The Environmental Protection Agency’s assessment indicates that the United States has an overall recycling rate of just 32% for materials such as glass, plastic, cardboard, and paper, encompassing collections from industrial, commercial, and residential waste.
However, a recent report, focusing specifically on residential recycling, suggests that the actual capture of recyclable materials is significantly lower at the household level.
The Recycling Partnership, a nonprofit collaborating with major corporations to enhance US recycling systems, reveals that when exclusively considering houses and apartments, the national recycling rate drops to approximately 21%, with 76% of residential recyclables being lost at the household level.
The study identifies states with residential recycling rates below 10%, including Montana (9%), Mississippi (8%), North Dakota (9%), and Alabama (9%).
Even in California, recognized for its strong recycling efforts, only 37% of potential recyclables from residences are recycled, leaving approximately 3.2 million tons annually of potentially recyclable material destined for landfills.
“This is the first time we’ve ever had a comprehensive picture of the US residential recycling landscape,” said Keefe Harrison, the founder and chief executive officer of the Recycling Partnership.
“We are seeing a recycling rate that is less than we’d wish it was. But it is only when you have a solid baseline that you can measure progress,” Harrison added.
After more than three years of data collection, researchers closely examined 9,000 collection programs nationwide and collaborated with individual households to understand their recycling practices.
The 21% rate signifies the portion of material that enters households, undergoes collection, processing, and sale, ultimately being transformed into new products—a true measure of recycling.
The report tracks the decline at various stages in this process.
The initial challenge is the availability of recycling services, with 85% of single-family homes and 37% of multifamily homes having access.
There’s considerable variation in accepted materials for recycling across the country, ranging from about 50% in Hawaii to almost 100% in the District of Columbia.
Furthermore, the utilization of available recycling services varies, with only 59% of households that have access participating nationally.
The proposed solution from the partnership aligns with the preferences of those advocating against plastic—increasing the implementation of producer responsibility laws.
