Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) is a systemic approach to using and reusing materials more productively over their entire lifecycles. It represents a change in how our society thinks about the use of natural resources and environmental protection. By looking at a product's entire lifecycle we can find new opportunities to reduce environmental impacts, conserve resources, and reduce costs. There are multiple challenge programs available as part of the SMM program, including the Food Recovery Challenge, the Electronics Challenge, the Federal Green Challenge, and the WasteWise program.

            As part of EPA's Food Recovery Challenge, organizations pledge to improve their sustainable food management practices and report their results.

            The SMM Electronics Challenge encourages electronics manufacturers, brand owners and retailers to strive to send 100 percent of the used electronics they collect from the public, businesses and within their own organizations to third-party certified electronics refurbishers and recyclers.

            The Federal Green Challenge, a national effort under the EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management Program, challenges EPA and other federal agencies throughout the country to lead by example in reducing the federal government's environmental impact.

            EPA’s WasteWise encourages organizations and businesses to achieve sustainability in their practices and reduce select industrial wastes. WasteWise is part of EPA’s sustainable materials management efforts, which promote the use and reuse of materials more productively over their entire lifecycles.  All U.S. businesses, governments and nonprofit organizations can join WasteWise as a partner, endorser or both. Current participants range from small local governments and nonprofit organizations to large multinational corporations