ISRI testifies before US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee

ISRI testifies before US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
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The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, testified before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Sept. 22. ISRI Chief Lobbyist Billy Johnson represented the association during the committee hearing titled “The Circular Economy as a Concept for Creating a More Sustainable Future.”

Johnson told the committee, “Recycling is essential to the U.S. economy, the global manufacturing supply chain and a vital solution to help combat climate change and build environmental equity.”

He also noted the economic benefits of recycling in the U.S., including its role as a job creator. “The recycling industry employs 531,510 Americans in jobs averaging $73,000 in wages and benefits annually while generating $110 billion in economic activity and $12.9 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue all while making the old new again.”

Johnson said, “Our country’s recycling infrastructure processes more than 130 million tons of recyclables annually, representing $110 billion annually in economic activity within the U.S.”

According to his testimony, curbside residential recycling represents only 20 percent of the material that works its way through U.S. recycling infrastructure. “The other 80 percent comes from the recycling of commercial and industrial materials that tends to be cleaner and therefore can be processed to higher grades with greater marketability,” he said. However, Johnson added that because of the high visibility of residential recycling, “we are seeing a growing loss of confidence in recycling on the part of the general public, which is of great concern to all of us in the recycling industry.”

Johnson said the pressure points on residential recycling are:

• “right before the material enters the residential recycling stream, when the decision is made whether to put an item in the bin and in what condition to do so;”
• between the MRF and municipality, noting that contracting policies and procedures that provide flexibility for market fluctuations are needed;
• during processing, where it’s necessary to upgrade facilities and develop the workforce; and
• with the lack of market development efforts to create new and expanded uses for the specific materials that are found in the residential stream.

“Therefore, it is critical that all stakeholders work together to develop a common understanding of the weaknesses affecting the residential stream and then work together to develop a menu of solutions since many challenges stem from products that were not designed for recycling, such as those made from multiple polymers or incompatible manufacturing methods and the consumer is not aware or confident in whether their recycling decisions are correct,” Johnson said in his testimony.

He also discussed policy solutions, noting, “There is no one, singular, solution to the challenges we are experiencing in the residential recycling infrastructure.”

Among the solutions he suggested were strengthening domestic recycling and market development, providing recycling education funding, designing for recycling, encouraging recycling activities and extended producer responsibility legislation.

“While ISRI acknowledges that the concept of extended producer responsibility is being considered at the federal and state governmental levels, we do not support those product stewardship policies that disrupt the current recycling infrastructure,” he added.

Johnson said, “ISRI strongly urges product manufacturers to design their products and packaging for cost-effective recycling."

The full text of his testimony is available here.

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Source: Recycling Today
ISRI testifies before US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
<![CDATA[The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, testified before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Sept. 22. ISRI Chief Lobbyist Billy Johnson represented the association during the committee hearing titled “The Circular Economy as a Concept for Creating a More Sustainable Future.”Johnson told the committee, “Recycling is essential to the U.S. economy, the global manufacturing supply chain and a vital solution to help combat climate change and build environmental equity.”He also noted the economic benefits of recycling in the U.S., including its role as a job creator. “The recycling industry employs 531,510 Americans in jobs averaging $73,000 in wages and benefits annually while generating $110 billion in economic activity and $12.9 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue all while making the old new again.”Johnson said, “Our country’s recycling infrastructure processes more than 130 million tons of recyclables annually, representing $110 billion annually in economic activity within the U.S.”According to his testimony, curbside residential recycling represents only 20 percent of the material that works its way through U.S. recycling infrastructure. “The other 80 percent comes from the recycling of commercial and industrial materials that tends to be cleaner and therefore can be processed to higher grades…