Congressional bill may help Mainers improve their recycling efforts
COURTESY / ECOMAINE
The RECYCLE Act, now being considered in the U.S. Senate, is intended to increase recycling rates and reduce contamination in the recycling stream. The matter is an active concern in Maine.
A bill making its way through the U.S. Senate may address growing skepticism some Maine communities are expressing about municipal waste recycling efforts.
The RECYCLE Act would create a new federal grant program through the Environmental Protection Agency to increase awareness among consumers about residential and community recycling programs, according to a news release from U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
“This legislation would authorize grants for recycling programs throughout the country to ensure communities and consumers are aware of ways to increase the quantity and quality of recycled materials and to provide states and local governments with best practices on improving recycling rates,” Collins said in the release.
Reports have indicated that consumer confusion about how to properly recycle is a top challenge to increasing the practice, and that education and outreach increases participation and decreases contamination in the recycling stream.
The act would:
• Authorize $15 million per year over five years in grants to states, local governments, Indian tribes, nonprofits and public private partnerships to increase the visibility of recycling programs;
• Direct EPA to develop a model recycling program toolkit for states, local governments, Indian tribes and partners to deploy in order to improve recycling rates and decrease contamination in the recycling stream; and
• Require EPA to more frequently review and revise, if appropriate, its Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines, which designate products containing recycled materials and provides recommended practices for federal agencies to purchase such products.
According to EPA, the recycling rate in the U.S. is 35.2%; $9 billion worth of recyclable materials are thrown away each year. EPA’s 2016 Recycling Economic Information Report found that, nationwide, recycling supports more than 757,000 jobs and $6.7 billion annually in tax revenues.
The topic is under active scrutiny in Maine.
With the markets for some recyclable materials in flux, and the focus on reducing the amount of contamination, or trash, in recycling streams, four southern Maine communities were this year embarking on a new way of getting out the word about proper recycling.
The cities and towns of Falmouth, Scarborough, South Portland and Windham, as part of a group of municipal sustainability managers, hired summer interns to tour recycling and trash collection routes, review residents’ bins, and provide educational feedback on the importance of recycling — and recycling properly. Interns will work in a portion of each municipality during the summer; residents living in these areas will receive mailed notification about the program.
As some communities in Maine reconsider the value of their municipal waste recycling programs, Kevin Roche, CEO of ecomaine, the state’s largest recycler, in August told a gathering of the the Maine Town, City and County Management Association that recycling is a long-term strategy. He cited figures showing that 500,000 tons of waste recycled from 2005-19 by ecomaine customers would have cost communities $36 million if the material had been handled as trash.
Since 2018, markets for recyclable materials have been hurt by factors including the contamination rates of recycled material, China’s policy of accepting only highly clean material, and changes in packaging that ends up in the waste stream, according to an ecomaine news release.
Last month, ecomaine announced $25,000 in grant funding to 20 recipients of its 2019-20 School Recycling Grants, which are designed to raise recycling awareness in schools and communities, and to help schools implement more efficient recycling programs or add composting to their waste collection.
“We had far more requests for funding than we’ve ever had before,” Roche said in a news release.
The recipients are located in many parts of the state, and proposed a variety of programs designed to divert waste from landfills:
• Appletree School, Cape Elizabeth – composting supplies
• Bonny Eagle Middle School, Standish – composting supplies
• Children’s Nursery School, Portland, vermicomposting supplies
• Falmouth Elementary School, Falmouth, recycled material park bench project
• Falmouth High School, Falmouth, reusable water bottle filling station
• Freeport Middle School, Freeport, reusable cutlery
• Gorham High School, Gorham, reusable cutlery & trays
• Kittery School District, Kittery, composting program
• Lincolnville Central School, Lincolnville, composting program
• Maranacook Community Middle School, Readfield, recycling bins & signage
• Portland Public Schools, Portland, recycling dumpsters for multi-school use
• Reiche Elementary School, Portland, compostable cutlery in cafeteria
• Riverton Elementary School, Portland, recycling bins & signage
• Saco Middle School, Saco, compost program
• South Portland High School, South Portland, compostable cafeteria materials
• University of Southern Maine, Portland and Gorham campuses, compost bins/materials, outreach materials
• Waterville Alternative School, Waterville, community cleanup & education supplies
• Windham High School, Windham, recycling and composting in cafeteria
• Vinalhaven School, Vinalhaven, school field trip to ecomaine
• Yarmouth High School, Yarmouth, composting supplies
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