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- National Priorities Home
- Municipal Solid Waste Recycling
- Industrial Materials Recycling
- Priority and Toxic Chemical Reductions
- Green Initiative - Electronics
Municipal Solid Waste Recycling
Promoting Reuse and Recycling of Municipal Solid Waste
Trash and garbage, also known as municipal solid waste, are 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. By focusing on managing materials and making smart decisions, the RCC aims to increase the amount of waste material recycled and reused, with an ultimate goal of having no "waste" at all.
Key Document
Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2006 (PDF) (11 pp, 869K, about PDF)
EPA has challenged businesses, organizations, industry, and consumers to take the first step towards a world without waste by setting a national goal of recycling 35% of America's municipal solid waste. This is a significant effort–as more products become readily available and our society stays on the go, municipal waste streams are increasing in volume.
It's pretty simple and convenient to recycle at home, but we must make it easier and more convenient to collect, recycle or reuse the valuable materials. It's time to put recycling places in public spaces and Recycle On the Go!
To make the biggest impact, it is important to understand the types of waste that are contributed disproportionately due to their large volumes. By focusing on key waste streams, and by developing specific strategies and partnerships targeted toward reducing them, we find the greatest potential for making a real difference:
Paper: Paper produces the largest amount of municipal solid waste-approximately 35% of the total. Primary categories for paper waste include:
- Office paper (copier paper, computer printout, stationary, tablet paper) and
- Printing and writing grade papers (mail, magazines, directories, books).
While Americans have improved significantly over the years in reusing and recycling paper waste, there is much room for improvement and a huge opportunity for environmental impact. EPA is addressing these opportunities through the WasteWise partnership.
One key initiative is the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) Paper Recycling Awards,
which recognize outstanding programs that promote the recovery of high quality paper for recycling.
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.
EPA's voluntary GreenScapes partnership provides 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.
WasteWise Transport
Packaging Initiative
WasteWise and its partners are developing creative solutions to reduce the amount of transport packaging (such as boxes and wood pallets) produced in the US.
Packaging/Containers: Packaging-ranging from paper folding cartons, wood packaging, and polymer wraps/films and all types of beverage containers (i.e., aluminum, glass, and plastic)-contributes a significant amount of waste each year. Making smart decisions as consumers and businesses, we can make a real difference. Follow the links below for specific information on recycling and reusing various types of packaging and containers.