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[Editor's note: This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire.]
By Franklin Davis
Real Clear Wire
Recycling is not perfect, but it is getting better. As we celebrate America Recycles Day this month, members of the Recycling Infrastructure Now (RIN) Coalition urge leaders in all sectors and at all levels of government to play a part in supporting proper materials collection systems. We are encouraged by recent action but we must remain focused on progress, not perfection, because recycling is a key component of a sustainable future.
The RIN Coalition recently supported federal efforts to expand and improve our nation’s recycling system. We were happy to see the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act include $275 million in grants for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) program in what became the largest federal investment in recycling in 30 years.
In September, more than $100 million in SWIFR funding was committed across the country to expand recycling infrastructure and waste management systems across the country. To date, 25 communities have received funding totaling more than $73 million. This is a huge step forward in increasing the national recycling rate by improving local materials management and educating households and consumers about residential and community recycling programs.
For recycling to work best, it must be a joint effort between federal, state and local leaders to identify and fix the gaps in our infrastructure. By investing in better collection, sorting and processing facilities, we can collect more recyclables, reduce our need for new materials and move toward a more sustainable future. The SWIFR grants exemplify the collaborative action necessary to modernize our recycling system and increase our recycling rates nationwide. By working together as consumers, organizations and policymakers, we can help our country reach its fullest recycling potential.
The progress shouldn’t stop with the SWIFR grants. And thankfully it doesn’t. In the coming months, the EPA will announce the recipients of its Recycling Education Outreach grant program, which focuses on improving recycling and composting programs through public education and outreach.
At the RIN Coalition, we are no strangers to working with leaders to help create commonsense solutions. Last year, we supported two crucial bills, the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act and the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act.
The Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act aimed to establish pilot programs designed to enhance recycling accessibility in underserved communities, while the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act would significantly increase the EPA's ability to collect and analyze data on recycling systems.
Both of these bills gained widespread, bipartisan support from members of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives and successfully passed through the U.S. Senate. We are hopeful this momentum will continue and hope lawmakers make these meaningful pieces of legislation a priority because they will have a real impact. These bills will allow for a more precise evaluation of the efficiency of our current recycling systems, aiding in the targeted improvement of areas in need.
Meaningful change will not happen overnight but this past year shows us we are heading in the right direction. Now is the time to continue this momentum. The path is in front of us, and we all need to be part of the solution that will take us toward success.
Franklin Davis is Chair of the Recycling Infrastructure Now (RIN) Coalition, a coalition of trade associations, consumer packaged goods companies, retailers, environmental non-government organizations, and nonprofits that support improving and expanding recycling in the U.S.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO WND READERS: Shortly after Hamas terrorists fired over 5,000 rockets from Gaza into Israel on Oct. 7 and then proceeded to attack the Jewish state by land, sea and air – torturing, burning, beheading and murdering well over a thousand people, including women, children and infants, and wounding and abducting hundreds more – world reaction was, in its own way, almost equally shocking.
For after the biggest one-day mass slaughter of Jews since the Nazi Holocaust, what followed was an outpouring of celebratory demonstrations, unbridled Jew-hatred, deliriously gleeful support for Hamas and bitter condemnation of the nation of Israel. Not just in the Arab-Muslim world, but throughout the Western world as well, including all across America.
Why? What is behind the explosion of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, pro-terror sentiment in the United States, where Israel has long been one of America's closest friends and allies? Why are hordes of young "woke" LGBT demonstrators marching in support of Hamas – when Hamas wouldn't think twice about binding and blindfolding them and throwing them off the roof of a tall building – as they routinely do in the Muslim world?
It turns out there's one area of agreement that is so powerful, deep-seated and all-consuming that the vast differences between the deranged left and the murderous jihadists melt away into Kumbaya harmony.
All of this and much more is completely exposed in November's issue of WND's critically acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, titled ISRAEL VS. GLOBAL JIHAD: How Jew-hatred, radical Islam and Leftism are pushing us toward World War III. Beyond a deeply insightful dive into why leftists are surging toward radical Islam – which hates and dreams of raping and butchering them – this Whistleblower issue includes fantastic articles by everyone from top Israeli analyst (and former Israel Defense Forces officer) Caroline Glick to Harvest Christian Fellowship's Pastor Greg Laurie on the current war in Israel and biblical prophecies regarding the End Times … which he says are now upon us.
WHISTLEBLOWER is available in both the popular print edition and a state-of-the-art digital version, either single issues or discounted annual subscriptions.
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