A bill that calls for expanded recycling access in rural and underserved communities while bolstering America’s domestic recycling infrastructure has cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee to head to the full House of Representatives for a vote.
The news is notable for the fashion industry, the lobbying group American Circular Textiles said Thursday, because the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act, or H.R.2145, incorporates key data‑collection provisions to to improve transparency around the diversion of municipal solid waste—including textiles—giving brands and policymakers a clearer picture of what is being recycled, where gaps exist and, most important, how they can be closed.
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“This bipartisan legislation represents meaningful progress toward building the data infrastructure that recycling markets—including textile reuse and recycling—urgently need,” AMCIRC, whose members include secondhand platforms such as eBay, ThredUp and Rent the Runway; brands like Reformation and Target; and recyclers such as Circ, SuperCircle and Reju, said in a statement. “You cannot build markets for recycled materials without understanding where those materials are going.”
H.R.2145 would establish an Environmental Protection Agency pilot program to help states, local governments, tribes and public-private partnerships improve recycling availability in areas located more than 75 miles from a materials recovery facility.
“Rural communities should not be left behind when it comes to recycling infrastructure and economic opportunity,” said Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks, the Iowan Republican leading the bill. “This legislation takes a practical, commonsense approach to improving recycling access, supporting local partnerships, strengthening domestic supply chains and creating jobs in communities that have historically lacked access to these services.
Reflecting a broader trend where policies involving apparel and textiles are increasingly taking on an “America First” angle that has as much to do with security as resilience, Miller-Meeks said that the bill would also strengthen American manufacturing by helping domestic supply chains recover more valuable recyclable materials rather than sending them abroad, adding that “it’s a smart investment in rural communities, economic growth and American industry.”
The textile recycling industry aside, H.R.2145 has received broad approval from bottled water makers, paper manufacturers and aluminum suppliers.
“The legislation would provide clear benefits to America’s recycling system and support domestic manufacturing and supply chain security,” Curt Wells, senior director of regulatory affairs and corporate stewardship at the Aluminum Association, said in a statement. “Expanding recycling access to rural and other underserved communities while improving recycling data will help American manufacturers recover more valuable aluminum, strengthen domestic supply chains and reduce reliance on imports.”
