Rhode Island throws away roughly 673,869 tons of material each year, and buried in that waste

Rhode Island throws away roughly 673,869 tons of material each year, and buried in that waste stream is about $35.5 million in recoverable commodity value that never makes it back into the economy, according to a draft needs assessment released by the state Department of Environmental Management, Waste Dive reported. The report, prepared by consulting firm RRS, lays out five distinct paths the state could take to boost its dismal 13% diversion rate, ranging from doing nothing to implementing a comprehensive producer-responsibility program that could push diversion to 47%.

Right now, the Ocean State is missing its own targets by a wide margin. Lawmakers have set goals of 35% recycling and 50% diversion, but the current system—hampered by low recovery rates and heavy contamination—isn’t budging. The Central Landfill, operated by the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp., has only about 20 years of capacity left, making the December 1 deadline for the final report to the General Assembly more than a bureaucratic milestone; it’s a countdown clock.

How a Bottle Bill Became a Study

In 2025, state lawmakers introduced legislation that would have slapped a 10-cent deposit on beverage containers and established an extended producer responsibility system for packaging. Environmental groups championed the combo approach as a proven way to spike recycling rates and ease pressure on landfills. But the American Beverage Association and allied business groups fought back hard, warning that the bill would saddle small businesses with new costs and raise prices for consumers. The final compromise stripped out the bottle bill and EPR mandates entirely, ordering DEM and the Resource Recovery Corp. to commission this needs assessment instead.

Rhode Island Beverage Recycling Analysis: Advisory Council Meeting #3

Paper and plastic packaging make up about 45% of Rhode Island’s waste stream, which is exactly what the study targets. “The resulting report is meant to offer a wide scope of options that center on how the state can manage paper and plastic packaging,” said Resa Dimino, co-CEO of RRS, during a recent webinar.

Five Paths, Five Price Tags

The assessment sketches out a menu of scenarios, each with sharply different outcomes and costs. The “as-is” option keeps the status quo at a 13% diversion rate with a net cost of about $13.2 million, but Dimino warned that this baseline is “unlikely to move dramatically towards the state’s diversion targets.” A deposit-return-only system could lift diversion to roughly 20% at a cost of about $22 million. An EPR program for packaging alone might reach 29%, while the original combo EPR-plus-deposit plan from the 2025 bill could hit 33% if fully funded by producers.

The most ambitious option, dubbed “EPR Plus,” layers in reuse programs and aggressive single-use plastic reduction measures modeled on systems in Oregon and California. That path could achieve a 47% diversion rate, but it comes with a price tag of up to $77 million. The key distinction across all the EPR scenarios is who foots the bill: producers would cover the costs, including curbside collection, which could save municipalities about $200 per ton.

Scenario	Projected Diversion Rate	Net Cost
As-Is (Status Quo)	13%	$13.2 million
Deposit Return Only	20%	~$22 million
EPR for Packaging Only	29%	Producer-funded
Combo EPR + Deposit (2025 Bill)	33%	Producer-funded
EPR Plus (Oregon/California Model)	47%	Up to $77 million

The Clock Is Ticking

The draft assessment is open for public comment until November 16, with the final version expected to land on lawmakers’ desks by December 1, 2026. Readers can weigh in through the DEM’s public comment portal, and the full draft needs assessment is available for review, along with a detailed cost breakdown presentation.

With the Central Landfill’s remaining lifespan measured in two decades rather than generations, the $35.5 million question isn’t just about lost revenue—it’s about whether Rhode Island can afford to keep burying value it could be capturing.