At a Glance
- The STEWARD Act: A bipartisan bill aimed passed in the Senate is aimed at improving America’s collection and recycling systems by bettering infrastructure and creating standardized, reliable data.
- Creates a new EPA grant program (Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Program) that funds $500K–$15M projects to expand recycling access in underserved communities.
- Sets national metrics for tracking recycling performance, contamination, processing rates, and composting potential — giving food businesses real data to guide packaging and sustainability decisions.
- Strengthens supply chains by keeping more recyclable materials in circulation, stabilizing recycled-content pricing, and supporting expansion of composting where food waste is a major issue.
NOTE: The Steward Act is not yet legislation and has only passed the Senate.
Your packaging gets thrown away every single day. It’s upsetting, but often accurate. And somewhere between your product leaving your facility and ending up in a landfill (or hopefully not), there’s a collection, sorting, or recycling system that has been struggling to keep up.
If you’re in the food business, you’ve felt the pressure. Regulators want compliance and your procurement team wants recycled materials that don’t cost a fortune or disappear from the supply chain when demand spikes. Saying that this can feel stressful seems like an understatement.
Good news: The Senate has passed something that might help.
On November 20, 2025, the Senate passed the Strategies to Eliminate Waste and Accelerate Recycling Development (STEWARD — aren’t acronyms fun?) Act and sent it to the House for approval. This bipartisan bill addresses the infrastructure gaps that have made recycling in America more wishful thinking than a reliable system.
In this article, we’ll break down what the STEWARD Act does, why it matters for your food business, and how these changes could impact everything from your packaging decisions to your bottom line.
What Does the STEWARD Act Actually Do?
This can all be really confusing (especially to those of us without legal degrees), but let’s break this down: The STEWARD Act tackles recycling from two angles. It focuses on building better infrastructure and collecting actual data on what’s working (and what’s not).
First, the Act creates the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Program at the Environmental Protection Agency. This isn’t just another government program with a fancy name. It’s a pilot grant initiative. This means it’s small-scale and experimental. It will provide real funding, between $500,000 and $15 million per project. The goal is to expand recycling access in communities that didn’t previously have it.
These grants will fund a model that connects smaller communities to larger Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs). Imagine a network of transfer stations and collection points that connect to regional recycling hubs. This makes collection and ultimately recycling possible in areas where it isn’t currently feasible.
The program will specifically support projects that increase the number of transfer stations, expand curbside recycling programs, and reduce collection and transportation costs.
Second, the Act directs the EPA to finally get serious about data collection. The agency will set up standard metrics to track market trends. It will also measure material processing rates and evaluate how well curbside recycling programs perform. Plus, there’s a mandate to assess national composting potential — evaluating infrastructure, regulatory barriers, costs, and industry trends. This has the potential to revolutionize how Americans recycle (and it’s very exciting!)
Why Should Food Businesses Care About Recycling Infrastructure?
Here’s the thing about running a food business these days: Your packaging choices aren’t just about protecting product freshness anymore. They’re about managing risk.
When recycling infrastructure fails, several dominoes fall. Recycled materials become scarce or expensive (and you thought imported cheese was pricey). Municipalities cut recycling programs. More packaging ends up in landfills. Your sustainability reports start looking embarrassing. Consumer perception takes a hit. And suddenly, the idea of committing to using 25% recycled content in your packaging in the next year seems a lot harder to achieve.
The STEWARD Act addresses the root problem: There aren’t enough places in America that can effectively collect and process recyclable materials.
Major brands like PepsiCo, Unilever, and General Mills are backing this act because they understand that their packaging supply chains depend on a functioning recycling ecosystem.
If more communities have access to better recycling infrastructure, more materials stay in circulation. That means more stable pricing for recycled content, more reliable supply chains, and less risk that your packaging supplier will call with bad news about material availability.
How Will Better Data Collection Impact Your Business?
You can’t manage what you don’t measure — and right now, America’s recycling data is a total mess. There’s no standard way to report. Some states check diversion rates, while others look at contamination. Many cities share numbers that can’t be compared. As a result, understanding what actually gets recycled — and what works — is guesswork.
The STEWARD Act changes this by requiring the EPA to establish standardized metrics nationwide. For food businesses, this matters more than you might think.
Better data helps you see which packaging types get recycled in different areas. You can make informed decisions about materials instead of hoping for the best. You’ll know whether that “recyclable” claim on your packaging holds up in practice or just in theory.
The data will also show where your customers can and can’t actually recycle.
Understanding this helps you make better choices. It affects how you design your packaging, what claims you use in marketing, and where and how you distribute your products.
And here’s the kicker: Voluntary data-sharing partnerships with states mean this information will actually be useful and comprehensive, not just another government database that nobody uses.
What’s the Deal with Composting in This Act?
If you’re in the food business, waste isn’t someone else’s problem — it’s yours too. The industry generates a lot of compostable material. This includes waste from spoilage, overproduction, and consumers. Rather than creating methane in landfills, we could convert this waste into valuable soil.
The STEWARD Act directs the EPA to determine where composting facilities exist, where they’re needed, and what’s blocking expansion.
Why should you care? Because compostable packaging is only “compostable” if your customers can actually compost it somewhere. Right now, most can’t. Groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are backing this because they see composting as a massively underused solution.
How Can Food Companies Prepare for These Changes?
The STEWARD Act won’t fix recycling overnight — pilot programs take time, and data collection isn’t exactly thrilling. But you can get ahead of it.
Start by auditing your packaging. What’s recyclable in theory versus what actually gets recycled where your customers live? As better data rolls in, you’ll want to know where you stand.
Watch how improved infrastructure in underserved areas might open new markets. That region where nobody could recycle your containers? That might change.
Cycling Forward
The STEWARD Act represents something rare in today’s political environment: Bipartisan agreement on solving an actual problem. America’s recycling system has struggled for years. Food businesses are up against many challenges. These include issues with supply chains, material shortages, and the need to meet sustainability goals.
This act won’t solve every challenge, but it establishes a framework for real improvement. Better infrastructure means more reliable access to recycled materials. Better data means smarter packaging decisions — and better composting systems mean new solutions for food waste.
Here’s the bottom line: America’s recycling system is about to improve, and companies that act now will be ahead of the curve. This Act isn’t just about saving the planet — it’s about stabilizing your supply chain, controlling costs, and actually meeting those sustainability goals you promised investors.
Now we just need the House to pass it. Your packaging supply chain and the planet are both counting on it.
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