Draft:Recycle Across America

• Comment: A lot of this seems to be just talking about how great the organisation is, it is bordering on advertising. -- NotCharizard ^🗨 03:54, 13 June 2025 (UTC)

• Comment: In accordance with the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use, I disclose that I have been paid by my employer for my contributions to this article. RecyclingAdvocateEditor (talk) 23:39, 10 June 2025 (UTC)

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Recycle Across America (RAA) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that advocates for the use of standardized labels on recycling, compost, and trash bins to improve recycling accuracy. The organization promotes standardized labeling as a solution to recycling confusion and contamination, which a 2012 New York Times article identified as being partly caused by inconsistent labeling on collection bins. In 2022, a bipartisan group of 17 members of the U.S. Congress referenced RAA’s work in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency supporting federal labeling requirements, drawing a parallel to the adoption of standardized road signage under the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

History

RAA was founded in 2008 by Michelle "Mitch" Hedlund, in response to growing concerns about contamination in U.S. recycling streams. The organization attributes this issue to inconsistent and unclear labeling on recycling receptacles, which it states contributes to public confusion at the point of disposal. Hedlund, who previously worked in communications and marketing, developed the standardized labeling concept as a proposed solution to the public's confusion around recycling. In 2011, she was named an Ashoka Fellow for her work to improve recycling systems.

RAA expanded its activities during a period of heightened industry concern about contamination. In 2018, China introduced the National Sword policy, which restricted the import of contaminated recyclables into the United States. This policy contributed to the closure of thousands of recycling processing centers across the U.S., including over 1,000 in California. RAA responded by increasing its public education and outreach efforts. In 2019, The Guardian interviewed founder Mitch Hedlund as part of a national feature on recycling confusion in the U.S., highlighting the organization’s efforts to address mislabeling and reduce contamination through standardized bin labels.

Policy and Advocacy

Federal interest in standardized labeling for recycling and composting bins has emerged in recent legislative proposals. The CLEAN Future Act (H.R.1512), introduced in 2021, and the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act (S.3127), introduced in 2023, both include provisions calling for the development of a national standardized labeling system for recycling and composting receptacles. These acts discuss the need for consistent labeling across the United States to reduce contamination and assist the public in properly sorting materials. This reflects broader policy support for initiatives aligned with Recycle Across America’s advocacy for standardized recycling bin labels.

Initiatives, Programs, and Partnerships

Recycle Across America (RAA) has promoted the use of standardized recycling, compost, and trash labels across several sectors. According to the organization, the labels have been adopted by a range of partners, including some municipalities, educational institutions, national parks, state programs, corporate entities, and airports.

National Park Initiative

RAA’s labels are implemented in several national parks as part of initiatives to promote sustainable waste management. Grand Teton National Park, Denali National Park, Yosemite National Park were part of a pilot program which incorporated RAA's standardized labels into its Zero Landfill Initiative (ZLI), additionally referred to as the Don't Feed the Landfills Initiative, aimed to reduce landfill waste and enhance recycling participation.

Educational Programs

RAA operates the Labels for Schools program, which provides standardized recycling labels and related educational resources to K–12 schools and universities. According to the organization, the program reduces confusion about recycling and improves participation and accuracy rates in school recycling systems.

State Programs

In 2016, Rhode Island became the first state to adopt Recycle Across America’s standardized recycling bin labels on a statewide level. The Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation (RIRRC) partnered with the organization to distribute the labels in an effort to reduce confusion and improve recycling practices across the state. The rollout was accompanied by a public education campaign titled Let’s Recycle RIght!, which featured public service announcements from notable Rhode Islanders. The campaign received the 2018 Gold Excellence Award in the Awareness Campaign category from the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA).

Corporate Partnerships

Recycling Today reported that in 2019, Bank of America awarded Recycle Across America a $250,000 grant to support the standardized label program. The funding helped distribute labels to over 1,000 schools and office locations. Additionally, major corporations have integrated RAA’s standardized labels into their sustainability efforts. The Walt Disney Company employee areas and NBC Universal have implemented the standardized labels for recycling bins. In 2016, Kiehl’s announced it would donate 100% of net profits (up to $50,000) from a limited-edition product to support the organization’s efforts as part of a multi-year partnership.

Impact

RAA has reported measurable improvements in recycling accuracy and reductions in contamination among organizations that adopted its standardized labels. Reported outcomes include:

Educational Institutions

In 2018, Jennifer Fowler, Director of Environmental Compliance for Orange County Public Schools in Florida, stated that since July 2016 the district had increased recycling by over 5,000 tons and saved more than $1 million in waste-related expenditures during the 2017–2018 school year.

National Parks

As of 2024, the National Park Service reported that the Don't Feed the Landfill Initiative, which started with Denali, Yosemite, and Grand Teton National Parks has eliminated 22 million pounds of waste from National Parks nationwide.

Corporate Partners

The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) reported the first zero-waste Super Bowl in 2018. The Star Tribune reported that U.S. Bank Stadium’s decision to display RAA’s standardized labels on more than 2,800 bins was “a key factor” in achieving the 91 percent waste-diversion rate recorded during Super Bowl LII.

Airports

A report by the Metropolitan Airports Commission cited a 28% reduction in recycling contamination and 1,600 tons of material recycled at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport following the implementation of the standardized labels.

Campaigns and Public Engagement

In 2015, Recycle Across America launched a recycling education campaign. The “Let’s Recycle Right!” public service campaign featuring celebrities, including Kristen Bell, Anthony Mackie, comedian and commentator Bill Maher, Olympic gold medalist Red Gerard, and Alanis Morissette, among others to raise awareness of recycling confusion.

The organization collaborated with Lamar Advertising to promote standardized recycling on billboards across the United States. As of 2024, Lamar has provided over $60 million in donated advertising space in support of RAA’s campaigns.

Criticism & Debate

While Recycle Across America and the standardized labeling initiative have not been the target of published academic criticism, wider scholarship on recycling warns that concentrating policy attention on recycling can mask deeper production- and consumption-related drivers of waste. Commentators have argued that treating recycling as a dominant environmental remedy may foster a misplaced sense of progress and divert resources from higher-impact circular-economy measures such as product redesign, reuse and repair. A 2023 Politico analysis, for example, suggested that recycling is too often sold as the solution, even though reducing overall consumption would yield larger gains.

Other research reaches an alternative conclusion, noting that easy, low-cost actions like recycling can serve as an entry point for broader pro-environmental behavior. Behavioral-science studies on “positive spill-over” effects have found that developing a recycling habit increases the likelihood that people will later adopt more demanding practices such as waste reduction or energy conservation. Life-cycle assessments likewise report that replacing virgin feedstocks with recycled materials yields measurable greenhouse-gas savings, indicating that improved recycling accuracy can confer immediate climate benefits even while longer-term systemic changes are pursued.

Timeline

• 2008 – Organization founded by Mitch Hedlund
• 2011 – Hedlund selected as an Ashoka Fellow
• 2012 – Partnership with Kiehl’s Since 1851
• 2015 – Launch of celebrity-led “Let’s Recycle Right!” campaign
• 2017 – Collaboration with Lamar Advertising on live-stream billboard PSAs
• 2017 – U.S. National Parks complete a pilot study of the standardized labels
• 2018 – Support of zero-waste Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium after the rollout of the standardized labels
• 2024 – U.S. National Parks begin implementation of standardized labels throughout parks
• 2025 – Standardized labels are installed at the National Mall and National Monuments in D.C.

See also

• Recycling in the United States
• Circular economy
• Waste management
• Environmental nonprofit organizations in the United States