Facts About Recycling

Recycling serves an important function in our throw-away society. Recycling, while not the ultimate solution, diverts our endless stream of bottles, cans and other reusable materials out of the landfill. Below are just some of the benefits of an effective recycling economy.

For more information on the current situation of recycling in New York City, visit What Happened to Recycling in NYC?.

Recycling protects the environment

  • Recycling reduces dependence on landfills and incineration, which in turn reduces water, air and litter pollution.1
  • At current recycling levels, the United States is saving enough energy through recycling to provide electricity for 9 million homes.2

Recycling provides jobs and economic stabilty

  • The recycling industry employs 1.1 million people nationwide.3
  • Sorting and processing recyclables sustains 5 to 10 times more jobs than landfilling or incineration.4
  • Recycling-based manufacturing reduces dependence on distant markets for recyclables and can provide opportunities for local, more stable markets.5
  • Product reuse (a preferred form of recycling) offers communities economic benefits. Reusable alternatives to disposable products - refillable bottle washing, cloth diaper services, tire retreading - create wealth and jobs for local communities.6
  • The cost of sending waste to the landfill is increasing, while the waste management industry is consolidating. The top four companies account for 85% of the total industry.7

SOURCES

1 Costs and Benefits of Recycling, NC Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance
2 Commentary on "Recycling is Garbage," (John Tierney, New York Times Magazine, June 30, 1996), Environmental Defense
3 "Is Recycling Disposable?" American City and County, May 1, 2002
4 Create Jobs from Discards, Grassroots Recycling Network
5 Ibid
6 Ibid
7 Taking Out the Trash: A New Direction for New York City’s Waste, Consumer Policy Institute and Consumer’s Union, May 2000