5 Things You Didn't Know About the Recycling Industry

Dropping a plastic bottle in the recycling bin can be very simple, which is why most people do not think about what happens to it after.  Where does it go?  It falls into the hands of a $500 billion global industry that impact the life of every American, and likely employs more people than any other industry except agriculture.  Here are 5 things you need to know about recycling if you hope to understand how and why it is already transformed your world, whether or not you practice good recycling habits. 

1. Only around 60% of the recyclable waste generated in the US annually is recycled in the US.  The rest is exported, mostly to China.
2. China is both the top importer of recyclable waste, also the world's top recycler. 
3. Before the USA began exporting its recyclables around the world, the world sent its recyclables here.  In the 19th century, when Americans were desperate for steel to build the nation's railways, steelmakers imported hundreds of thousand of tons of steel scrap from Europe. 
4. The media has depicted the so called e-waste (electronic waste like computers, smartphones etc.)  as being dumped on the developing world by the US.  Earlier this year, the US International Trade Commision released the most comprehensive study of the American e-wast industry ever.  It concluded that only .13% of the 4.4 million tons of e-waste generated by America in 2011 was exported for "final disposal.
5. The American automobile is still the world's most recycled product, by weight. 

Remember that the next time you bring your recyclables to the trash room, you are not only committing a good deed on behalf of the environment, you are contributing to a global trade that predates your grandparents.  For more information on the facts above please visit http://goo.gl/Rkjnvo.

Call Boro-Wide Recycling for all of you recycling needs, residential and commercial.718-416-1656.