Container and Packaging Recycling Update - Volume XV No. 1 - Spring 2007

“National Bottle Bill would increase recycling”
say recycling stakeholders interviewed by GAO

A report released in December 2006 by the Government Accountability Office, titled “Recycling: Additional Efforts Could Increase Municipal Recycling” (GAO-07-37, December 29, 2006) found that although recycling has environmental and economic benefits, the national recycling rate has increased only slightly since 2000.

The report was requested last year by former Senator James Jeffords (I-VT), presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and several other members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. GAO was asked to identify key practices cities are using to increase recycling, describe what the EPA and the Dept. of Commerce are doing to encourage recycling, and identify Federal policy options that could help increase recycling.

Recycling coordinators interviewed for the report in 11 selected cities across the country, identified several key practices they are using to increase recycling in their cities. The three practices cited most frequently were 1) making recycling convenient and easy for residents, 2) offering financial incentives for recycling, and 3) conducting public education and outreach.

GAO also interviewed 13 recycling stakeholders who identified various federal policy options that they maintain could help municipalities increase their recycling rates. The three federal policy options cited most frequently were to 1) establish a nationwide campaign to educate the public about recycling, 2) enact a national “bottle bill” in which beverage containers are returned for deposit refund, and 3) require manufacturers to establish systems that consumers can use to recycle their products.

The report can be found at www.gao.gov/new.items/d0737.pdf

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