New CEO Maps Recycling Partnership's Course: 80 Projects, One Stalled Bill

Eighty community projects are running at any given moment under The Recycling Partnership, and the nonprofit's new CEO, Greg Saxon, says that number is growing, not shrinking, despite a louder policy posture.

Saxon took the helm in July after founder Keefe Harrison announced in April she would step down. For the past four months he has toured MRFs, met with brands and walked the halls of Congress. A U.S. Navy veteran, he previously led North American packaging for Johnson & Johnson's consumer business and most recently served as COO of PedalPoint Recycling and PedalPoint LifeCycle Solutions, an IT asset disposition and electronics recycling pair of companies.

In an interview with Waste Dive, he laid out a familiar balance: improve recycling for residents while building resilient recycled-commodity supply chains.

What carries over from e-waste and packaging?

Saxon sees a shared problem between ITAD and curbside collection: nobody fully knows what is coming in the door. The yield differs sharply — electronics carry far higher material value than a plastic bottle, an aluminum can or a piece of cardboard — but the framing travels.

"There's a recognition in the e-waste and ITAD space that the material that's coming in is indeed an invaluable resource," Saxon said. With gold and silver prices where they have sat for roughly two years, he noted, everyone wants to recover as much as possible. TRP's task, he argued, is to treat plastics and other curbside recyclables the same way — as an indispensable resource rather than something that has to be dealt with.

From his packaging years, he carries a sharper economic filter: sustainability goals must now tie directly to the economics of operating within the system.

Where does TRP fit in the end-market ecosystem?

"Our place will always be in the data," Saxon said. TRP represents the system and holds the data on what comes in, what should come out and what the economic impact can be. He described TRP as the convener: bring the parties together, hold the broad conversation, define a process, execute the solution — whether a small pilot or a large-scale market-definition approach. The work does not stop at the solution; the public must then be reeducated about the system.

What happens to federal policy — and the CIRCLE Act?

Saxon declined to speculate on a new Congress or a lame-duck session. "A lot has changed in the past week, so I think time will tell," he said. His hope is that TRP keeps getting invited to the table, citing interest from members of the Recycling Caucus and elsewhere, fed with data-driven insights and on-the-ground observations.

On the CIRCLE Act, he was direct. "It's a great piece of bipartisan legislation that we're really proud of," he said, framing tax credits as one way to motivate direct investment into the recycling system. The bill has bipartisan support but has been stalled for a while; TRP expects to re-engage when the new Congress convenes.

What about states without EPR?

The state-level test is simple: legislation that drives impact, meaning more material into the system and sold back through it. Saxon pointed to Northwest Arkansas, where TRP — with support from the Walmart Foundation — is lifting a community he described as having a very low recycling rate toward about 30 percent on a metered multi-year roadmap. There is no EPR and no legislation there; the community simply wants to do better.

The tools are concrete: carts and bins, behavior change, education, working with the MRF to handle materials, and grants for equipment upgrades. Saxon's arithmetic is blunt: 43 states lack packaging EPR, yet they still have recycling challenges — and TRP steps in there every day.

Is TRP shifting from carts to policy?

"I would certainly not say that we've been shifting my focus under my leadership," Saxon said. Policy is merely a lever; community impact remains the focus. TRP may have gotten loud about policy because EPR was loud, but the ground-level work only got heavier.

The coming message will aim at confidence, not just instruction. As the material stream grows more complex, consumers grow more confused. TRP wants residents to trust that what goes in the bin is actually recycled — because the worst case, Saxon said, is people doing all the work and believing it still ends up in the trash.

The verdict on this strategy arrives with the new Congress and the fate of the stalled CIRCLE Act.