From small businesses to large international corporations, recycling is growing in importance due to strides in technical innovation and improved materials recovery. However, businesses of all sizes face challenges with determining how best to handle their recyclable waste materials. To assist business owner and municipal leaders with these concerns, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provide a variety of informational resources to assist in the creation and expansion of recycling services.

There are three components to all recycling activities, regardless of how large or small a business is:

1) Recyclable materials must be identified and collected;
2) Selecting a manufacturer specializing or needing recycled materials; and
3) Selling those materials that can then be made into new products.

All over the United States, individuals, neighborhood groups, non-profit organizations, private businesses, and government departments are placing an importance on the collection of materials for recycling. Municipal curbside recycling has grown over five hundred percent in the last five years and recycling efforts now help to recover over twenty five percent of all waste materials. While keeping re-usable resources out of landfills is smart environmental practice, recycling is also responsible for the creation of new businesses that are needed to collect, process, re-sell, and manufacture materials. The employment opportunities created by recycling ranging from low-skill to semi-skilled jobs to highly skilled jobs across a variety of industries.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Recycling promotes community development and helps to makes the cities and towns where we work and live healthier, safer places to be. When your business makes the choice to dispose of waste through re-use and recycling, you are contributing to the economic vitality of America and helping to grow jobs in this important business sector. Going “green” saves green and helps to make green, too!