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Municipal Solid Waste Recycling
National Information
Municipal solid waste (MSW), also called trash or garbage, is a type of waste that is predominantly household, or domestic waste. It is mostly in either solid or semisolid form, and it excludes industrial hazardous wastes. Due to the large volume of MSW that is ending up in our landfills, EPA is focusing on the reduction of domestic waste by promoting recycling and reuse as part of our daily lives. The MSW program strives to promote and increase the amount of waste material recycled and reused, with an ultimate goal of having no waste at all.
The Region 3 MSW Recycling program works hand-in-hand with our state, local, and private counterparts in order to increase the recycling of MSW by 700,000 tons per year. This represents Region 3’s share of the national 35% recycling goal within the Resource Conservation Challenge. We are focusing on reducing paper and food waste streams by identifying traditional and innovative ways to increase recycling and reuse, divert waste from landfills, and to develop recycling and reuse markets.