S. 351 would authorize appropriations totaling $34 million annually over the 2025-2029 period for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to award grants, collect data, and prepare reports for recycling and composting programs in the United States.
CBO assumes that the bill will be enacted in 2025 and that the authorized amounts will be provided in each year. On that basis and using the spending patterns for similar activities, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $148 million over the 2025-2030 period and $22 million after 2030.
Section 2 would authorize the appropriation of $30 million annually over the 2025-2029 period to EPA for grants to expand access to curbside recycling and construct transfer stations that aggregate recyclable materials for offsite processing. EPA would need to allocate 70 percent of the authorized amounts for grants to communities without access to recycling services or that have insufficient recycling capacity. Grant recipients, including states, local governments, Indian tribes, and public-private partnerships, would have to contribute at least 5 percent of a project’s total cost. The bill would require the agency to report on the program two years after the first grant is awarded and would authorize EPA to use up to 5 percent of the authorized funds for administrative purposes. CBO estimates that implementing that section would cost $128 million over the 2025-2030 period.
