Oct 17, 2022 - Standardised waste bin symbols are an effective way to improve waste streams and increase recycling rates. Now members of the US Congress wrote a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency to implement them nationwide. How to increase recycling rates? This is one of the questions that concerns the waste industry and legislators alike. Now a group of 17 members of the US Congress wrote a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging its administrator Michael Regan to adopt a standardized labeling system for recycling bins. “Given the importance of standardized bin labeling to the success of any federal recycling strategy, we urge you to develop and implement a nationally standardized bin labeling strategy, as called for under Objective C of the National Recycling Strategy”, they write. Standardised waste symbols are already mentioned as part of the EPA’s National Recycling Strategy. The agency’s road map details how the US could achieve a 50% recycling rate by 2030. One point mentioned is adopting “consistent labels, signage, symbols and messaging for recyclable products, recycling bins and trash bins”, because they “could reduce consumer confusion about what products can be recycled and which bins are appropriate for different recyclable materials.” But as the 17 lawmakers put it “strategy execution of this objective is lacking.” ....