Recycling shows job creation potential
Posted on November 16th, 2011 Read time: 1 minutes
A recent report from the Tellus Institute explained how an increase in recycling can have a positive effect on the nation's unemployment rate.
Currently, the United States lacks policies to recover higher levels of waste materials, as well as the legislation to recycle what is procured, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council Staff blog.
Yet the More Jobs, Less Pollution report found that recycling produces between 10 to 20 times more jobs per ton of material than combustion or landfilling. If America were able to reach a 75 percent national recycling rate, millions of full-time and temporary worker jobs could be created.
"Increasing our recycling rather than dumping renewable resources in landfills and incinerators will create nearly 1.5 million jobs that are sorely needed, and will benefit the environment," said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters general president.
David Foster, executive director of BlueGreen Alliance – one of the organizations that helped prepare the report – added that the majority of the created jobs would be in the manufacturing field.
Beyond job creation, increasing recycling to 75 percent would also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 276 million metric tons by 2030.
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Posted on November 16th, 2011 Read time: 1 minutes
A recent report from the Tellus Institute explained how an increase in recycling can have a positive effect on the nation's unemployment rate.
Currently, the United States lacks policies to recover higher levels of waste materials, as well as the legislation to recycle what is procured, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council Staff blog.
Yet the More Jobs, Less Pollution report found that recycling produces between 10 to 20 times more jobs per ton of material than combustion or landfilling. If America were able to reach a 75 percent national recycling rate, millions of full-time and temporary worker jobs could be created.
"Increasing our recycling rather than dumping renewable resources in landfills and incinerators will create nearly 1.5 million jobs that are sorely needed, and will benefit the environment," said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters general president.
David Foster, executive director of BlueGreen Alliance – one of the organizations that helped prepare the report – added that the majority of the created jobs would be in the manufacturing field.
Beyond job creation, increasing recycling to 75 percent would also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 276 million metric tons by 2030.
