Volume 153, No. 175 covering the 1st Session of the 110th Congress (2007 - 2008) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SUPPORTING THE GOAL AND MISSION OF AMERICA RECYCLES DAY” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H13548-H13549 on Nov. 13, 2007.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SUPPORTING THE GOAL AND MISSION OF AMERICA RECYCLES DAY
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 122) supporting the goal and mission of America Recycles Day, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.
The text of the concurrent resolution is as follows:
H. Con. Res. 122
Whereas America Recycles Day is on November 15th of each year;
Whereas America Recycles Day is an annual national awareness event, the mission of which is promoting the social, environmental, and economic benefits of recycling and buying recycled-content products;
Whereas the goal of America Recycles Day is to increase the purchase of recycled-content products and recycling throughout America;
Whereas Americans have a long tradition of recycling;
Whereas in 1896, the first recycling center was established in New York City, and, by 1989, the Environmental Protection Agency had set a national waste reduction and recycling goal, and 26 States had enacted laws making recycling an integral part of their solid waste management plans;
Whereas in 2003, homes, businesses, and institutions in the United States produced more than 236,000,000 tons of municipal solid waste;
Whereas this amounts to approximately 4.5 pounds of waste per person in the United States per day, and is almost triple the amount of municipal solid waste generated in 1960;
Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency reports that 30 percent of municipal solid waste is recovered for recycling or composting, 14 percent is incinerated, and the remaining 56 percent is discarded in landfills;
Whereas a significant amount of this disposed solid waste can be recovered for recycling or composting through source separation, mechanical separation, and community-based recycling programs;
Whereas recycling saves energy, which in turn can reduce American dependence on foreign oil and prevent pollution; reduces the need for certain natural resources; can create more jobs; can cost communities less than other waste disposal options; supplies valuable raw materials to industry; stimulates green technology development; and reduces the need for new landfills and combustors;
Whereas over the past 10 years, many new markets for recycled products have been created, including remanufacturing plastic containers into other plastic containers, fleece, carpet, car parts, strapping, stuffing, bottles, pipe, lawn and garden products, injection molded products, and plastic lumber;
Whereas while there are many new markets for recycled products, community curbside pickup programs have decreased and recycling rates for certain recyclable household products, like plastic and aluminum containers, have decreased or stayed the same;
Whereas Federal, State, and local governments should encourage increased recycling of recyclable household products; and
Whereas there remains significant opportunity to increase recycling in the United States, and Americans should be encouraged to participate in endeavors that promote waste separation methods, community-based recycling programs, and expanded utilization of recovered materials: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress--
(1) supports the goal and mission of America Recycles Day; and
(2) encourages all Americans to participate in promoting the social, environmental, and economic benefits of recycling and buying recycled-content products.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Wynn) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Maryland.
General Leave
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Maryland?
There was no objection.
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Today, I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 122, to support the goal and mission of America Recycles Day.
A strong commitment to recycling is needed in this country. Recycling saves energy consumption and can reduce our dependence on foreign oil, prevent pollution, provide valuable raw materials, and, most importantly, create more jobs. I think this is an excellent resolution, and I urge my colleagues to support its passage.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the chief Republican cosponsor of this resolution, Mr. Shays from Connecticut.
Mr. SHAYS. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 122, introduced by Jay Inslee of Washington State, a resolution supporting the goal and mission of America Recycles Day.
November 15, 2007, marks the 10th anniversary of this nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and buy recycled products. This bill expresses support for this day of recognition, and encourages all of us to participate in promoting the social, environmental, and economic benefits of recycling and buying recycled-content products.
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America Recycles Day informs millions of Americans about the importance of daily recycling and asks us to commit ourselves to increasing our recycling habits at home and at work.
Across the country, the National Recycling Coalition organizes community awareness and education campaigns about the benefits of recycling, and volunteers work with communities and schools to organize recycling awareness events in conjunction with their local municipalities.
Recycling is one of the easiest ways anyone can work to improve the world we live in on a daily basis. Recycling saves energy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
The EPA estimates that recycling a ton of mixed recyclables avoids emissions equivalent to 2.8 tons of carbon dioxide. Today there are more than 10,000 curbside recycling programs in the United States, which serve approximately half of the population.
These programs are also good for our economy. Recycling is a $236 billion a year industry, and more than 56,000 recycling and reuse enterprises employ 1.1 million workers.
I believe we should increase our recycling for ourselves and future generations because we simply will not have a world to live in if we continue our neglectful ways. Recycling and buying recycled products create demand for more recycled products, decreasing waste, protecting our natural resources, and helping our environment and economy.
America Recycles Day asks that we pledge ourselves to recycle and buying recycled products, and I strongly urge support of this resolution and the recognition that this is not just a resolution about nothing. It is about something very important. It's about getting us, as human beings, to think about wasting less and economizing and helping to save our planet in the process.
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, at this time I am pleased to yield to the sponsor of this resolution, a leader on environmental matters in this Congress, the distinguished gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee).
Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support passage of H. Con. Res. 122, a resolution to support America Recycles Day, the only nationally recognized day dedicated to recycling.
And I want to thank the Chair, Chairman Al Wynn, for getting this to the floor; and my cosponsor, Republican Chris Shays, who has been a leader on so many environmental issues, for working on this issue.
You know, the economic ramifications of recycling are well known. It creates 1.1 million jobs. It has annual sales of $236 billion gross sales, and has $37 billion in annual payrolls.
But I want to focus my comments for the moment on why recycling is so much even more important than it was originally. We know it has been the most successful environmental initiative in the country's history. It allows people to take individual action to preserve the environment.
But now that global warming is upon us, the wisdom, prudence, and genius of recycling is even more apparent. When 1 million square miles of the arctic melted, the size of six Californias this summer, the need for recycling has become even more apparent.
Because recycling substantially reduces carbon dioxide emissions when it's associated with raw material extraction, with product manufacture, with emissions from landfills or burning carbon based waste, when we conserve material, we don't waste energy, and we don't put global warming gases into the atmosphere.
In fact, the Environmental Protections Agency estimates that recycling a ton of mixed recyclables saves 2.8 tons of carbon dioxide from going into the atmosphere. If we simply increased our recycle efforts from the current 30 percent level to 35 percent, we would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equal to the average emissions from 4.6 million households. There is real savings still available to us.
We also have a growing problem with electronic material waste. We only have 1 percent of the 130 million phones currently owned by consumers recycled. We're going to do something about that. I can report in Seattle, at America Recycles Day, Dell, Microsoft and InTechra will raise awareness for recycling of electronics at Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners.
Here on Capitol Hill, the Office of Greening has helped promote the House America Recycling Day. So passage of this bill will certainly support these ongoing efforts. We need to build on them.
It's time for Congress to recognize this important day. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and find something to recycle, and recycle it.
Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.
Again, I want to thank Mr. Inslee, Mr. Shays, Mr. Wynn, Mr. Barton, Mr. Dingell as well.
Recycling is an important environmental concept that predates, by decades, the first Earth Day and talk of global climate change. In fact, according to the National Recycling Coalition, before the 1920s, 70 percent of U.S. cities ran programs to recycle certain materials. And during World War II, 60 years ago, American industry reused and recycled 25 percent of the waste system. Today we're recycling and reusing about 33 percent of our Nation's waste.
Moreover, the need for serious recycling takes on an added dimension when one considers the state of America's landfill capacity. According to the EPA, since 1980 the total annual generation of municipal solid waste, otherwise known as regular household trash, has increased by more than 60 percent to its 2005 level of nearly 246 million tons every year.
And further, according to the EPA, over the last 15 years, 9 percent less, or about 9 million tons, of household garbage is going to our Nation's landfills. That means that the increased recycling efforts must step in to bridge the gap.
And while many folks may think that promoting recycling is confined just to picking up a newspaper printed on recycled papers, or buying a soft drink or beer in a recycled bottle, our domestic recycling industry is even more sophisticated and diverse than those perceptions. I've seen it firsthand in my district. In fact, domestic paper recycling helps create everything from cereal boxes, Kelloggs in Michigan, to furniture, recycled plastic soda bottles yield fibers that produce T-shirts, recycled carpet forms the basic fill for ski jackets. Recycling is not just a good environmental practice; it's also a great way to help grow our economy.
So, Mr. Speaker, this resolution is simply not just a remind of the virtue of a good stewardship. It's also a charge to every one of us that taking time to recycle does indeed make a difference for the world. And I would urge that my colleagues support this resolution encouraging every American to participate in promoting the social, environmental, and economic benefits of recycling and buying recycled-
content products.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, I don't believe I have any further speakers, and we do have the right to close.
Mr. UPTON. I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would only say that I think we have at force a very important, a very practical, and a very creative bill encouraging all Americans to participate in recycling. This is a wonderful bipartisan opportunity for all of us to do something good for the environment. I urge the adoption of the resolution.
Mr. WYNN. I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Wynn) that the House suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 122, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution, as amended, was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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