EPA: major recycling role for US businesses and communities

United States – The simple act of recycling reduces energy consumption, decreases greenhouse gas emissions and conserves natural resources, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has underlined in a message aimed at communities, businesses and individuals.

′As a nation, we have made tremendous progress in turning waste back into valuable resources through recycling, but we can do more,′ insists Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA′s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. ′By increasing recycling, and reducing contamination in the recycling stream, we can provide the valuable resources essential to a growing manufacturing sector.′

US citizens generate approximately 250 million tonnes of municipal solid waste every year and currently recycle around 35%. Recycling activity in 2012 saved greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking 33 million cars off the road for a year, it has been calculated.

At the same time, the EPA says, recycling creates green jobs and provides essential resources. The objective should be to recycle even more materials in homes, workplaces and classrooms. Many leading cities – both large and small – have achieved much higher rates of recycling, the EPA points out.

For more information, visit: www.epa.gov/recycle