Recycle Across America Essay

Recycling in the United States is a large industry equivalent to over $200 billion (Recycle Across America, 2017). Over 89 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) were recycled or composted in 2014 equaling 34.9 percent of the total MSW in the US (EPA, 2016). Recycling has gained popularity immensely starting in the 1990’s and is continuing to grow today. Although the percentage rate of generated MSW that gets recycled is beginning to plateau, the total amount of MSW that is recycled or composted is still growing at a quick rate. This trend is beginning to scare many people because even though we are recycling more each year, the total amount of MSW that doesn’t get recycled is still growing and is contributing to a crisis of overfilling and the creation of landfills. There is a need in the recycling industry for new and updated facilities, technologies, and logistics. With technology growing at its current rate, there will be new and improved recycling techniques coming to the recycling market in the next few years as well as new laws

Depending on the location, company, or facility capabilities, the labels for recycling bins can be different and very confusing. One of the main goals that Recycle Across America is working to achieve is a government-issued recycling label that is color-coded and simplistic that every recycling company will follow. An analogy that they use is to think if road signs were different depending on where you are or which company made it. This would leave drivers very confused on the roads and would lead to accidents. The ‘accidents’ in this case are people throwing away recyclables in the garbage. If these labels were the same across the nation, it would reduce confusion and help people to recycle more accurately and more often (Recycling Across America,