Legislation before Congress provides up to $500 million in matching grants to state and local governments to support recycling.
Introduced on Nov. 15, America Recycles Day, the Realizing the Economic Opportunities and Values of Expanding Recycling (RECOVER) Act (H.R. 5115) provides funds to support recycling infrastructure, programs and education. It prohibits using the public money to support incineration.
Supported by a long list of businesses and industry groups, the bill was introduced by Republican Rep. Larry Bucshon of Indiana and Democratic Rep. Tony Cárdenas of California.
The Plastics Industry Association, which supports the bill, posted a flyer with more details on how the funds could be spent. The flyer also listed the groups in support of it.
According to Cárdenas and the Plastics Industry Association, the organizations in support of the bill include the following: Amcor, American Chemistry Council, American Frozen Food Institute, AMERIPEN, Association of Plastic Recyclers (which owns Resource Recycling, Inc.), Avangard Innovative, Berry Global, the Construction and Demolition Recycling Association, EREMA, Flexible Packaging Association, Foodservice Packaging Institute, Glass Packaging Institute, International Bottled Water Association, Kenrich Petrochemicals, National Waste & Recycling Association, PepsiCo, Plastic Ingenuity, Plastics Industry Association, Printpack, The Recycling Partnership, SNAC International, Sustainable Packaging Coalition/GreenBlue, the Solid Waste Association of North America, Unilever and the Vinyl Institute.
