The PPRC Position Paper on Recycling 

Highly recycled paper products should not be included in federal extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation.

Paper Recycling is an Environmental Success Story!

• The PPRC believes a one-size-fits-all solution does not work for all commodities. Paper’s strong recycling success record is proof that it is part of the solution. Congress should focus on solutions for materials with low recovery rates that contaminate the system, and the elimination of products such as single use plastics.
• Our industry recycles nearly 60% more paper today than it did in 1990. In 2024, our industry’s recycling rate was 60-64% for paper and 69-74% for cardboard, respectively.

PPRC Opposes the Recycled Materials Attribution Act (H.R.7502)The Recycled Materials Attribution Act (RMAA) makes sweeping changes to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) Green Guides that could cause public confusion and undermine the recycling system. Currently, the Green Guides contain strict standards that guard against “greenwashing” and deceptive claims about recycled content. The RMAA will change that, allowing any company to claim that their products contain recycled content, regardless of whether that is true or not. This will likely create widespread confusion for customers that are trying to purchase legitimately recycled and sustainable products.

• The RMAA would also allow for energy recovery of fuel products to be treated the same as recycling. Specifically, the bill currently allows for fuels that are produced and sold as intermediate products to be marketed as recycled content (an example of this is naphtha, which can be used to make gasoline or petrochemical products).

The PPRC supports bills that uphold recycling integrity and empower everyday Americans’ purchasing decisions:

• Packaging and Claims Knowledge Act (PACK Act, H.R.6832) 
• Recycling Infrastructure Accessibility Act (RIAA, H.R.2145)
• Recycling and Composting Accountability Act (RCAA, H.R.4109)
• Strategies to Eliminate Waste and Accelerate Recycling Development Act (STEWARD Act, S.351)

The PPRC believes a one-size-fits-all solution does not work for all commodities. Paper’s strong recycling success record is proof that it is part of the solution. Congress should focus on solutions for materials with low recovery rates that contaminate the system, and the elimination of products such as single use plastics.