Recycling is a domestic economic development tool as well as an environmental tool.  Regardless of your political leanings recycling is a great way to produce jobs and bring  money into the community.

Consider these pertinent facts:

On a per-ton basis, sorting and processing recyclables alone creates 10 times more jobs than landfilling.  Making recycled material into  new domestic products employs even more people than does the initial processing. Recycling-based paper mills and plastic product manufacturers, for instance, employ on a per-ton basis 60 times more workers than do landfills.

While employment in the U.S. grew only 2.1% annually between 1967 and 2000, the recycling industry saw an 8.3% increase in employment, and 12.7% growth in annual sales.  To give you an idea of the economic potential of recycling more materials consider that in 2010, 130 million metric tons of scrap metal, paper, plastic, glass and other commodities with a market value of $77 billion dollars were manufactured into specification grade commodities.  This translates into approximately 1 million jobs nationwide with indirect support going to another 1.4 million jobs.

We all want to see more Americans employed.  Please recycle.  Contact your non-recycling neighbors. Encourage them to become part of a job generating industry.

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In 2007, GJ CRI employed nine full time,

local workers.

We continue to add one new position each year.