EPA Resisting New Model to Measure Greenhouse Gas Credits for Recycling

Date: November 29, 2007

Source: News Room

Waste and recycling industry advocates and the US EPA are struggling to develop a protocol for quantifying greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction credits for recycling activities that could ultimately be traded in a future cap-and-trade system. Waste firms as well as municipalities across the country want to receive GHG offsets for their recycling efforts which they argue reduce energy consumption and harmful emissions. EPA officials are concerned that the industry seems to be embracing the EPA's Waste Reduction Model (WARM) which they feel is not quite ready for prime time. In September, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) formed a new working group to look at the implications of climate change for recyclers. ISRI and other advocates are working with various members of Congress to add recycling amendments to the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill now before committee.

To learn more about the US EPA Waste Reduction Model, visit: epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/waste/calculators/Warm_Form.html

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