Recycling is becoming easier with new technologies, techniques and other innovations, which means that we can start reusing discarded items that have ended up in landfills. The recycling and reuse sector of the American economy has grown so much that it currently employs as many people as the auto industry!

“Without recycling, given current virgin raw material supplies, we could not print the daily newspaper, build a car, or ship a product in a cardboard box,” says Powell. “Recycling is not some feel-good activity; it is one of the backbones of global economic development.” To his way of thinking, recovering cast-offs and putting them to good use “are key ingredients to industrial growth and stability.”