EPA: U.S. Recycling and Composting Estimates Remain Stagnant

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just released its “Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures Fact Sheet,” which is an overview of recycling and composting estimates for the U.S. in 2015.

According to the report, the nation’s recycling and composting rate remains at the 34- to 35-percent range, where it has sat since 2010.

The report includes information on municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, recycling, composting, combustion with energy recovery and landfilling. The report also noted that total MSW generation in the U.S. climbed roughly 1.5 percent from 2014 to 2015. It also includes information on construction and demolition debris generation and estimates recycling rates by material type.

Resource Recycling has more:

The country’s recycling and composting rate remains stuck at just over 34 percent, according to the U.S. EPA.

The federal agency on July 30 announced the release of its recycling and composting estimates for the U.S. in 2015. According to the Facts and Figures Report, the country generated 262.4 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2015. Of that amount, 67.8 million tons (25.8 percent) were recycled and 23.4 million tons (8.9 percent) were composted.

Taken together, the U.S. achieved a 34.7 percent recycling and composting rate in 2015. That was essentially flat compared to the 34.6 percent number that was tallied for 2014.

Read the full article here.