Approved by the Energy, Environment, and Water Policy Committee on January 16, 2025 
Approved by the Public Policy and Practice Committee on March 28, 2025
Adopted by the Board of Direction on July 10, 2025

Policy

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE):

  • Supports legislation that would promote, enhance, or facilitate development of resource recovery facilities, including those for recycling, composting, reuse, and energy production, as well as programs, practices, and technologies to reduce waste generation.
  • Supports development of cost-effective recycling and sustainable waste handling options for municipalities, specifically in communities where scale and/or the use of older outdated methods is an impediment.
  • Opposes legislation that would ban the interstate movement of municipal solid waste (MSW) to regional solid waste facilities designed and operated in accordance with regulations, recognizing that such transport can be beneficial for certain communities and in regional solid waste management effectiveness.
  • Encourages source reduction through the growth and expansion of community recycling programs as well as the redesign of packaging for manufactured goods. 

Issue

ASCE Report Card for America’s Infrastructure graded solid waste management as a C+. The volume of MSW generated in the United States (U.S) has been increasing for decades but so has the amount being recycled and composted. Data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding MSW show that:

  • In 2018, 292.4 million tons of MSW were generated in the U.S., an increase of 93% since 1980. 
  • Recycling and composting diverted 94 million tons of MSW (32.1 percent) from landfills in 2018, which is much greater than the 15 million tons recycled in 1980. Fifty-three percent of Americans now live in communities with curbside recycling services. 
  • This recycling and composting also avoided the release of approximately 193 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the air in 2018, equal to removing 42 million cars from the roadway system for one year.

Despite the growing acceptance and implementation of recycling and composting programs, MSW management faces serious challenges in the years ahead. The   per capita waste generation rate in the U.S. remains much higher (4.9 pounds/person/day) compared to many other countries. Additionally, contaminated recycling streams and lack of markets for recycled goods often result in these materials ending up in a landfill regardless of the existence of active recycling programs. Also, more stringent international standards have limited the acceptance of the recyclable materials in countries outside the U.S. This adds another burden to landfill capacities, which are already dropping at a concerning rate. It is estimated that the country has 10 to 20 years of capacity remaining, with certain regions such as the Northeast and Midwest with the lowest capacities. Combine all of these factors with increasing difficulty in siting and permitting new landfills and heightened concerns about emerging pollutants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in landfill leachate, and the nation faces the very real possibility of a landfill shortage in the not-too-distant future. 

Advances in technology for producing energy from waste through anaerobic digestion, gasification and more efficient combustion processes hold promise as alternatives to land. Furthermore, the energy created could augment traditional power production sources to support higher demands. But although incineration of MSW reduces the volume of waste by 75%, it also creates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ash material that must be safely managed. Recovery of methane from decaying waste in more than 550 MSW landfills today also provides fuel for energy generation while reducing methane gas, a GHG emission. In summary, recycling and maximizing the conversion to energy of the balance of MSW generated have many environmental benefits, including reduction of GHG emissions and avoidance of needed collection and transportation systems.

Rationale

ASCE recognizes the value and limitations of natural resources and landfill capacity and supports the critical need for more emphasis on innovative policies and programs that will change the way Americans think about solid waste and will to reduce generation, increase recycling, and produce sorely needed electric power. Programs such as Pay-As-You-Throw have been successful in reducing the total solid waste generation in many communities across the U.S. by creating a direct economic incentive to recycle more.
As recycling increases, landfill mining to recover previously landfilled material can be implemented. Together with continued efforts to reduce MSW generation, opportunities to recover and utilize valuable resources and materials present in the MSW stream can be designed and incorporated into an overall MSW program to further reduce dependency on landfill disposal.

ASCE Policy Statement 516 
First Approved in 2006