EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told Newsmax this month that his agency has placed more than two dozen Biden-era environmental rules under reconsideration. He framed the rollback as a corrective to what he called the previous administration's "energy crackdown."

The interview gave Zeldin a fresh platform for the deregulatory package he has championed since his Senate confirmation in January 2025. The rollback spans greenhouse gas emission guidelines for power plants under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. It also covers methane requirements for oil and gas operators finalized in December 2023, and the EJScreen environmental justice mapping tool used in permitting.

Zeldin has cast the package as a cost-relief measure aimed at lowering electricity rates and reviving domestic manufacturing. He has carried that message to cable news, conservative talk radio, and industry conferences since his first week on the job.

What does this change for the waste and recycling sector?

Several of the rules on the reconsideration list intersect directly with circular economy operations:

• Landfill methane reporting. The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program requires large municipal solid waste landfills above the 100,000-tonne capacity threshold to measure and disclose emissions. Easing those requirements would lower compliance costs for operators. It would also remove the federal data set that offset buyers and project financiers currently rely on for verification.
• Power sector demand. Section 111 guidelines shape the economics for utilities burning refuse-derived fuel and tire-derived fuel. Weaker emission standards reduce the cost premium for fossil generation. That shift narrows the market pull for recovered feedstocks from construction debris, scrap tires, and municipal solid waste.
• Permitting and environmental justice. Recalibrating how EJScreen factors into permit reviews affects expansions and new builds at recycling facilities, particularly those sited near overburdened communities. Smaller operators without dedicated permitting counsel may struggle to navigate any new procedural framework.

Recyclers face a near-term planning question. They must decide whether to commit capital projects against the existing rule set or wait to see what replaces it. Permitting timelines for new material recovery facilities and organic waste processing plants stretch two to three years. Today's regulatory posture therefore shapes investment decisions made this quarter.

The rollback's intersection with circular economy policy extends beyond compliance costs. The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program supplies baseline emissions data for voluntary carbon markets tied to landfill gas projects. Without that federal backbone, project developers face higher verification costs and reduced investor confidence. State renewable portfolio standards and low-carbon fuel standards that recognize methane-capture credits from waste sites also depend on the same federal data feed.

What happens next?

Each reconsideration carries its own statutory deadline. The next milestone is publication of proposed replacement standards in the Federal Register. That publication opens a public comment window and starts the clock on any final rule.

The Solid Waste Association of North America has signaled it will file comments on specific proposals as they advance. Industry counsel will track whether the agency replaces each rule with weaker standards, repeals them outright, or leaves them in place during technical review.

The outcome shapes more than compliance line items. It sets the policy backdrop for circular economy investments tied to lower-carbon fuels, recycled-content procurement, and methane-capture projects at landfill sites. Operators who position themselves early on the data and reporting side of the existing regime gain an advantage if those requirements survive review.