Recycling creates jobs and sparks the economy.

Recycling creates jobs. A recent study on the Macroeconomic Importance of Recycling and Remanufacturing, conducted by Project Performance Corporation in McLean, Virginia, concluded that in northeast and southern states, activities associated with recycling employ over 2.5 percent of the manufacturing workforce. Projected nationally, then, this study suggests that about 1 million manufacturing jobs and over $100 billion in revenue are possible through recycling and remanufacturing activities.

Industry has invested millions of dollars in developing technologies specifically focused on processing and manufacturing recovered materials instead of virgin materials. Retailers regularly recycle corrugated boxes into shipping containers. Newspapers collected in the central Virginia region are used to produce 100% recycled newsprint.  One of the nation’s largest (and oldest) automobile manufacturers, Ford Motor Company, boasts an average of 35 percent recycled content in their automobiles. That is between 18 and 20 percent of the total vehicle weight.

Many businesses are enticed to develop new technologies by the abundance of low-cost material available through local recycling programs. Plastic Lumber is one such recent development.  Manufactured using wood waste from the furniture and cabinetry industry and recycled plastic grocery bags or milk jugs, plastic lumber can be used to construct recreational furniture, decks, and even bridges.  It does not easily warp or rot, needs little annual maintenance and will give wood a run for its money on longevity.

Industry in this country has made a commitment in dollars to find ways to process and manufacture recycled materials, and the supply of recyclables placed at the curb or in drop-off containers by millions of American families each week support those, and ultimately a growing sector of our national economy.

The challenge facing industry and government in the coming decades is to continue to develop technologies and markets that take advantage of reclaimed resources, and to identify successful recycling policies and programs and duplicate those successes and increase the efficiency of recycling.

The role of the consumer, then, is to buy products made from recycled material, and to keep challenging industry and manufacturers to produce more consumer products made with those materials.