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Municipal Solid Waste Recycling
Promoting Reuse and Recycling of Municipal Solid Waste
Highlights
Municipal solid waste, also called trash or garbage, is part of everyone's daily life. Just think about how much waste you handle everyday – the cardboard box from your cereal, the paper from your home office, the soda can or plastic bottle from lunch at the mall. For some of us, recycling and reuse is part of our lives, for others it is not. The RCC is about changing behaviors to increase the amount of waste material recycled and reused, with an ultimate goal of having no "waste" at all.
The EPA has taken the first step towards a world without waste by setting a national goal of recycling 35% of America's municipal solid waste. Reaching this goal has proven tougher than once thought. As more products become readily available and our society stays on the go, municipal waste streams are increasing in volume. Therefore, we must make it easier and more convenient to collect, recycle or reuse the valuable materials.
Most Americans do it at home, so why not when they're on the go? It's time to put recycling places in public spaces and Recycle On the Go!
In considering the total volume of municipal solid wastes created every year, we see that several types of waste contribute disproportionately due to their large volumes. These same waste streams also have a great potential for changing the way and amount we recycle each year.
By focusing on key waste streams, we can develop specific strategies and partnerships tailored to each of the materials needs:
- Paper:
Office paper (copier paper, computer printout, stationary,
tablet paper) and printing and writing grade papers (mail,
magazines, directories, books).
- The
American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA)
Paper Recycling Awards
recognize
outstanding programs that promote the recovery of high
quality paper for recycling. If you have a successful business, community, school, or university paper recycling program, tell them about it.
- The
American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA)
Paper Recycling Awards
- Food
Scraps and Yard Trimmings: Organic material
can include both yard trimmings and food wastes and constitutes
24% of the US municipal solid waste stream.
GreenScapes: Partnership providing cost-efficient and environmentally
friendly solutions for large-scale landscaping. Designed
to help preserve natural resources and prevent waste
and pollution, GreenScapes encourages companies, government
agencies, and other entities to make more holistic decisions
regarding waste generation and disposal and the associated
impacts on land, water, air, and energy use. - Packaging/Containers: Paper folding cartons, wood packaging, and polymer wraps/films and all types of beverage containers (i.e., aluminum, glass, and plastic).
Other Municipal Solid Waste Projects
Though paper, organics materials and packaging/containers make up the bulk of the municipal solid waste stream and have been specifically targeted by the RCC to achieve EPA's 35% recycling goal, they do not define all of the products within the municipal solid waste stream. Consequently, the RCC has a number of other key projects that are working to reduce the volume of municipal waste that ends up in our nation's landfills or incinerators.
- WasteWise:
Voluntary program through which organizations eliminate
costly municipal solid waste and select industrial wastes
by designing their own waste reduction programs.
- Outreach Programs: Programs used to educate
the public on how they can help conserve resources in their
own communities and workplaces.
- "Make A Difference" Campaign: Helps American youth understand their relationship with and impact on the environment.
- "Power
of Change" Campaign: Teaches aging Americans
what they can do to help reduce waste and protect the
environment for the next generation.
More Information on Municipal Solid Waste
You will need the free Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.
- RCC 2005 Action Plan for Municipal Solid Waste - RCC implementation plans for achieving a 35% recycling rate
- Resource Conservation Challenge: Improving Recycling Nationwide | PDF Version (4 pp, 516K) - Fact sheet describing EPA's goal to increase the national recycling rate
- Recycle on the Go: Recycling Places in Public Spaces (PDF) (2 pp, 370K) - Fact sheet describing program to encourage recycling at public events
- Municipal Solid Waste - Web site providing basic information on all facets of municipal solid waste
- Municipal Solid Waste: Facts and Figures - Web site presenting data from 1960 to 2005 on the national waste stream
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Web site presenting information on reducing, reusing, recycling, and buying recycled
- Organic Materials
-- food scraps, yard trimmings, wood waste
- GreenScapes: Environmentally Beneficial Landscaping (PDF) (8 pp, 1.6MB) - Booklet describing the GreenScapes program for large-scale landscapers
- GreenScaping: The Easy Way to a Greener, Healthier Yard - Booklet describing how simply changing your landscape to a GreenScape, can save you time and money, and protect the environment
- "Greenscaping" Your Lawn and Garden (PDF) (8 pp, 958K) - Booklet describing greenscaping for homeowners
- Putting Surplus Food to Good Use: A How-To Guide for Food Service Providers (PDF) (2 pp, 1.1MB) - Fact sheet helping food service providers start a food waste reduction and recovery program at their facilities
- WasteWise Update: Recovering Organic Products (PDF) (16 pp, 1.2MB) - Newsletter explaining the composting process and highlighting examples of organic waste diversion and recovery options
- Presidential Proclamation: America Recycles Day, 2006 (PDF) (2 pp, 32K) - Presidential proclamation recognizing the importance of recycling and using products made with recycled materials; includes Resource Conservation Challenge and Plug-In To eCycling campaign