Rogers / 4 Senator Premo

S.R._____

A BILL
To create a national mandatory recycling law that reduces the amount of waste in landfills from households
and businesses.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This act may be cited as the National Recycling Mandate Act of 2015.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
Congress hereby finds and declares that,
A) There are approximately 251 million tons of trash in the United States.
B) 32.5% of all waste in the United States is recycled.
C) 60% of all waste is recycled in Austria, the leading recycler in the European Union.
D) The average person living in the United States generates approximately 4.6 lbs or trash in a day.
E) Recycling one aluminum can saves 95% more energy than manufacturing a new one.
F) The average household throws away 13,000 pieces of paper a year.
G) There is no limit to the amount of times an aluminum can can be recycled.
H) Each year, americans use 1 billion plastic shopping bags, creating 300,000 tons of landfill waste.
I) On average, it costs $30 per ton to recycle trash, $50 to send it to the landfill, and $65-$75 to incinerate it.
J) The US only recycles approx. 32% of its waste.
K) 33 million tons of food in the US is wasted each year.
L) Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of
landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a
58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution.
M) The 17 trees saved can absorb a total of 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year. Burning
that same ton of paper would create 1500 pounds of carbon dioxide.
N)Two years after calling recycling a $40 million drain on the city, New York City leaders realized that a
redesigned, efficient recycling system could actually save the city $20 million and they have now signed a
20-year recycling contract.
O) Public sector investment in local recycling programs pays great dividends by creating private sector jobs.
For every job collecting recyclables, there are 26 jobs in processing the materials and manufacturing them
into new products.
SECTION 3. STATUTORY LANGUAGE
A) The National Recycling Mandate Act of 2015 shall prohibit recyclable and and compostable materials
from residential and business garbage. Businesses found to have more than 10% recyclable or compostable
materials in their trash shall be notified with a warning left on the bins. Businesses and apartments who do
not resolve the problem and remove the materials shall be fined $50 after they receive three warnings.
Residencies will not be fined but a notice will be left notifying the resident of the the problem and asking
that the materials be sorted out. Their trash will not be collected that week.
B) The EPA is the administering and enforcing agency for this bill and will be responsible for administering
fines. Funding for the enforcement of this bill will come directly from the budget already allotted by
Congress for The United States Environmental Protection Agency.
C) If a business or an apartment have trash filled with 10% or more recyclable goods, they will receive a
notice, and a $50 fine upon their third notice. Households that are found to have 10% or more recyclables in
their trash will be notified to sort out their trash and will have their garbage collected the next week. This
law is to go into effect starting january 1st, 2017.

Climate change is a very real threat that must be acknowledged and dealt with. The National
Recycling and Composting Mandate of 2016 is a legislation that makes composting and recycling
mandatory in the US. The Ordinance would reduce the amount of waste in our landfills which harms the
environment and contributes to climate change. Several cities in the US such a Seattle have already enacted
mandatory recycling and composting laws and have seen a decrease in the cost of waste removal and energy
consumption. The ordinance also takes advantage of natural gas generated by landfills from the collection
and compost of food scraps.
Landfills are the third largest source for methane gas, a greenhouse gas over 20 times more potent
than carbon dioxide in the US. Landfill gases will be cut down by the ordinance which will improve the
condition of our atmosphere. The Ordinance works to limit the amount of compostables that end up in
landfills and recycling saves energy as manufacturing goods from recycled materials requires less energy
than creating new ones.
. In September 2014 Seattle passed an ordinance prohibiting food scraps from residential and
commercial garbage. Ordinances like this would have a direct effect on nationwide diversion rates, saving
money and energy. When considering the effects of a national ordinance, one must only look at the success
of local Recycling and Composting Acts

Recycling and composting saves energy. Bio-methane is a form of refined biogas collected from
landfills and can be used to generate electricity and heat. The collection and use of RNG and biomethane
can eventually even replace fossil fuels as a source of energy. Recycling centers save energy as well.