Recycling Comes Of Age

It seems the perfect match -- the nation that consumes the most has built itself a large and growing recycling industry.  What comes in the front door, new and shiny, eventually goes out the back as trash to be thrown aside or hopefully used again in another life.

The United States now has a recycling industry with annual sales of $236 billion.  By an amazing comparison, U.S. auto sales in the recession-ravaged year of 2009 reached an estimated $250 billion.  Auto sales should eventually increase as the nation's economy recovers.  However, the recycling industry is set to grow no matter what happens to the economy.

High cost, scarcity and growing demand for raw materials as well as job creation and new recycling technologies all combined will continue to aid the growth of the entire recycling industry.  Someday the world's largest consuming nation could become the world's largest recycling nation and build an even greater recycling industry than it has now.

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