Recycling Infrastructure and Data Accountability Act

Key Points

• This bill tells the EPA to study whether the United States should create a national database to track recycling. The goal is to see exactly how much material is being recycled, how much is going to landfills, and where the country needs more processing plants.
• The study would focus on finding recycling deserts. These are areas where people do not have easy access to recycling services or where facilities are too far away to be useful. This information could help the government decide where to build new centers.
• The EPA would create a list of all large recycling facilities that handle at least 25,000 tons of material each year. They would also look at the rules and money problems that make it hard for companies to build or improve these plants.
• The bill also looks at programs where companies are responsible for the waste their products create. The EPA would check how well these programs are working to keep packaging and products out of the trash.
• The EPA has 18 months to finish the study and report back to Congress. If they find that a national database is possible and helpful, they must build a public website for it within one year after the report is finished.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.