Washington, D.C. –The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI) expresses its support and gratitude to the United States Senate after the passage of Senate Resolution 251, reinforcing the Senate’s support for recycling and recognizing the tremendous contributions to the U.S. economy and environment made by the recycling industry. Senate Resolution 251 passed the Senate unanimously.
The passage of this resolution confirms the Senate’s strong support for an industry that directly or indirectly employs over 450,000 Americans in local communities throughout the United States, accounting for more than $90 billion in economic output, and playing a key role in the U.S. manufacturing industry by helping supply our economy with good paying jobs and making the old, new again.
In addition to the economic benefits of recycling, the resolution also notes how recycling is protecting our environment by not only safeguarding natural resources and reducing the amount of recyclable materials sent to landfills, but also saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“Given the array of challenges facing the recycling Industry here at home it is comforting to know that lawmakers not only recognize the positive contributions that recycling brings to our communities, but also that they recognize the need to support an industry that is not only creating jobs today, but has shown signs of continued growth,” said ISRI President Robin Wiener. “We would like to extend our thanks to the Co-Chairs of the Senate Recycling Caucus, Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), for their leadership on this issue.”
In a press release sent today, Senators Carper and Snowe applauded the approval of the resolution saying the following.
"Increasing the amount we recycle is a simple, yet effective way to help our economy and our environment by better managing our limited resources," said Sen. Carper. "Since the first Earth Day in 1970, our country has greatly improved our recycling habits. From 1970 to 2000, we increased our collective municipal recycling rate from just 6 percent to over 28 percent. Yet in the past decade, our country's improvement in our recycling behavior has slowed. Anything I do, I know I can do better, and I know that our nation can continue to do better when it comes to recycling. I thank Sen. Snowe and our other
Senate colleagues for their support of recycling and for their recognition of its tremendous value to our economy and our environment."
"Recycling is one of the easiest and most cost-effective methods to saving energy, reducing landfill waste, and supplying our manufacturing and construction industries with low-cost materials," said Sen. Snowe. "Recycling is a major industry in the United States and we should continue to encourage the companies that are improving our environment and employing Americans. I commend Senator Carper for his efforts to promote recycling and look forward to the ongoing benefits recycling provides our environment and our economy."
The resolution recognizes the integral role recycling plays in both sustaining manufacturing in the United States and helping to balance the US trade deficit by providing emerging economies with the raw materials needed to build countries and participate in the global economy.
A recent economic analysis shows that the U.S. scrap recycling industry is a major economic engine powerful enough to create 460,000 jobs within the U.S. and generate $10.3 billion in tax revenues for governments across the country, all while making the old new again and helping to protect the earth’s air, water and land for future generations. The economic study can be viewed in its entirety at
www.isri.org/jobs.
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