Recycling in the United States

There is no national law in the United States that mandates recycling. State and local governments often introduce their own recycling requirements. In 2014, the recycling/composting rate for municipal solid waste in the U.S. was 34.6%. A number of U.S. states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont have passed laws that establish deposits or refund values on beverage containers while other jurisdictions rely on recycling goals or landfill bans of recyclable materials. Recent data has shown that despite expanded recycling programs, the United States recycles only a small fraction of its plastic waste. A 2023 analysis found that less than 6% of post-consumer plastics were actually recycled, with the majority ending up in landfills or incineration facilities.