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Municipal solid waste (MSW) recycling programs are highly localized activities, where materials are collected, sorted, processed, and converted into raw materials for the production of new products. Despite numerous reported benefits of recycling, many areas lack a dedicated program for various reasons, including economic challenges, and many materials that could be recycled are not. Recognizing a need to better understand the costs and benefits of administering MSW recycling programs, Congress called on the National Academies to conduct a study on the programmatic and economic costs of these programs and to produce recommendations to facilitate their effective implementation.
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