H.R. 2145 would authorize the appropriation of $30 million annually over the 2027-2031 period for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a competitive grant program to expand access to residential recycling systems and increase the number of transfer stations that aggregate recyclable materials for processing offsite.
The bill would require EPA to allocate 70 percent of the authorized amounts for grants to communities without access to recycling services or that have insufficient recycling capacity. Participating grant recipients, including states, localities, tribes, and public-private partnerships, would have to contribute at least 10 percent of a project’s total cost. In cases of financial hardship, the bill would authorize EPA to waive the nonfederal cost share. The bill would require EPA to report on the program two years after the first grant is awarded and would authorize the agency to use up to 5 percent of the appropriated funds to administer the program.
H.R. 2145 also would authorize the appropriation of $4 million annually over the 2027-2031 period for EPA to collect data and report to the Congress on recycling and composting activities nationwide, including information on recycling infrastructure, recycling rates, and the volume of recyclable materials that are discarded rather than reused. Finally, the bill would require the Government Accountability Office to report every two years through 2033 on recycling and composting activities.
The estimated budgetary effects of the legislation are shown in Table 1. The costs of the legislation fall within budget function 300 (natural resources and environment).
Table 1.
Estimated Budgetary Effects of H.R. 2145
By Fiscal Year, Millions of Dollars
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2026-2031
Increases in Spending Subject to Appropriation
Authorization
0
34
34
34
34
34
170
Estimated Outlays
0
3
17
27
32
34
113
Assuming appropriation of the specified amounts and based on spending patterns for similar programs, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 2145 would cost $113 million over the 2026-2031 period and $57 million after 2031.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Tanya Bakshi. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
