EPA Urges Stronger Stewardship

Lynn Schenkman

In an effort to raise the national recycling rate to 35 percent by 2005, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided to target business and consumer behavior to promote resource conservation. EPA leaders speaking at the 2003 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) meeting Aug. 12-15 re-emphasized the Resource Conservation Challenge, which was introduced last year.

The challenge is a national effort that sets goals for consumers and businesses to adjust their daily lives and operations to prevent pollution, reduce waste, and recycle and reuse more. Businesses that already have been praised for implementing resource conservation or environmental stewardship in RCRA were urged to "scale up" and more firmly emphasize materials management.