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Senate · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session

SR 610: Senate Study Committee on Improving and Increasing Recycling; create

Last action March 31, 2026 · Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute

A Georgia Senate resolution creates a five-member study committee to examine how the state can boost recycling rates and grow markets for materials like glass, aluminum, plastics, paper, and tires.

Read the full resolution text

These buttons carry the resolution's own text, not the summaries below. Copy for LLM, View as markdown, and Send to AI use the Markdown version: the text as filed, then the summaries under a heading that names them as ours. View raw is the text alone.

The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the resolution and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.

In plain language

Georgia's population growth is putting more pressure on landfills and solid waste systems, and this resolution responds by setting up the Senate Study Committee on Improving and Increasing Recycling. The President of the Senate would appoint five senators to the committee, with one designated as chairperson. The committee is directed to study current recycling collection and processing capacity, barriers to reducing contamination, opportunities for in-state manufacturers to use recycled materials, best practices from other states, and what data or infrastructure Georgia needs to track and improve recycling. It can recommend legislation based on its findings. Legislative members get standard travel and expense allowances under Georgia law, funded through the Senate's budget. The committee must file any report before it is abolished, which happens automatically once it submits a final report or on December 1, 2026, whichever comes first.

What the bill does

  • Establishes the Senate Study Committee on Improving and Increasing Recycling, made up of five senators appointed by the President of the Senate.
  • Directs the committee to study recycling collection, processing, and end markets for commodities like glass, aluminum, plastics, paper, and tires.
  • Authorizes the committee to recommend legislation or administrative changes to support a market based recycling system.
  • Sets standard travel and expense reimbursement for legislative members and allows limited reimbursement for other participating officials or employees.
  • Requires any committee report to be approved by majority vote and filed with the Secretary of the Senate before the committee is abolished.
  • Abolishes the committee automatically once it files a final report or on December 1, 2026, whichever happens first.

Who it affects

The bill directly affects the five senators appointed to the committee, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division within the Department of Natural Resources, and industry groups such as manufacturers, material recovery facilities, and recyclers who may be asked to provide input during the study.

Why it matters

The committee's findings could shape future Georgia legislation on recycling infrastructure, contamination reduction, and market development for recycled materials, potentially affecting how counties, waste haulers, manufacturers, and residents handle recyclables in the years ahead, though the resolution itself creates no new mandates.

Key provisions

  • Paragraph (1) creates the Senate Study Committee on Improving and Increasing Recycling.
  • Paragraph (2) sets the committee's composition at five senators appointed by the President of the Senate, who also names the chairperson.
  • Paragraph (3) lists ten specific topics the committee must consider, including end-market capacity, contamination barriers, in-state manufacturing opportunities, and best practices from other states.
  • Paragraph (5) sets allowances for legislative members under O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8 and limits allowances to five days unless additional days are authorized, funded through Senate appropriations.
  • Paragraph (6) requires any adopted report to be approved by majority vote of a quorum and filed with the Secretary of the Senate before abolishment.
  • Paragraph (7) abolishes the committee upon submission of its final report or on December 1, 2026, whichever comes first.

From the bill

“a market-driven, industry informed study is needed to identify practical strategies to improve material recovery, increase recycling rates, and grow end markets for recyclable commodities in this state.”

States the resolution's underlying rationale for creating the study committee.

“There is created the Senate Study Committee on Improving and Increasing Recycling.”

The operative clause establishing the new committee.

Discussed in meetings (12)

The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.

  1. Senate Natural Resources and the Environment Committee, February 19, 2026

    From 0:12:40 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor presented SR 610 as a Senate study committee on improving recycling. The sponsor said Georgians throw away about $100 million each year and that the study would seek ways to recover some of that value. At the lieutenant governor's office's recommendation, the sponsor requested reducing membership from eight to five and removing nonlegislative members, citing difficulty scheduling members during an election year. A committee member asked whether to broaden the proposal to all recyclable materials or specifically add tires. The sponsor preferred adding tires while saying the study would examine all recycling. The member supported including tires, describing large accumulations in rural areas. Members offered amendments adding tires in two places, reducing membership to five and removing the provisions for nonlegislative members. After a show-of-hands vote, the chair announced that the measure carried as amended. No vote count was stated.

  2. Senate Rules Committee, March 9, 2026

    From 0:18:01 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor described the resolution as creating a study committee to examine recycling in Georgia and improvements to the existing system. The chair noted there were no questions. No vote was recorded.

  3. Senate Rules Committee, March 10, 2026

    From 0:05:43 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said SR 610 would create a study committee on recycling in Georgia. Asked whether tires would be included, the sponsor said yes. When another member asked about earlier tire legislation, the sponsor explained that it concerned removing tires from landfills and handling the $5 fee paid when an old tire is exchanged for a new one, rather than tire recycling. No vote or calendar placement was shown.

  4. Senate Rules Committee, March 12, 2026

    From 0:27:08 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: While reviewing available measures, the chair identified SR 610 as a proposal for a recycling study committee. There was no further discussion or vote, and it was not included in the approved floor calendar.

  5. Senate Rules Committee, March 18, 2026

    From 0:21:11 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: During a review of remaining measures, the chair identified SR 610 as a proposal for a Senate study committee on recycling and said it had already been heard. No further explanation or calendar action followed.

  6. Senate Rules Committee, March 19, 2026

    From 0:48:30 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: During a review of remaining measures, the chair identified the resolution as concerning recycling. No further explanation, vote or scheduling decision was recorded.

  7. Senate Rules Committee, March 20, 2026

    From 0:33:19 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The presenter requested consideration of a Senate resolution dealing with recycling. No further explanation, substantive questions or calendar decision followed.

  8. Senate Rules Committee, March 23, 2026

    From 0:07:31 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The chair identified SR 610 as a resolution creating a recycling study committee and said Coca-Cola had an interest in it. No separate vote was shown.

  9. Senate Rules Committee, March 30, 2026

    From 0:27:54 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The chair included SR 610 in a group of 12 study committee resolutions. The chair said Capitol study committee meetings during the interim would need to use the legislative office building because other meeting rooms would be under renovation. The committee unanimously moved the group to the consent calendar.

Status timeline

  1. 2026-03-31Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
  2. 2026-03-31Senate Third Read (Senate)
  3. 2026-02-24Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
  4. 2026-02-20Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
  5. 2026-01-28Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
  6. 2026-01-27Senate Hopper (Senate)

Sponsors

  • Bo Hatchett (R, SD-50)Primary sponsor
  • Matt Brass (R, SD-6)
  • Randy Robertson (R, SD-29)
  • Brian Strickland (R, SD-42)

Votes

  1. PassedSenate voteMarch 31, 2026

    48 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 3 excused)

    CONSENT CALENDAR FOR SENATE STUDY COMMITTEES: Senate Vote #875

Topics

  • recycling
  • waste management
  • economic development
  • environmental policy

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Answers come from this document. Not legal advice.

Machine-readable https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sr610.md · https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md · MCP https://mcp.georgiacommons.org/mcp