New Accountability Act Mandates National Inventory of Recycling Plants, Sets $4M Annually for Data Collection

The Recycling and Composting Accountability Act is essentially a massive national fact-finding mission aimed at finally figuring out what we’re actually doing with our waste. Instead of setting new mandates on what you can or can’t throw away, this bill focuses on transparency and data—it tasks the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with mapping out the country’s recycling and composting infrastructure, from coast to coast.

The Big Picture: Mapping the Waste Stream

This legislation is built on the idea that you can’t fix what you can’t measure. Within two years, the EPA Administrator must deliver a comprehensive report to Congress detailing our current composting capacity, including where facilities are, what local laws are holding them back, and how much land and money it would take to expand these efforts. Think of it as a national inventory of every place that turns food scraps and yard waste into usable soil (Sec. 3).

Even more crucially for your blue bin, the bill requires the EPA to start inventorying every Materials Recovery Facility (MRF)—the places that sort your household recyclables—every four years, starting three years after the law passes. This isn't just a count; it must detail exactly what materials each plant can handle, down to the specific types of plastic resin, paper, and metal formats. If you’ve ever wondered why your local program accepts #1 plastic but not #5, this data should eventually give us a clearer picture of those regional capabilities and gaps (Sec. 3).

What Does This Mean for Your Wallet and Your Town?

For the average person, the biggest immediate impact is the push for a standardized national recycling rate. Right now, every state and town seems to calculate its recycling success differently, making it impossible to compare efforts or set meaningful goals. The EPA will start collecting voluntary data from states twice a year to develop a consistent rate, helping us all figure out if we’re actually making progress (Sec. 3).

Perhaps the most practical provision for local governments is the anti-unfunded mandate clause (Sec. 7). This explicitly prevents the federal government from using this new law to force states, local governments, or tribal nations to start a new program or take on a new responsibility unless the federal government provides the funding to cover the cost. This is a big win for municipalities already straining their budgets, ensuring Washington can’t pass the buck (or the cost) on waste management.

Following the Money: Market Transparency

Beyond just counting facilities, the bill wants to follow the money. It requires new reports detailing the end-market sales of recovered materials. This means tracking the actual dollar amount per ton for both domestic and international sales of baled recyclables coming out of MRFs, and the domestic sales price per ton for compost (Sec. 3). Why does this matter? Because recycling is a business. Knowing the true market value of the materials collected can help stabilize local programs and encourage private investment in better infrastructure. If a town knows exactly how much it can reliably earn from its clean cardboard, it can better plan its budget.

To make all this happen—the reports, the inventory, and the rate development—Congress is authorizing $4 million annually for five years (Fiscal Years 2025 through 2029). This dedicated funding is crucial because, without it, these ambitious data collection goals would likely stall (Sec. 6).

The Fine Print: Business Data and Federal Offices

The bill also includes two important details. First, it requires the Comptroller General to start reporting every two years on the recycling rates and purchasing habits of all federal agencies. Yes, even the government offices have to start tracking how much recycled material they buy (Sec. 4).

Second, the law acknowledges that it will be collecting sensitive business data—like contamination rates or sales figures—from private recycling and composting companies. It includes a standard provision to protect this information, ensuring that data that qualifies as proprietary or confidential under existing federal law won’t be made public (Sec. 7). This protection is necessary to get companies to share the data needed for the market reports, but it’s worth noting that some of this information will remain shielded from public view.