization or collective of companies can do this alone – everyone must be at the table to reach the scale and consistency of investment needed. The Recycling Partnership released a policy report, Accelerating Recycling: Policy to Unlock Supply for the Circular Economy, that outlines one such approach, which we believe will create the equitable recycling future envisioned here. In addition, several supporting policies25 can play a role to help accelerate change. Three particularly impactful examples include: • Multifamily recycling ordinances – In a number of jurisdictions around the country, both state and local laws requiring multifamily property owners to provide on-property recycling ensures equitable access for millions of families. The goal of 100% equitable access, which relies on 17 million multifamily households being able to recycle where they live, likely cannot be achieved without widespread adoption of multifamily local 25
A national deposit system or a massively scaled adoption of state deposit programs could also be a key strategy for generating supply for some key container materials, but with evidence showing that many households use curbside services for recycling of deposit containers, deposit and residential access optimization should be viewed as necessarily complementary strategies. This value of residential access alongside deposit programs is also detailed in Eunomia and Ball Corporation’s The 50 States of Recycling report.
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PAYING IT FORWARD: HOW INVESTMENT IN RECYCLING WILL PAY DIVIDENDS
