Recycling Our Way To Recovery

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the past year, there have been promising signs that the United States is recovering from the so-called "Great Recession." In recent quarters, the country's Gross Domestic Product has been in positive territory. The housing market, though far from vibrant, has shown some modest signs of life. And the stock market has recovered a great deal of the ground it lost in the initial months after the credit crisis of late 2008 and early 2009.

Despite these encouraging signs, though, unemployment continues to be near a 25-year high. With the official jobless rate near double digits, there are concerns that the economy may begin to slip back into a dreaded double-dip recession. Because of this, it is in the best interest of the country to promote job creation in all sectors of the economy.

One area that has the potential to create more jobs while promoting good environmental stewardship is recycling. According to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) U.S. Recycling Economic Information Study, the recycling and reuse industry employs more than 1.1 million people, generates an annual payroll of nearly $37 billion and grosses more than $236 billion in annual revenues. This represents a significant force in the U.S. economy and makes a vital contribution to job creation and economic development.

To take advantage of the job creation potential of the recycling industry, it is important to raise the bar on recycling. For its part, the glass container industry, its companies, and thousands of employees set an ambitious goal in late 2008 of using at least 50 percent recycled glass in the manufacture of new glass bottles and jars by the end of 2013. In several states, glass manufacturing plants are already using 70 percent recycled glass, or cullet, to make new glass containers, showing that reaching the goal nationwide is possible and imminent.