White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500

In recent months, I have traveled across the country and witnessed the devastating consequences of climate change. I walked on the streets of Louisiana, New Jersey, and New York, where deadly storms and floods destroyed the lives of working families, erasing houses and businesses from the map. I sat with firefighters in Boise, Idaho, and investigated the damage caused by the Caldo fire in northern California-the area of ​​land burned this year in the United States exceeds the area of ​​New Jersey, and this is just one of dozens of fires. field. In the past few months alone, communities of more than 100 million people—about one-third of Americans—have been hit by extreme weather events. Climate change is a flashing red code in our country.

This crisis poses an existential threat, but we also know that we are capable of defeating it. Today, half of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions are produced when natural resources are extracted from the earth and made into usable products. By reducing, reusing and recycling, we can reduce waste and greenhouse gases that exacerbate the climate crisis, while protecting our communities and the environment. On U.S. Recycling Day, we celebrate efforts across the country to manage our resources responsibly and creatively, and we recommit to building a brighter and more sustainable future for all. 

Although we have made significant progress since the first U.S. Recycling Day more than 20 years ago, we still have work to do. Blacks, browns, aboriginals, and low-income communities continue to suffer from higher levels of pollution and poorly managed waste that adversely affect health and the environment. Our country’s infrastructure has not kept up with today’s ever-changing waste stream, and the market for recycled materials is dwindling. In order to improve our national recycling system and manage our precious resources fairly and sustainably, this will require all of us-including federal, state, tribal and local governments, our partners in the private sector, and individual Americans, in Their community. We must continue to work together to properly recycle and manage materials throughout the life cycle to ensure that every American’s right to a healthy environment is realized and protected.

To help our country achieve our environmental and recycling goals, my government is issuing a national recycling strategy that defines the goals and actions needed to help combat climate change and establish a sustainable national recycling system. The actions proposed by this strategy will help us achieve our national recycling goals, and the federal government will lead by example in our federal buildings, lands, and national parks. The strategy also aims to increase recycling opportunities so that all Americans can participate meaningfully, while ensuring that our solid waste management system does not have a disproportionate impact on communities that are already overburdened by environmental impacts. Our workplaces, communities, and federal, state, tribal, and local governments can all participate in reshaping our recycling system into a system that puts the United States at the forefront of environmental management. You can visit www.epa.gov/recycle to learn more about reduction, reuse and recycling.  

While we continue to take bold actions to combat climate change, we can all make simple changes to our lives and do our part to create a more sustainable future. Today and every day, we reaffirm our commitment to protecting our precious resources and creating a healthier, cleaner, and more just world for our children and grandchildren.  

Now, therefore, I, Joseph Biden Jr., President of the United States of America, with the powers granted to me by the U.S. Constitution and laws, hereby declare November 15, 2021 as U.S. Recycling Day. I call on the people of the United States of America to celebrate this day with appropriate plans and activities, and I encourage all Americans to continue to reduce, reuse, and recycle throughout the year.

To prove this, I will raise my hand as a testimony on the 12th day of this November, the 246th day of our Lord’s 2021 and the Independence Year of the United States of America.

We will learn about the latest information about how President Biden and his administration are working for the American people, and the ways you can participate and help our country rebuild better.

White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500