This year, to commemorate America Recycles Week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency kicked things off with an Innovation Fair on Nov. 14, followed by the first annual Recycling Summit on America Recycles Day, Nov. 15.
The Innovation Fair was a miniature conference, teeming with bustling advocates, associations and companies all excited to present their top-tier recycling products and services. A few stand-outs from the fair include:
- Mattress Recycling Council—A nonprofit dedicated to the implementation, education and support of mattress recycling programs (for states with enacted laws).
- Plastics Industry Association—The recycling and sustainability arm of the plastics organization has created a Recycling Committee to identify new opportunities for the use of recycled plastics, such as an asphalt binder.
- ReCell Center—Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, this program aims to develop a sustainable battery recycling industry by directly involving more than 150 stakeholders during a three-year program.
- End of Waste Foundation—Utilizing blockchain software, this platform startup aims to make the recycling process an incentive by tracking glass from donations to product manufacturers.
- GO Box & Eco Teen Action Network’s Plastics Hub—In a scientifically tested attempt to eliminate single-use plastics by combining tracking chips, to-go boxes and a subscription service, GO Box has inspired local teens to petition for such a program in the Arlington, Virginia, area.
The Recycling Summit was equally high-energy, following an address from EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler in which he signed a memorandum of understanding between EPA’s Smart Sectors program and the National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program to reduce mercury air emissions. “Enhancing the domestic recycling industry not only improves the environment, it also saves local government valuable resources and provides high-quality material for American manufacturers,” Wheeler said.
The summit also marked the convening of participants, including ABC, which signed a pledge to commit to work together to improve of recycling in the United States. “The EPA brings us all together,” said panelist Robin Wiener, president of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries regarding the importance of gathering all the recycling and sustainability stakeholders “together, in one platform.”
With 45% of commodity materials coming from recycled goods, the summit aims to do a lot more than talk. It’s no wonder the summit (and the fair) were prescribed as an annual tradition when their goals include:
- redefining the word “recycle;”
- abandoning the word “waste;”
- addressing the crisis in public confidence regarding where their recycling goods go (it isn’t a landfill);
- mitigating mythologies regarding what should or shouldn’t go in the blue bin;
- incentivizing industry and government;
- streamlining global policies; and
- achieving financial infrastructure.
Anyone signing the pledge is signing up for the long game. But, as Chantal Fryer, senior manager of recycling market development for the South Carolina Department of Commerce put it, “Our industry is very hopeful. If nothing else, we have hope.”
