Keefe Harrison, Executive Director of The Recycling Partnership, a national non-profit formed in 2003 with the goal of improving recycling in the United States, recently wrote:
Recycling is much more than an environmental action. Unlike the waste management industry, recycling adds value to materials, contributing to a growing labor force including materials sorters, dispatchers, truck drivers, brokers, sales representatives, process engineers, and chemists. These jobs also generally pay above the average national wage, and many are in inner city urban areas where job creation is vital.
The concept of recycling is an easy one: make something we no longer want or need into a new, useful object. But, as an industry, recycling is quite complex and is impacted by factors both local and international.
Weather, fuel prices, commodity prices, sorting facilities, labor costs and many other factors affect the sustainability of every recycling programs across the country.
It’s important to recognize that when you recycle, you aren’t only helping to protect our environment, you are also contributing to an intricate system that, at it’s core, relies you to ensure it’s success. Thanks for recycling!
