The Alliance for Mission-Based Recycling’s Statement on the EPA’s Repeal of the Endangerment Finding

This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized its decision to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding — the scientific determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare and therefore must be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

This decision ignores overwhelming scientific evidence and undermines the federal government’s responsibility to protect communities and future generations from climate pollution. The Endangerment Finding has been the legal backbone of efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions from major sources for more than a decade. Its repeal represents a significant step backward in addressing the climate crisis at a time when science and lived experience make clear that greenhouse gas emissions are driving worsening extreme weather, public health harms, and economic disruption — all of which disproportionately impact overburdened communities of color, Indigenous communities, and low-income communities.

As mission-based recyclers, this decision strikes at the core of our mission. Greenhouse gas emissions are embedded throughout our extractive, take-make-waste economy — from resource extraction and manufacturing to disposal. Waste reduction, reuse, and recycling are essential climate strategies because they reduce the need for virgin material extraction, conserve energy, and prevent emissions across the material lifecycle.

Rescinding the Endangerment Finding does not change the science. Greenhouse gases endanger public health. Federal policy should reflect that reality — not retreat from it.

The Alliance for Mission-Based Recycling strongly opposes this rollback and calls for climate policy grounded in science, public health protection, and upstream solutions that reduce waste and keep resources in use — and in the ground — wherever possible.