The pieces are already in place for a strong domestic recycling system, according to The Recycling Partnership’s (TRP) latest report, but only through sustained investment and aligning outcomes will that system reach its maximum potential.
TRP gave an update on the US residential recycling system in its 2026 State of Recycling report, which notes progress on several fronts but highlights the need for sustained, synergistic next steps to enhance recycling infrastructure. The authors say this is a “necessary strategy to protect domestic manufacturing and is vital to keeping the US economy competitive.”
For residential recycling to work, the report cites five requirements:
- Packaging entering the system must be recyclable
- All households need recycling access
- Residents must be fully engaged; maximum effectiveness is achieved when at least 90% of households recycle at least 80% of accepted items into recycling
- Recycling facilities need to effectively process 95% of the material they accept
- Facilities must find sufficient end markets for the materials they process
But lapses on each front leave the recycling system lagging behind what it could be, the authors said. Manufacturers, for example, still don’t design packaging for recyclability to the fullest extent possible. Extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws in several states will help standardize packaging and collection lists, but the authors said the pace of change hasn’t matched the need.
Gaps remain in other areas, the authors said. About 25% of US homes, largely in rural areas, still don’t have recycling access, while public confidence in recycling programs has gone down from 2022, according to TRP’s latest Recycling Confidence Index. EPR laws should help fund infrastructure upgrades to bring facilities up to standard, while a collapse in the price of virgin PET has lowered demand for recycled resin.
Legislation helps, but a lack of accountability and structure limits what the recycling network can do. Brands that have set voluntary sustainability goals have started delaying or dropping those targets due to financial or infrastructure issues; last year alone, Coca-Cola pushed a goal of cutting virgin plastic use by 3 million tons back a decade, while Walmart acknowledged it wouldn’t make its emission-reduction targets and Colgate-Palmolive flagged that it wouldn’t make its post-consumer recycled packaging goals.
“The retreat from recycled content commitments is particularly destabilizing,” the authors wrote. “It weakens the end-market demand and economics that keep recycling viable.”
Some of the consequences of a suboptimal recycling structure are already surfacing, the authors said. Some recycled materials are in oversupply, while the lack of a truly circular network leads to more potential feedstock getting discarded rather than to manufacturers that could reuse the material. The lack of a marketplace for recycled materials, in turn, disincentivizes recycling for facilities and producers that face compliance costs without payoff.
To ensure circularity, the authors call for sustained investment across the recycling supply chain. Increased access and participation can restore trust, they said, which can spark demand and make recycling a driver of system stability.
“The choices made today by policymakers, producers, recyclers and investors can convert proven strategies into systemwide success, ensuring recycling remains not just an impactful solution but a durable one,” they said.
TRP’s 2026 report will be released in several phases rather than as one document, as it was shared in past years. Part two will further explore some of the data that was summarized in part one.
The nonprofit TRP formed in 2014 and advocates for curbside recycling.
