H.R. 9987: Recycling Infrastructure and Data Accountability Act

This bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study whether the federal government should create a standardized national database for recycling-related information. The database would be intended to track things like:

• What recyclable materials are collected
• How much recycling infrastructure exists and how much it can process
• What happens to recovered materials after collection
• How much waste is kept out of landfills
• Areas with limited access to recycling collection or processing facilities
• The performance of extended producer responsibility programs, which are programs that make product or packaging producers responsible for collection or disposal costs

What EPA would have to do

The EPA would be directed to examine whether such a database is practical. In doing so, it would need to:

• Identify regions that have poor recycling access, long transport distances for recyclable materials, or heavy reliance on landfills
• Catalog information about waste and recycling facilities that handle at least 25,000 tons per year, or another threshold EPA decides is appropriate
• Look at each facility’s location, type, ownership, capacity, accepted materials, and annual throughput
• Analyze how much processing capacity facilities are permitted to have versus how much they actually can operate
• Review barriers that make it hard to build, expand, modernize, or operate recycling and material recovery facilities
• Identify places where more recycling or material recovery facilities may be needed

Report to Congress

Within 18 months after the bill becomes law, EPA would have to send Congress a report on the study. That report would include recommendations on whether a standardized national recycling database should be created.

Possible next step if EPA finds it feasible

If EPA concludes that a national database is feasible and recommends creating one, the bill would require EPA to establish and maintain that database online within one year after submitting the report. The database would be publicly accessible.

What the bill would not do by itself

The bill does not directly create new recycling requirements, change existing recycling laws, or mandate new facilities. Instead, it sets up a study first, and only requires a database later if EPA concludes it is feasible and recommends doing so.

Relevant Companies

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