According to a report published today – on America Recycles Day – a national investment in recycling would create more than 1.5 million jobs over the next twenty years.
“More Jobs, Less Pollution: Growing the Recycling Economy in the U.S.,” compiled by the Tellus Institute for Blue Green Alliance, Teamsters, SEIU, NRDC, Recycling Works, and GAIA, says about 75% of the nation’s waste can and should be recycled and that environmental benefits like reduced pollution and energy savings will accompany bottom line growth.
“Here in the city of Austin, we have a zero waste plan that says that by the year 2040 we are committed as a city to reduce our waste going to landfills and incinerators by 90%,” says Stacy Guidry, the Austin program director for Texas Campaign for the Environment. “I think, in pretty much all cases, it benefits a company to recycle. Not only are they not paying for waste hauling and disposal, businesses are going to be the entities that lead the way when it comes to recycling.”
But Paul Juhnke, president of Waste Disposal Equipment based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, says it might not make sense for every business and organization to invest in recycling. But he says generally speaking, there’s a return on initial investment.
“The money that they spend for equipment is more than paid back a lot of time within two years. That can vary a lot, depending upon what kind of materials and the amount, but that’s kind of a rule of thumb.”