For decades, the EPA has been providing information on the recycling, reuse and generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in its regularly published MSW Characterization Report called Municipal Solid Waste in the United States. Trash or MSW is made up of the things commonly used and then thrown away. These materials include items such as packaging, food scraps, grass clippings, sofas, computers or refrigerators. The EPA has used this report to provide a consistent view of MSW in the U.S. over time and for internal performance measures, deliberations and programmatic assessments; however questions are being raised about its scope, the data sources used, the assumptions made, as well as its transparency. There is also a growing need for a more holistic assessment of how materials are generated, used and managed in the U.S. economy.

While the structure, content and methodology of the MSW characterization report has essentially remained unchanged, the manner in which the report is used has dramatically changed, and it is now used as the basis for decisions that were unanticipated when the report was first conceived. Many believe that the data and conclusions provided in the report do not adequately support this expanded scope of use.

The EPA is interested in obtaining stakeholder input regarding the Agency's methods of measuring materials in the following waste streams: MSW (which can include items, such as packaging, food scraps, grass clippings, sofas, computers, and refrigerators), construction and demolition (C&D) materials, and non-hazardous industrial materials (such as iron and steel slags, spent foundry sands, and pulp and paper residues); and the sustainable management of these materials through safe recycling and source reduction. The Agency will consider the information gathered from this notice and other sources as it works to create a new national measurement approach and report. The goal is to produce a measurement approach and resulting report that provides appropriate data to support a broad array of uses, including recycling, source reduction and waste prevention, and disposal.

EPA's MSW Characterization Report analyzes, among other things, the amounts of MSW recycled, incinerated and landfilled. This document can be found at: www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/msw99.htm. This report has been based on a materials flow approach, which is a top-down approach to measurement. It characterizes the MSW stream of the nation as a whole. The report is the result of modeling that uses data gathered from a wide variety of public and private sources, such as the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Census Bureau, and trade associations. This method, however, has limitations, including the fairly narrow scope of materials it covers and inherent limitations due to a modeling approach. For example, at present, it does not include other types of non-hazardous waste, such as C&D materials, industrial materials and automotive waste.

To read the entire Federal Register release and find directions for submitting comments, please click on this link. All written comments must be received on or before Aug. 31, 2011.