Environmental+Protection+Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

Alvarado, Katherine H. __Employment Trends In North Carolina__. 10 Sep. 2010 . Facts:
 * 1)  “Survey data indicates that recycling is a significant employer in North Carolina supporting approximately 14,000 employees, or 0.35% of North Carolina’s workforce”
 * 2)  “North Carolina has approximately 1.2% of the nation’s recycling jobs”
 * 3)  “In contrast to most other industries, recycling employment has increased over the last 10 years.”
 * 4)  “On average, ‘bottle-bill’ states boast recycling rates two to three times higher than other states”
 * 5)  “For example, one ton of recycled glass displaces 1.18 tons of virgin sand in glass production”
 * 6)  “For example, the EPA has documented that recycling decreases greenhouse gas emissions by lowering the energy requirement in many manufacturing processes relative to using virgin materials.”
 * 7)  “Another environmental benefit of recycling may come in the form of carbon sequestration, by decreasing the demand for virgin wood products and subsequently decreasing the need for deforestation”
 * 8)  “According to the Glass Packaging Institute, every ten percent of recycled glass used to make glass containers saves up to 2-3 percent of the total energy used”
 * 9)  “The research was updated in 2000 and showed a twelve percent growth [since 1996] in the private sector, supporting approximately 12,000 jobs”
 * 10)  “In 1989, North Carolina made a commitment to reduce solid waste generation by enacting the North Carolina Solid Waste Management Act (SWMA), which pledged to ‘promote the reduction, recycling, reuse, or treatment of solid waste … in lieu of disposal of the waste’”
 * 11)  “The NC Division of Waste Management estimates less than 16 years of remaining The NC Division of Waste Management estimates less than 16 years of remaining”
 * 12)  “Out of the 640 local government units in North Carolina, 386 operate recycling programs.”
 * 13)  “A net total of 757 jobs have been created by recycling businesses since the year 2000, and 54% of the businesses forecast creating more positions in the next two years”
 * 14)  “For example, increasing the recycling tonnage by 10,000 tons would create 6.5 FTE positions, whereas increasing the solid waste tonnage by the same amount would only create 0.71 FTE positions
 * 15)  ** “ **<span style="font-family: TimesNewRoman,Bold;">Recycling employment has grown while employment in many other industries has not .”