II
Calendar No. 7
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 351
To establish a pilot grant program to improve recycling accessibility, to
require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to
carry out certain activities to collect and disseminate data on recycling
and composting programs in the United States, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY30, 2025
Mrs. C
APITO(for herself, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee
on Environment and Public Works
F
EBRUARY5, 2025
Reported by Mrs. C
APITO, without amendment
A BILL
To establish a pilot grant program to improve recycling ac-
cessibility, to require the Administrator of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency to carry out certain activities
to collect and disseminate data on recycling and
composting programs in the United States, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strategies To Elimi-2
nate Waste and Accelerate Recycling Development Act of 3
2025’’ or the ‘‘STEWARD Act of 2025’’. 4
SEC. 2. RECYCLING INFRASTRUCTURE AND ACCESSIBILITY 5
IMPROVEMENTS. 6
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
(1) A
DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-8
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ-9
mental Protection Agency. 10
(2) C
URBSIDE RECYCLING .—The term 11
‘‘curbside recycling’’ means the process by which 12
residential recyclable materials are picked up 13
curbside. 14
(3) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-15
ty’’ means— 16
(A) a State (as defined in section 1004 of 17
the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 18
6903)); 19
(B) a unit of local government; 20
(C) an Indian Tribe; and 21
(D) a public-private partnership or entities 22
seeking to establish a public-private partner-23
ship. 24
(4) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 25
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 26
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Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 1
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 2
(5) M
ATERIALS RECOVERY FACILITY .— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘materials 4
recovery facility’’ means a dedicated facility 5
where primarily residential recyclable materials, 6
which are diverted from disposal by a generator 7
and collected separately from municipal solid 8
waste, are mechanically or manually sorted into 9
commodities for further processing into speci-10
fication-grade commodities for sale to end 11
users. 12
(B) E
XCLUSION.—The term ‘‘materials re-13
covery facility’’ does not include a solid waste 14
management facility that may process munic-15
ipal solid waste to remove recyclable materials. 16
(6) P
ILOT GRANT PROGRAM .—The term ‘‘pilot 17
grant program’’ means the Recycling Infrastructure 18
and Accessibility Program established under sub-19
section (b). 20
(7) R
ECYCLABLE MATERIAL .—The term ‘‘recy-21
clable material’’ means a material that is obsolete, 22
previously used, off-specification, surplus, or inciden-23
tally produced for processing into a specification- 24
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grade commodity for which a reuse market currently 1
exists or is being developed. 2
(8) T
RANSFER STATION.—The term ‘‘transfer 3
station’’ means a facility that— 4
(A) receives and consolidates recyclable 5
material from curbside recycling or drop-off fa-6
cilities; and 7
(B) loads the recyclable material onto trac-8
tor trailers, railcars, or barges for transport to 9
a distant materials recovery facility or another 10
recycling-related facility. 11
(9) U
NDERSERVED COMMUNITY .—The term 12
‘‘underserved community’’ means a community, in-13
cluding an unincorporated area, without access to 14
full recycling services because— 15
(A) transportation, distance, or other rea-16
sons render utilization of available processing 17
capacity at an existing materials recovery facil-18
ity cost prohibitive; or 19
(B) the processing capacity of an existing 20
materials recovery facility is insufficient to 21
manage the volume of recyclable materials pro-22
duced by that community. 23
(b) E
STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 18 months 24
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 25
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shall establish a pilot grant program, to be known as the 1
‘‘Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Program’’, to 2
award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities 3
to improve recycling accessibility in a community or com-4
munities within the same geographic area. 5
(c) G
OAL.—The goal of the pilot grant program is 6
to fund eligible projects that will significantly improve ac-7
cessibility to recycling systems through investments in in-8
frastructure in underserved communities through the use 9
of a hub-and-spoke model for recycling infrastructure de-10
velopment. 11
(d) A
PPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 12
under the pilot grant program, an eligible entity shall sub-13
mit to the Administrator an application at such time, in 14
such manner, and containing such information as the Ad-15
ministrator may require. 16
(e) C
ONSIDERATIONS.—In selecting eligible entities 17
to receive a grant under the pilot grant program, the Ad-18
ministrator shall consider— 19
(1) whether the community or communities in 20
which the eligible entity is seeking to carry out a 21
proposed project has curbside recycling; 22
(2) whether the proposed project of the eligible 23
entity will improve accessibility to recycling services 24
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in a single underserved community or multiple un-1
derserved communities; and 2
(3)(A) if the eligible entity is a public-private 3
partnership, the financial health of the private entity 4
seeking to enter into that public-private partnership; 5
or 6
(B) if the eligible entity is seeking to establish 7
a public-private partnership, the financial health of 8
the private entities that would participate in the 9
public-private partnership. 10
(f) P
RIORITY.—In selecting eligible entities to receive 11
a grant under the pilot grant program, the Administrator 12
shall give priority to eligible entities seeking to carry out 13
a proposed project in a community in which there is not 14
more than 1 materials recovery facility within a 75-mile 15
radius of that community. 16
(g) U
SE OFFUNDS.—An eligible entity awarded a 17
grant under the pilot grant program may use the grant 18
funds for projects to improve recycling accessibility in 19
communities, including in underserved communities, by— 20
(1) increasing the number of transfer stations; 21
(2) expanding curbside recycling collection pro-22
grams where appropriate; and 23
(3) leveraging public-private partnerships to re-24
duce the costs associated with collecting and trans-25
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porting recyclable materials in underserved commu-1
nities. 2
(h) P
ROHIBITION ONUSE OFFUNDS.—An eligible 3
entity awarded a grant under the pilot grant program may 4
not use the grant funds for projects relating to recycling 5
education programs. 6
(i) M
INIMUM ANDMAXIMUMGRANTAMOUNT.—A 7
grant awarded to an eligible entity under the pilot grant 8
program shall be in an amount— 9
(1) not less than $500,000; and 10
(2) not more than $15,000,000. 11
(j) S
ET-ASIDE.—The Administrator shall set aside 12
not less than 70 percent of the amounts made available 13
to carry out the pilot grant program for each fiscal year 14
to award grants to eligible entities to carry out a proposed 15
project or program in a single underserved community or 16
multiple underserved communities. 17
(k) F
EDERALSHARE.—The Federal share of the cost 18
of a project or program carried out by an eligible entity 19
using grant funds shall be not more than 95 percent. 20
(l) R
EPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 21
on which the first grant is awarded under the pilot grant 22
program, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a re-23
port describing the implementation of the pilot grant pro-24
gram, which shall include— 25
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(1) a list of eligible entities that have received 1
a grant under the pilot grant program; 2
(2) the actions taken by each eligible entity that 3
received a grant under the pilot grant program to 4
improve recycling accessibility with grant funds; and 5
(3) to the extent information is available, a de-6
scription of how grant funds received under the pilot 7
grant program improved recycling rates in each com-8
munity in which a project or program was carried 9
out under the pilot grant program. 10
(m) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.— 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 12
appropriated to the Administrator to carry out the 13
pilot grant program $30,000,000 for each of fiscal 14
years 2025 through 2029, to remain available until 15
expended. 16
(2) A
DMINISTRATIVE COSTS AND TECHNICAL 17
ASSISTANCE.—Of the amounts made available under 18
paragraph (1), the Administrator may use up to 5 19
percent— 20
(A) for administrative costs relating to car-21
rying out the pilot grant program; and 22
(B) to provide technical assistance to eligi-23
ble entities applying for a grant under the pilot 24
grant program. 25
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SEC. 3. RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING DATA COLLECTION. 1
(a) D
EFINITIONS.— 2
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In this section: 3
(A) A
DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Admin-4
istrator’’ means the Administrator of the Envi-5
ronmental Protection Agency. 6
(B) C
OMPOST.—The term ‘‘compost’’ 7
means a product that— 8
(i) is manufactured through the con-9
trolled aerobic, biological decomposition of 10
biodegradable materials; 11
(ii) has been subjected to medium and 12
high temperature organisms, which— 13
(I) significantly reduce the viabil-14
ity of pathogens and weed seeds; and 15
(II) stabilize carbon in the prod-16
uct such that the product is beneficial 17
to plant growth; and 18
(iii) is typically used as a soil amend-19
ment, but may also contribute plant nutri-20
ents. 21
(C) C
OMPOSTABLE MATERIAL .—The term 22
‘‘compostable material’’ means material that is 23
a feedstock for creating compost, including— 24
(i) wood; 25
(ii) agricultural crops; 26
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(iii) paper, such as cardboard and 1
other paper products; 2
(iv) certified compostable products as-3
sociated with organic waste; 4
(v) other organic plant material; 5
(vi) organic waste, including food 6
waste and yard waste; and 7
(vii) such other material that is com-8
posed of biomass that can be continually 9
replenished or renewed, as determined by 10
the Administrator. 11
(D) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian 12
Tribe’’ has the meaning given the term in sec-13
tion 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 14
Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 15
(E) R
ECYCLABLE MATERIAL .—The term 16
‘‘recyclable material’’ means a material that is 17
obsolete, previously used, off-specification, sur-18
plus, or incidentally produced for processing 19
into a specification-grade commodity for which 20
a reuse market currently exists or is being de-21
veloped. 22
(F) R
ECYCLING.—The term ‘‘recycling’’ 23
means the series of activities— 24
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(i) during which recyclable materials 1
are processed into specification-grade com-2
modities and consumed as raw-material 3
feedstock, in lieu of virgin materials, in the 4
manufacturing of new products; 5
(ii) that may, with regard to recycla-6
ble materials and prior to the activities de-7
scribed in clause (i), include sorting, collec-8
tion, processing, and brokering; and 9
(iii) that result, subsequent to proc-10
essing described in clause (i), in consump-11
tion by a materials manufacturer, includ-12
ing for the manufacturing of new products. 13
(G) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the 14
meaning given the term in section 1004 of the 15
Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6903). 16
(2) D
EFINITION OF PROCESSING .—In subpara-17
graphs (E) and (F) of paragraph (1), the term 18
‘‘processing’’ means any mechanical, manual, or 19
other method that— 20
(A) transforms a recyclable material into a 21
specification-grade commodity; and 22
(B) may occur in multiple steps, with dif-23
ferent phases, including sorting, occurring at 24
different locations. 25
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(b) REPORTS ONCOMPOSTING AND RECYCLINGIN-1
FRASTRUCTURECAPABILITIES.— 2
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subtitle D of the Solid 3
Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is 4
amended by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘SEC. 4011. REPORTS ON COMPOSTING AND RECYCLING IN-6
FRASTRUCTURE CAPABILITIES. 7
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
‘‘(1) I
NCORPORATION OF CERTAIN TERMS .— 9
The terms ‘compost’, ‘compostable material’, ‘recy-10
clable material’, and ‘recycling’ have the meanings 11
given the terms in section 3(a) of the Strategies To 12
Eliminate Waste and Accelerate Recycling Develop-13
ment Act of 2025. 14
‘‘(2) C
OMPOSTING FACILITY .—The term 15
‘composting facility’ means a location, structure, or 16
device that transforms compostable materials into 17
compost. 18
‘‘(3) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian Tribe’ 19
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 20
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 21
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 22
‘‘(4) M
ATERIALS RECOVERY FACILITY .— 23
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘materials 24
recovery facility’ means a dedicated facility 25
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where primarily residential recyclable materials, 1
which are diverted from disposal by the gener-2
ator and collected separately from municipal 3
solid waste, are mechanically or manually sort-4
ed into commodities for further processing into 5
specification-grade commodities for sale to end 6
users. 7
‘‘(B) E
XCLUSION.—The term ‘materials 8
recovery facility’ does not include a solid waste 9
management facility that may process munic-10
ipal solid waste to remove recyclable materials. 11
‘‘(C) D
EFINITION OF PROCESSING .—For 12
purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘proc-13
essing’ has the meaning given the term in sec-14
tion 3(a)(2) of the Strategies To Eliminate 15
Waste and Accelerate Recycling Development 16
Act of 2025. 17
‘‘(b) R
EPORT.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator shall re-19
quest information and data from, collaborate with, 20
or contract with, as necessary and appropriate, 21
States, units of local government, and Indian Tribes, 22
for the provision, preparation, and publication of a 23
report, or to expand work under the National Recy-24
cling Strategy to include information and data, on 25
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compostable materials and efforts to reduce contami-1
nation rates for recycling, including— 2
‘‘(A) an evaluation of existing Federal, 3
State, and local laws that may present barriers 4
to implementation of composting strategies; 5
‘‘(B) a description and evaluation of 6
composting infrastructure and programs within 7
States, units of local government, and Indian 8
Tribes; 9
‘‘(C) an estimate of the costs and approxi-10
mate land needed to expand composting pro-11
grams; and 12
‘‘(D) a review of the practices of manufac-13
turers and companies that are moving to using 14
compostable packaging and food service ware 15
for the purpose of making the composting proc-16
ess the end-of-life use of those products. 17
‘‘(2) S
UBMISSION.—Not later than 2 years 18
after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad-19
ministrator shall submit to Congress the report pre-20
pared under paragraph (1). 21
‘‘(c) I
NVENTORY OFMATERIALSRECOVERYFACILI-22
TIES.—Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 23
of this section, and every 4 years thereafter, the Adminis-24
trator, in consultation with relevant Federal agencies and 25
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States, units of local government, and Indian Tribes, 1
shall— 2
‘‘(1) prepare an inventory or estimate of mate-3
rials recovery facilities in the United States, includ-4
ing— 5
‘‘(A) the number of materials recovery fa-6
cilities in each State; and 7
‘‘(B) a general description of the materials 8
that each of those materials recovery facilities 9
can process, including— 10
‘‘(i) in the case of plastic, a descrip-11
tion of— 12
‘‘(I) the types of accepted resin, 13
if applicable; and 14
‘‘(II) the packaging or product 15
format, such as a jug, a carton, or 16
film; 17
‘‘(ii) food packaging and service ware, 18
such as a bottle, cutlery, or a cup; 19
‘‘(iii) paper; 20
‘‘(iv) aluminum, such as an aluminum 21
beverage can, food can, aerosol can, or foil; 22
‘‘(v) steel, such as a steel food or aer-23
osol can; 24
‘‘(vi) other scrap metal; 25
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‘‘(vii) glass; or 1
‘‘(viii) any other material not de-2
scribed in any of clauses (i) through (vii) 3
that a materials recovery facility processes; 4
and 5
‘‘(2) submit to Congress the inventory or esti-6
mate prepared under paragraph (1). 7
‘‘(d) I
NFORMATION ONRECYCLING ANDCOMPOSTING 8
S
YSTEMS.—The Administrator shall, as necessary and ap-9
propriate, collaborate or contract with States, units of 10
local government, and Indian Tribes to estimate, with re-11
spect to the United States— 12
‘‘(1) the number and types of recycling and 13
composting programs; 14
‘‘(2) the types and forms of materials accepted 15
by recycling or composting programs; 16
‘‘(3) the number of individuals— 17
‘‘(A) with access to recycling and 18
composting services to at least the extent of ac-19
cess to disposal services; and 20
‘‘(B) who use, on a percentage basis, the 21
recycling and composting services described in 22
subparagraph (A); 23
‘‘(4) the number of individuals with barriers to 24
accessing recycling and composting services similar 25
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to their access to disposal services and the types of 1
those barriers experienced; 2
‘‘(5) the inbound contamination and capture 3
rates of recycling and composting programs; 4
‘‘(6) if applicable, other available recycling or 5
composting programs; and 6
‘‘(7) the average costs and benefits to States, 7
units of local government, and Indian Tribes of recy-8
cling and composting programs. 9
‘‘(e) R
ECYCLINGREPORTINGRATES.— 10
‘‘(1) C
OLLECTION OF DATA; DEVELOPMENT OF 11
RATES.—The Administrator may use amounts made 12
available under section 3(e) of the Strategies To 13
Eliminate Waste and Accelerate Recycling Develop-14
ment Act of 2025— 15
‘‘(A) to biannually collect, in collaboration 16
with States, to the extent practicable, informa-17
tion supplied on a voluntary basis to develop 18
the estimated rates described in subparagraphs 19
(B) and (C); 20
‘‘(B) to develop a standardized estimated 21
rate of recyclable materials in States that pro-22
vide information under subparagraph (A) that 23
have been successfully diverted from the waste 24
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stream and brought to a materials recovery fa-1
cility or composting facility; and 2
‘‘(C) to develop an estimated national recy-3
cling rate based on the information described in 4
subparagraphs (A) and (B). 5
‘‘(2) U
SE.—Using amounts made available 6
under section 3(e) of the Strategies To Eliminate 7
Waste and Accelerate Recycling Development Act of 8
2025, the Administrator may use the information 9
collected and rates developed under paragraph (1) to 10
provide requesting States, units of local government, 11
and Indian Tribes data and technical assistance— 12
‘‘(A) to reduce the overall waste produced 13
by the States, units of local government, and 14
Indian Tribes; 15
‘‘(B) to assist the States, units of local 16
government, and Indian Tribes in under-17
standing the nuances of the information col-18
lected relating to diversion activities; and 19
‘‘(C) to increase recycling and composting 20
rates of the States, units of local government, 21
and Indian Tribes. 22
‘‘(f) R
EPORT ON ENDMARKETS.—The Adminis-23
trator, in collaboration or contract with, as necessary and 24
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appropriate, relevant Federal agencies, States, units of 1
local government, or Indian Tribes, shall— 2
‘‘(1) provide an update to the report submitted 3
under section 306 of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act 4
(Public Law 116–224; 134 Stat. 1096) to include an 5
addendum on the end-market sale of all recyclable 6
materials from materials recovery facilities that 7
process recyclable materials, including, to the extent 8
practicable— 9
‘‘(A) the total, in dollars per ton, domestic 10
sales of bales of recyclable materials; and 11
‘‘(B) the total, in dollars per ton, inter-12
national sales of bales of recyclable materials; 13
‘‘(2) prepare a report on the end-market sale of 14
compost from, to the extent practicable, compostable 15
materials, including the total, in dollars per ton, of 16
domestic sales of compostable materials; and 17
‘‘(3) not later than 3 years after the date of en-18
actment of this section, submit to Congress the up-19
date to the report prepared under paragraph (1) and 20
the report prepared under paragraph (2). 21
‘‘(g) P
RIVILEGED OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMA-22
TION.— 23
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Information collected under 24
subsection (e)(1) or paragraph (1) or (2) of sub-25
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section (f) shall not include any privileged or con-1
fidential information described in section 552(b)(4) 2
of title 5, United States Code. 3
‘‘(2) N
ONDISCLOSURE.—Information collected 4
to carry out this section shall not be made public if 5
the information meets the requirements of section 6
552(b) of title 5, United States Code.’’. 7
(2) C
LERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of con-8
tents in section 1001 of the Solid Waste Disposal 9
Act (Public Law 89–272; 90 Stat. 2795; 98 Stat. 10
3268) is amended by inserting after the item relat-11
ing to section 4010 the following: 12
‘‘Sec. 4011. Report on composting and recycling infrastructure capabilities.’’.
(c) FEDERALAGENCYACTIVITIESRELATED TORE-13
CYCLING.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enact-14
ment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter until 2033, 15
the Comptroller General of the United States shall make 16
publicly available a report— 17
(1) detailing or, to the extent practicable, pro-18
viding an estimate of— 19
(A) the total annual recycling and 20
composting rates reported by all Federal agen-21
cies; and 22
(B) the total annual percentage of prod-23
ucts containing recyclable material, compostable 24
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material, or recovered materials purchased by 1
all Federal agencies, including— 2
(i) the total quantity of procured 3
products containing recyclable material or 4
recovered materials listed in the com-5
prehensive procurement guidelines pub-6
lished under section 6002(e) of the Solid 7
Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6962(e)); 8
and 9
(ii) the total quantity of compostable 10
material purchased by all Federal agencies; 11
(2) identifying the activities of each Federal 12
agency that promote recycling or composting; and 13
(3) identifying activities that Federal agencies 14
could carry out to further promote recycling or 15
composting. 16
(d) S
TUDY ON THEDIVERSION OFRECYCLABLEMA-17
TERIALSFROM ACIRCULARMARKET.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 19
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 20
shall develop a metric for determining the proportion 21
of recyclable materials in commercial and municipal 22
waste streams that are being diverted from a cir-23
cular market. 24
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•S 351 RS
(2) STUDY; REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 1
after the development of a metric under paragraph 2
(1), the Administrator shall conduct a study of, and 3
submit to Congress a report on, the proportion of re-4
cyclable materials in commercial and municipal 5
waste streams that, during each of the 10 calendar 6
years preceding the year of submission of the report, 7
were diverted from a circular market. 8
(3) D
ATA.—The report under paragraph (2) 9
shall provide data on specific recyclable materials, 10
including aluminum, plastics, paper and paperboard, 11
textiles, and glass, that were prevented from remain-12
ing in a circular market through disposal or elimi-13
nation, and to what use those specific recyclable ma-14
terials were lost. 15
(4) E
VALUATION.—The report under paragraph 16
(2) shall include an evaluation of whether the estab-17
lishment or improvement of recycling programs 18
would— 19
(A) improve recycling rates; 20
(B) reduce the quantity of recyclable mate-21
rials being unutilized in a circular market; and 22
(C) affect prices paid by consumers for 23
products using materials recycled in the circular 24
market. 25
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•S 351 RS
(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 1
authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to 2
carry out this section and the amendments made by this 3
section $4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 4
2029. 5
(f) A
DMINISTRATION.— 6
(1) U
NFUNDED MANDATES .—The Adminis-7
trator or the Secretary of Commerce may not exer-8
cise any authority under this section or any amend-9
ment made by this section if exercising that author-10
ity would require a State, a unit of local govern-11
ment, or an Indian Tribe to carry out a mandate for 12
which funding is not available. 13
(2) N
ONDISCLOSURE.—Any information col-14
lected to carry out this section shall not be made 15
public if the information meets the requirements of 16
section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code. 17
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7
119
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
S. 351 A BILL
To establish a pilot grant program to improve recy-
cling accessibility, to require the Administrator of
the Environmental Protection Agency to carry
out certain activities to collect and disseminate
data on recycling and composting programs in
the United States, and for other purposes.
F
EBRUARY
5, 2025
Reported without amendment
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