WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Gary Palmer (AL-06), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment, led a hearing titled Beyond the Blue Bin: Forging a Federal Landscape for Recycling Innovation and Economic Growth.

“It’s time to ensure that government red tape isn’t preventing investments in new technologies and methods that can help support recycling here at home. Today’s hearing was an opportunity to discuss these issues and look at long term solutions that support both mechanical and advanced recycling here in the United States,” said Chairman Palmer. “Finding ways to harness e-waste recycling will be critical as we look to find new sources of critical materials to support our economy and national security, and we cannot afford to let these vital materials go to waste.” 

Watch the full hearing here.

Below are key excerpts from today’s hearing:

Congressman Dan Crenshaw (TX-02): “I think we’re on the same page we want to strive to build a more innovative economy that incorporates advanced recycling and revitalizes American manufacturing. We need two key elements: clear rules at home and strong leadership abroad. First, we have to provide regulatory clarity and certainty, this is essential for innovation for investment and for scaling domestic recycling infrastructure. You can’t build the future on a regulatory framework that is often shaped by climate alarmism and instead of commonsense.” 

Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01): “It’s an economic and a national security imperative, as well as an environmental issue. Iowa’s manufacturing sector depends on recycled materials as feedstocks, yet we're watching China and other competitors purchase our scrap at above market prices while our own factory struggled to source domestic materials. The data shows we're landfilling millions of tons of valuable manufactured materials every year materials that should be creating jobs and strengthening supply chains right here in America. In Iowa alone, we're capturing less than half of our aluminum cans and only 15% of our steel cans despite having to deposit on aluminum cans. That's not just waste, it's a lost economic opportunity for our manufacturers and increased dependence on foreign suppliers.”

Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger (TN-01): “We use plastic in everything, we store our food that way, we use it in medicine, you don't you can't walk into my pharmacy and not see syringes. We use a lot of plastic, but when we're talking about the future of plastics, we need to work towards making a more circular economy. My district is home to Eastman Chemical Company and it's the largest dedicated advanced recycling facility in the world. In Kingsport, Eastman’s been taking plastics that normally would go into the landfill and then instead use the materials for the recycling process and they can convert them and create new plastic materials that have the same quality and integrity as plastics that were made directly from petrochemicals.”

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