Pinning down the real recycling rates in the U.S. is difficult. EPA’s last comprehensive report is based on 2018 figures and, since then, there’s been a patchwork of studies from different sources looking through different lenses. But amidst the gray areas, the findings show one clear pattern: the U.S. would have to step up its game in a big way to meet the national recycling goal of 50 percent by 2030.
In the race toward that target, a large focus is on single-use plastics, a problematic stream. Among pain points are insufficient collection programs. Sorely lacking secondary sorting infrastructure for hard-to-recycle plastics (multilayer, especially films and flexibles).
