This Country’s First-Ever Recycling Strategy Has Kicked Off

The United States has finally established its first-ever national recycling strategy that includes a series of tactics like a circular economy to right the wrongs the country committed, and do its fair share in the fight against climate change.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wishes to tackle the overwhelming municipal waste by cutting it in half by 2030, a challenging yet attainable goal since only 32% of all municipal waste was recycled in 2018.

When China stopped buying America’s recyclable garbage in 2018, it forced the United States to reevaluate its recycling system, hence the goal to develop a circular economy – meaning that resources are recycled and reused instead of ending up in landfills and incinerators – to address this problem. Consequently, the collection of recyclable materials must be perfected, and more public outreach and education will be needed to encourage people to identify recycled materials so they don’t end up in the garbage. The agency’s plan also includes tackling environmental injustice, the climate crisis, and plastic pollution.