Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act of 2025

I 119TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2145 To establish a pilot grant program to improve recycling accessibility, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 14, 2025 Mrs. M ILLER-MEEKS (for herself, Ms. S HERRILL, Mr. J OYCE of Ohio, Ms. TENNEY, and Ms. M CCLELLAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To establish a pilot grant program to improve recycling accessibility, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Recycling Infrastruc-4 ture and Accessibility Act of 2025’’. 5 SEC. 2. RECYCLING INFRASTRUCTURE AND ACCESSIBILITY 6 PROGRAM. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:35 Mar 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2145.IH H2145kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2145 IH (1) A DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-1 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ-2 mental Protection Agency. 3 (2) C URBSIDE RECYCLING .—The term 4 ‘‘curbside recycling’’ means the process by which 5 residential recyclable materials are picked up 6 curbside. 7 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY .—The term ‘‘eligible enti-8 ty’’ means— 9 (A) a State (as defined in section 1004 of 10 the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 11 6903)); 12 (B) a unit of local government; 13 (C) an Indian Tribe; and 14 (D) a public-private partnership. 15 (4) I NDIAN TRIBE .—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 16 has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 17 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 18 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 19 (5) MATERIALS RECOVERY FACILITY .— 20 (A) I N GENERAL .—The term ‘‘materials 21 recovery facility’’ means a recycling facility 22 where primarily residential recyclables, which 23 are diverted from disposal by a generator and 24 collected separately from municipal solid waste, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:35 Mar 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2145.IH H2145kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2145 IH are mechanically or manually sorted into com-1 modities for further processing into specifica-2 tion-grade commodities for sale to end users. 3 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘materials re-4 covery facility’’ does not include a solid waste 5 management facility that may process munic-6 ipal solid waste to remove recyclable materials. 7 (6) P ILOT GRANT PROGRAM .—The term ‘‘pilot 8 grant program’’ means the Recycling Infrastructure 9 and Accessibility Program established under sub-10 section (b). 11 (7) R ECYCLABLE MATERIAL .—The term ‘‘recy-12 clable material’’ means obsolete, previously used, off- 13 specification, surplus, or incidentally produced mate-14 rial for processing into a specification-grade com-15 modity for which a market exists. 16 (8) T RANSFER STATION .—The term ‘‘transfer 17 station’’ means a facility that— 18 (A) receives and consolidates recyclable 19 material from curbside recycling or drop-off fa-20 cilities; and 21 (B) loads the recyclable material onto trac-22 tor trailers, railcars, or barges for transport to 23 a distant materials recovery facility or another 24 recycling-related facility. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:35 Mar 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2145.IH H2145kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2145 IH (9) U NDERSERVED COMMUNITY .—The term 1 ‘‘underserved community’’ means a community, in-2 cluding an unincorporated area, without access to 3 full recycling services because— 4 (A) transportation, distance, or other rea-5 sons render utilization of available processing 6 capacity at an existing materials recovery facil-7 ity cost prohibitive; or 8 (B) the processing capacity of an existing 9 materials recovery facility is insufficient to 10 manage the volume of recyclable materials pro-11 duced by that community. 12 (b) E STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 18 months 13 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 14 shall establish a pilot grant program, to be known as the 15 ‘‘Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Program’’, to 16 award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities 17 to improve recycling accessibility in a community or com-18 munities within the same geographic area. 19 (c) G OAL.—The goal of the pilot grant program is 20 to fund eligible projects that will significantly improve ac-21 cessibility to recycling systems through investments in in-22 frastructure in underserved communities through the use 23 of a hub-and-spoke model for recycling infrastructure de-24 velopment. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:35 Mar 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2145.IH H2145kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 2145 IH (d) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 1 under the pilot grant program, an eligible entity shall sub-2 mit to the Administrator an application at such time, in 3 such manner, and containing such information as the Ad-4 ministrator may require. 5 (e) C ONSIDERATIONS.—In selecting eligible entities 6 to receive a grant under the pilot grant program, the Ad-7 ministrator shall consider— 8 (1) whether the community or communities in 9 which the eligible entity is seeking to carry out a 10 proposed project has curbside recycling; 11 (2) whether the proposed project of the eligible 12 entity will improve accessibility to recycling services 13 in a single underserved community or multiple un-14 derserved communities; and 15 (3) if the eligible entity is a public-private part-16 nership, the financial health of the private entity 17 seeking to enter into that public-private partnership. 18 (f) PRIORITY.—In selecting eligible entities to receive 19 a grant under the pilot grant program, the Administrator 20 shall give priority to eligible entities seeking to carry out 21 a proposed project in a community in which there is not 22 more than 1 materials recovery facility within a 75-mile 23 radius of that community. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:35 Mar 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2145.IH H2145kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 2145 IH (g) U SE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity awarded a 1 grant under the pilot grant program may use the grant 2 funds for projects to improve recycling accessibility in 3 communities, including in underserved communities, by— 4 (1) increasing the number of transfer stations; 5 (2) expanding curbside recycling collection pro-6 grams where appropriate; and 7 (3) leveraging public-private partnerships to re-8 duce the costs associated with collecting and trans-9 porting recyclable materials in underserved commu-10 nities. 11 (h) P ROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible 12 entity awarded a grant under the pilot grant program may 13 not use the grant funds for projects relating to recycling 14 education programs. 15 (i) M INIMUM AND MAXIMUM GRANT AMOUNT.—A 16 grant awarded to an eligible entity under the pilot grant 17 program shall be in an amount— 18 (1) not less than $500,000; and 19 (2) not more than $15,000,000. 20 (j) S ET-ASIDE.—The Administrator shall set aside 21 not less than 70 percent of the amounts made available 22 to carry out the pilot grant program for each fiscal year 23 to award grants to eligible entities to carry out a proposed 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:35 Mar 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2145.IH H2145kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 2145 IH project or program in a single underserved community or 1 multiple underserved communities. 2 (k) FEDERAL SHARE.— 3 (1) I N GENERAL .—Subject to paragraph (2), 4 the Federal share of the cost of a project or pro-5 gram carried out by an eligible entity using grant 6 funds shall be not more than 90 percent. 7 (2) W AIVER.—The Administrator may waive 8 the Federal share requirement under paragraph (1) 9 if the Administrator determines that an eligible enti-10 ty would experience significant financial hardship as 11 a result of that requirement. 12 (l) R EPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 13 on which the first grant is awarded under the pilot grant 14 program, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a re-15 port describing the implementation of the pilot grant pro-16 gram, which shall include— 17 (1) a list of eligible entities that have received 18 a grant under the pilot grant program; 19 (2) the actions taken by each eligible entity that 20 received a grant under the pilot grant program to 21 improve recycling accessibility with grant funds; and 22 (3) to the extent information is available, a de-23 scription of how grant funds received under the pilot 24 grant program improved recycling rates in each com-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:35 Mar 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2145.IH H2145kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 2145 IH munity in which a project or program was carried 1 out under the pilot grant program. 2 (m) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 3 (1) I N GENERAL .—There is authorized to be 4 appropriated to the Administrator to carry out the 5 pilot grant program $30,000,000 for each of fiscal 6 years 2025 through 2029, to remain available until 7 expended. 8 (2) A DMINISTRATIVE COSTS AND TECHNICAL 9 ASSISTANCE.—Of the amounts made available under 10 paragraph (1), the Administrator may use up to 5 11 percent— 12 (A) for administrative costs relating to car-13 rying out the pilot grant program; and 14 (B) to provide technical assistance to eligi-15 ble entities applying for a grant under the pilot 16 grant program. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:35 Mar 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2145.IH H2145kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB