Recycling efforts in the United States have grown and changed over the years, with recent state laws, private investments and technological advancements all making a mark on the country’s efforts to raise recycling rates.
America Recycles Day is being celebrated in its 28th year on Nov. 15. The occasion aims to highlight nationwide efforts to make recycling a priority through education, innovation, improved access and other initiatives.
Below is a snapshot of how various sectors throughout the country have worked to advance these efforts throughout 2025.
What other America Recycles Day news we should know about? Send us an email at waste.dive.editors@industrydive.com.
Recycling and plastic cleanup efforts
Megan Quinn/Waste Dive
By the numbers
Percentage of Americans who say they currently recycle, according to a 2025 recycling behavior survey from WM. That’s up from 66% reported in the company’s 2024 survey. Yet the report notes only about 32% of material is recycled in the United States, according to U.S. EPA data, underscoring a significant “say-do gap” between Americans’ intent to recycle and their actual recycling behaviors.
Number of homes and businesses around the state of Oregon that are expected to receive new access to curbside recycling as part of the state’s rollout of its extended producer responsibility for packaging law that launched in July. That’s according to Circular Action Alliance, the producer responsibility organization in charge of coordinating such access. The state will also add 141 new recycling dropoff sites for “tricky-to-sort materials.”
Estimated amount of single-use packaging and food ware Californians threw away in 2024, according to a material characterization study from CalRecycle. About 21% of that was material that will eventually be covered under SB 54, California’s extended producer responsibility for packaging law. It also calls for an overall reduction of such packaging, along with requirements to make covered materials recyclable or compostable by 2032.
Estimated U.S. plastic litter cleanup costs per year, according to a new report from Duke University. Researchers calculate that those annual costs include costs to governments, businesses, educational institutions and volunteer organizations. Researchers called for upstream interventions such as “capping virgin plastic production, phasing out single-use plastics, and incentivizing and supporting reuse and refill systems.”
Economic impacts and investments
Alamy
By the numbers
Estimated number of direct recycling industry jobs that could be created if 50% of currently unrecycled plastics in municipal solid waste streams were diverted from disposal and into recycling facilities, according to a new economic impact report from the American Chemistry Council. ACC calculated those jobs could generate about $16.4 billion in output. The report called for more investments in both mechanical and chemical recycling.
Amount that The Recycling Partnership’s Film & Flexibles Recycling Coalition has invested in 25 infrastructure projects meant to improve film and flexible material recycling since 2020. The group aims to work with packaging producers and the broader recycling industry to help advance film recycling infrastructure and markets for the material. The group recently invested $4.25 million in film and flexible recycling improvements at an FCC Environmental Services MRF in Texas.
Amount that American Battery Technology Co. received in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a battery recycling facility in South Carolina. The federal government has recently seen battery recycling as a key piece of its efforts to boost domestic supply chains for critical minerals used in electronics, batteries and magnets. Yet similar projects have recently lost funding or faced market challenges.
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